Voicemail from school re: SOL scores

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Give your kid another chance. No need to have them carry the failure for a year to make some silly point.

Don't plan on telling my kid if he passed or failed so there is nothing to carry

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't there significant testing irregularities associated with the tests this year? If your child was a part of any of them I would ask to have the results stricken.

They won't be stricken. If the child completes the test then the score stands unless he or she does better on the retake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Give your kid another chance. No need to have them carry the failure for a year to make some silly point.

You mean as opposed to announcing failure to all his classmates by having to be pulled out for the retake after they know he has already taken the test? Kids notice who is missing on SOL days because so few people are, so they know who has or hasn't taken which section before.

[Anonymous]

Update: score was 391, so since that's in the expedited re-take range they were just confirming we didn't want a re-take. No pressure. She just said they were required (not sure if by school or county) to confirm our choice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your child will be pulled out to retake a test he has already taken. Why put your child in the position of having all his friends know he failed the first time and so has to retake.

My DD was in an after school "remediation" class for weeks prior to the SOLs. Apparently, they did some kind of assessment and were concerned she might not pass. Was I supposed to turn it down because her friends might find out and she'd feel humiliated by it? Heck no. All her friends were in the same class. She had a great time.

And if she still doesn't pass the SOL and they want her to re-test, they have my blessing. We've always told our kids that the SOLs are a reflection on the school's teaching methods rather than the students' ability. It's all smoke and mirrors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child will be pulled out to retake a test he has already taken. Why put your child in the position of having all his friends know he failed the first time and so has to retake.

My DD was in an after school "remediation" class for weeks prior to the SOLs. Apparently, they did some kind of assessment and were concerned she might not pass. Was I supposed to turn it down because her friends might find out and she'd feel humiliated by it? Heck no. All her friends were in the same class. She had a great time.

And if she still doesn't pass the SOL and they want her to re-test, they have my blessing. We've always told our kids that the SOLs are a reflection on the school's teaching methods rather than the students' ability. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Why would you want your kid to miss core instruction to re-take a test that has no benefit to her whatsoever???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't let my child retake any standardized test. Hell no.

Can't necessarily be done in high school, where students are required to at least pass SOLs to receive course credits for certain classes. Yes, it rots. But parents can't just say, "my child won't retake that" when your child's older, unless you want your child not to get credit for a year's coursework.

So folks: Let's work on getting SOLs cut out or cut way back. It's idiotic for kids taking HS classes to have to pass an SOL on top of doing the course work and the course tests and a final exam. Sure, the SOL should be pretty easy if the kid is doing OK in the class, but the problem is that even if it's easy, it only adds more stress and takes away time from actually preparing for the course final at the same time of year. And yes, I'm the parent of a new HS student who is doing fine but the amount of time spent on SOL prep when they already have course finals coming up -- it's nothing but a test of how much stress they can handle all in the same few months of the year.

[Anonymous]

My DD was in an after school "remediation" class for weeks prior to the SOLs. Apparently, they did some kind of assessment and were concerned she might not pass. Was I supposed to turn it down because her friends might find out and she'd feel humiliated by it? Heck no. All her friends were in the same class. She had a great time.

And if she still doesn't pass the SOL and they want her to re-test, they have my blessing. We've always told our kids that the SOLs are a reflection on the school's teaching methods rather than the students' ability. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Glad to hear that your DD enjoyed her SOL remediation classes based on the worry that she might not pass it. Since you feel they are a reflection on the school's teaching methods, what were the methods that caused your DD to have to be in after school remediation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child will be pulled out to retake a test he has already taken. Why put your child in the position of having all his friends know he failed the first time and so has to retake.

My DD was in an after school "remediation" class for weeks prior to the SOLs. Apparently, they did some kind of assessment and were concerned she might not pass. Was I supposed to turn it down because her friends might find out and she'd feel humiliated by it? Heck no. All her friends were in the same class. She had a great time.

And if she still doesn't pass the SOL and they want her to re-test, they have my blessing. We've always told our kids that the SOLs are a reflection on the school's teaching methods rather than the students' ability. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Why would you want your kid to miss core instruction to re-take a test that has no benefit to her whatsoever???

Some schools have an enrichment/remedial time where this type of help might take place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child will be pulled out to retake a test he has already taken. Why put your child in the position of having all his friends know he failed the first time and so has to retake.

My DD was in an after school "remediation" class for weeks prior to the SOLs. Apparently, they did some kind of assessment and were concerned she might not pass. Was I supposed to turn it down because her friends might find out and she'd feel humiliated by it? Heck no. All her friends were in the same class. She had a great time.

And if she still doesn't pass the SOL and they want her to re-test, they have my blessing. We've always told our kids that the SOLs are a reflection on the school's teaching methods rather than the students' ability. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Was this in an elementary school? We don't have anything like that.

[Anonymous]

My DD was in an after school "remediation" class for weeks prior to the SOLs. Apparently, they did some kind of assessment and were concerned she might not pass. Was I supposed to turn it down because her friends might find out and she'd feel humiliated by it? Heck no. All her friends were in the same class. She had a great time.

This is over the top. Weeks of after school remediation? Wow. This points to how important these scores are for the school. Chances are they were looking to increase their "pass advanced" rate which may benefit an administrator who is looking to move up. Just saying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My DD was in an after school "remediation" class for weeks prior to the SOLs. Apparently, they did some kind of assessment and were concerned she might not pass. Was I supposed to turn it down because her friends might find out and she'd feel humiliated by it? Heck no. All her friends were in the same class. She had a great time.

And if she still doesn't pass the SOL and they want her to re-test, they have my blessing. We've always told our kids that the SOLs are a reflection on the school's teaching methods rather than the students' ability. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Glad to hear that your DD enjoyed her SOL remediation classes based on the worry that she might not pass it. Since you feel they are a reflection on the school's teaching methods, what were the methods that caused your DD to have to be in after school remediation?

Agree with this.

They were concerned enough about her passing the SOLs that they decided to remediate just at the end of the school year before the tests. Why were they not concerned the entire school year? Why did they not notify you by the end of the first quarter or at least during the second quarter? They should have put in place extra supports, but you know why they didn't? She's on grade level right? They didn't want to go through the IEP process to put formal extra supports in place. Why would they? At grade level means it's not worth the extra money, your child is passing and that's good enough.

But when the school will be graded, they don't want to take the chance. All of the sudden, extra supports 'unofficially' pop up and they are fine with it, since they won't have to do it again until next SOL season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child will be pulled out to retake a test he has already taken. Why put your child in the position of having all his friends know he failed the first time and so has to retake.

My DD was in an after school "remediation" class for weeks prior to the SOLs. Apparently, they did some kind of assessment and were concerned she might not pass. Was I supposed to turn it down because her friends might find out and she'd feel humiliated by it? Heck no. All her friends were in the same class. She had a great time.

And if she still doesn't pass the SOL and they want her to re-test, they have my blessing. We've always told our kids that the SOLs are a reflection on the school's teaching methods rather than the students' ability. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Why would you want your kid to miss core instruction to re-take a test that has no benefit to her whatsoever???

"Core instruction"? After the SOLs? Not at our school. All teaching ceases after the SOLs, even in the lower grades where they don't even take SOLs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child will be pulled out to retake a test he has already taken. Why put your child in the position of having all his friends know he failed the first time and so has to retake.

My DD was in an after school "remediation" class for weeks prior to the SOLs. Apparently, they did some kind of assessment and were concerned she might not pass. Was I supposed to turn it down because her friends might find out and she'd feel humiliated by it? Heck no. All her friends were in the same class. She had a great time.

And if she still doesn't pass the SOL and they want her to re-test, they have my blessing. We've always told our kids that the SOLs are a reflection on the school's teaching methods rather than the students' ability. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Why would you want your kid to miss core instruction to re-take a test that has no benefit to her whatsoever???

"Core instruction"? After the SOLs? Not at our school. All teaching ceases after the SOLs, even in the lower grades where they don't even take SOLs.

My kid said their starting a new math unit next week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My DD was in an after school "remediation" class for weeks prior to the SOLs. Apparently, they did some kind of assessment and were concerned she might not pass. Was I supposed to turn it down because her friends might find out and she'd feel humiliated by it? Heck no. All her friends were in the same class. She had a great time.

This is over the top. Weeks of after school remediation? Wow. This points to how important these scores are for the school. Chances are they were looking to increase their "pass advanced" rate which may benefit an administrator who is looking to move up. Just saying.

I don't think we'd be able to get any teachers to stay for after school remediation at my school.