SOL opt-out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you care about your home value and you think your kid will pass, you shouldn't opt out. If you think your kid will fail, then PLEASE--- opt out! The rest of us know that test scores do affect home values. Like it or not.

I don't think the tests are that big of a deal. I want my kids to be able to show what they've learned all year (or at least the parts that are on the test). They have pride in knowing that they've passed. DD (who was about to flunk out of adv. math last spring) was especially proud when she surprised everyone (including herself) by getting adv. pass on the dang math SOL! (It was only b/c I was alerted at interims that I worked with her on the practice tests and that's what brought her up from failing to adv. pass in 6 weeks). She is still proud of herself for that.

But don't the kids who opt out get scored as a fail?

[Anonymous]

All kids who failed an SOL were placed together the next year. That would be your kid too. At our elementary school. Why have your kid risk the consequences? So you can feel can good about YOU taking a stand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you care about your home value and you think your kid will pass, you shouldn't opt out. If you think your kid will fail, then PLEASE--- opt out! The rest of us know that test scores do affect home values. Like it or not.

I don't think the tests are that big of a deal. I want my kids to be able to show what they've learned all year (or at least the parts that are on the test). They have pride in knowing that they've passed. DD (who was about to flunk out of adv. math last spring) was especially proud when she surprised everyone (including herself) by getting adv. pass on the dang math SOL! (It was only b/c I was alerted at interims that I worked with her on the practice tests and that's what brought her up from failing to adv. pass in 6 weeks). She is still proud of herself for that.

But don't the kids who opt out get scored as a fail?

Yes. They get a score of zero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you care about your home value and you think your kid will pass, you shouldn't opt out. If you think your kid will fail, then PLEASE--- opt out! The rest of us know that test scores do affect home values. Like it or not.

I don't think the tests are that big of a deal. I want my kids to be able to show what they've learned all year (or at least the parts that are on the test). They have pride in knowing that they've passed. DD (who was about to flunk out of adv. math last spring) was especially proud when she surprised everyone (including herself) by getting adv. pass on the dang math SOL! (It was only b/c I was alerted at interims that I worked with her on the practice tests and that's what brought her up from failing to adv. pass in 6 weeks). She is still proud of herself for that.

But don't the kids who opt out get scored as a fail?

Yes. They get a score of zero.

The school will also take them as a zero/fail. Then we'll see the posts on here, "Our school's Great Schools score went from an 8 to a 7!? Why!? The sky is falling...".

[Anonymous]

The SOL tests are in a couple of weeks and there has still been no test prep other than the quarter end tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The SOL tests are in a couple of weeks and there has still been no test prep other than the quarter end tests.

Basically the same here. No cramming. Only the quarterly eCart tests which aren't seen as "SOL" prep, but are used to help guide some instruction and remediation. Other than that it will continue to be "normal" instruction until we test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All kids who failed an SOL were placed together the next year. That would be your kid too. At our elementary school. Why have your kid risk the consequences? So you can feel can good about YOU taking a stand.

I don't believe that. This is called tracking, and I guarantee it doesn't happen in FCPS, at least not in elementary school. Unlikely any of the other school districts are doing that either. I am a teacher, and I know how classes are composed, and sol scores aren't even available when classes are made, much less taken into account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The SOL tests are in a couple of weeks and there has still been no test prep other than the quarter end tests.

Do you even know what test prep looks like? Are you in the classroom every day? Any teacher not preparing all year for SOL's is some form or another is going to be in big trouble. You just don't really understand what goes on in a classroom and how the curriculum is altered and pared down to keep the focus on what's on the test and nothing else. OR there really has been no test prep because you are in a high-income school and no one has to worry about test scores. If so, then lucky you, but anyone with even a moderate percentage of FARM in the school is getting prepped to death.

[Anonymous]

Special teacher here in FCPS. If your kid is in special ed, opt them out and save them a lot of stress. It is ridiculous to give a kid who is a year or two behind in math a math test that is on grade level. They can't do it. They sit and cry. I have seen it.

I wish every parent would opt their kid out of all of it until middle school. We spend the whole freaking year talking about test scores and testing and retesting and the kids get stressed and the teachers are stressed and it is ruining education.

Bravo to those who opt out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There as been some discussion on these forums, but let's recap what has been said...

1) There's no actual movement to do this. You can choose to do it, but you will be tagged as one of "those" parents.

Not true. The impulse to opt out now has a level of organization behind it: http://www.novaoptout.com/
Is the movement in this area as big as it is in NYC? No, but it wasn't that long ago that NYC didn't have many parents opting out, either.

2) Opting out of the test does not equal opting out of the prep.

True, but when you write to say that you are opting out, you can also request that your child be given something else to do or be allowed to read quietly.

3) This can hurt gifted and talented identification/appeals and math placement since its one less data point and those decisions are driven largely by data points. This is especially true for kids heading into middle school, but also in terms of math groupings in ES.

The SOLs are not the only, or even the main, source of data for student evaluation. In Arlington, at least, any parent can ask that their child be assessed for gifted identification and can parent-place for middle school math.

4) Getting kids accustomed to taking these tests will help them later when they really mean something.

Kids take tons of standardized tests even without the SOLs. If your kid tests well, the practice s/he gets on the SOLs is unnecessary. Maybe it's helpful for kids who don't; I know parents whose kids get more wound up the more tests they take, and the parents are hoping that time and maturity will do what endless testing does not. In any case, the tests that "mean something" don't happen, at the earliest, until 7th grade, when kids taking algebra need to pass the SOL to get high school credit.

5) They don't really take that many tests. It's under 3 a year across all the grades.

When you add in test prep and standardized tests that aren't the SOLs, a lot more time is getting wasted on filling bubbles than three days a year.

I'm an elementary school teacher and this really isn't true. Kids in K-3 get PALS testing (but not SOLs before 3rd) In 3rd, they get the COGAT and Naglieri, but there is really no other standardized testing other than the SOLs done in elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There as been some discussion on these forums, but let's recap what has been said...

1) There's no actual movement to do this. You can choose to do it, but you will be tagged as one of "those" parents.

Not true. The impulse to opt out now has a level of organization behind it: http://www.novaoptout.com/
Is the movement in this area as big as it is in NYC? No, but it wasn't that long ago that NYC didn't have many parents opting out, either.

2) Opting out of the test does not equal opting out of the prep.

True, but when you write to say that you are opting out, you can also request that your child be given something else to do or be allowed to read quietly.

3) This can hurt gifted and talented identification/appeals and math placement since its one less data point and those decisions are driven largely by data points. This is especially true for kids heading into middle school, but also in terms of math groupings in ES.

The SOLs are not the only, or even the main, source of data for student evaluation. In Arlington, at least, any parent can ask that their child be assessed for gifted identification and can parent-place for middle school math.

4) Getting kids accustomed to taking these tests will help them later when they really mean something.

Kids take tons of standardized tests even without the SOLs. If your kid tests well, the practice s/he gets on the SOLs is unnecessary. Maybe it's helpful for kids who don't; I know parents whose kids get more wound up the more tests they take, and the parents are hoping that time and maturity will do what endless testing does not. In any case, the tests that "mean something" don't happen, at the earliest, until 7th grade, when kids taking algebra need to pass the SOL to get high school credit.

5) They don't really take that many tests. It's under 3 a year across all the grades.

When you add in test prep and standardized tests that aren't the SOLs, a lot more time is getting wasted on filling bubbles than three days a year.

I'm an elementary school teacher and this really isn't true. Kids in K-3 get PALS testing (but not SOLs before 3rd) In 3rd, they get the COGAT and Naglieri, but there is really no other standardized testing other than the SOLs done in elementary school.

I don't know what elementary school you are in, but I am in FCPS and cogat and naglieri are given in 1st and 2nd, and in 3rd kids get 3-4 sol's plus additional esol tests if they are in esol. Depending on the school they also get various county or school reading, writing and math assesments. K-2 gets DRA and a math assessment, and sometimes PALS or ECAP, a writing assessment, sometimes a spelling assessment, and additional tests if they are in esol. The testing burden for the kids is nominal in k-2 because they don't sit and bubble all day like in 3rd, but it's not nominal for the teacher, who has to stress all year about those tests and who spends a lot of time sitting in the hallway testing kids instead of teaching.

[Anonymous]

I have my first opt-out this year. I support the rational behind the opt out movement, however I'm sad that my smart (would likely pass advance) student will automatically fail the SOLs. It won't hurt our school's overall ratings though, as we tend to have strong scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All kids who failed an SOL were placed together the next year. That would be your kid too. At our elementary school. Why have your kid risk the consequences? So you can feel can good about YOU taking a stand.

I don't believe that. This is called tracking, and I guarantee it doesn't happen in FCPS, at least not in elementary school. Unlikely any of the other school districts are doing that either. I am a teacher, and I know how classes are composed, and sol scores aren't even available when classes are made, much less taken into account.

Principal discretion

[Anonymous]

I am opting out my elementary student, and I cannot imagine that it is going to land him in a too-slow class next year. There are plenty of other ways to gauge his work, and no teacher wants a kid who is a good student to work below her or his level.

If nothing else, the score obsession that is part and parcel of the excessive testing means a kid who can breeze through advanced math is going to be put in an advanced math class so the school can tout the number of 7th graders taking algebra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All kids who failed an SOL were placed together the next year. That would be your kid too. At our elementary school. Why have your kid risk the consequences? So you can feel can good about YOU taking a stand.

I don't believe that. This is called tracking, and I guarantee it doesn't happen in FCPS, at least not in elementary school. Unlikely any of the other school districts are doing that either. I am a teacher, and I know how classes are composed, and sol scores aren't even available when classes are made, much less taken into account.

Principal discretion

So a kid who has A's all year and opts out will be put in a remedial class. I doubt that.