Arlington SOLs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m an elementary APS teacher. Our students performed pretty much as we expected in a normal year. Which is to say, higher SES kids passed as always, lower SES kids had more struggles, and more variability in students with IEP’s depending on the individual. We didn’t see big drops as a whole.

That’s probably true for higher SES kids whose families pursued tutors/pods, or who had the time to teach and/or reinforce all the material outside of school hours. I didn’t think my kid missing half a year of instruction in 4th grade, and then having a very slow paced instruction that focused on the students at the bottom, below grade level, and only being offered “enrichment” that was appropriate for my kid as solo optional work could possibly result in good SOL scores, and I was correct. My spouse insisted we not push our kid since kid would be even more bored if advanced too far beyond the struggling peers. So I let it go, didn’t have the energy to fight, and this was a crazy year and everyone gets a pass. But I was right, in the end, as the kid’s scores show. And I’m not going to listen to spouse any longer about holding our capable kid back to fit with peers. That’s a ridiculous mentality, and not one that most other parents in our SES position in Arlington take, as you have noted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m an elementary APS teacher. Our students performed pretty much as we expected in a normal year. Which is to say, higher SES kids passed as always, lower SES kids had more struggles, and more variability in students with IEP’s depending on the individual. We didn’t see big drops as a whole.

My experience was pretty much the same although I had a slight increase in pass rates. Different demographic in a different NoVa district. I am at a high FARMS school and 92% of my students who tested were 2-5 ELLs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m an elementary APS teacher. Our students performed pretty much as we expected in a normal year. Which is to say, higher SES kids passed as always, lower SES kids had more struggles, and more variability in students with IEP’s depending on the individual. We didn’t see big drops as a whole.

That’s probably true for higher SES kids whose families pursued tutors/pods, or who had the time to teach and/or reinforce all the material outside of school hours. I didn’t think my kid missing half a year of instruction in 4th grade, and then having a very slow paced instruction that focused on the students at the bottom, below grade level, and only being offered “enrichment” that was appropriate for my kid as solo optional work could possibly result in good SOL scores, and I was correct. My spouse insisted we not push our kid since kid would be even more bored if advanced too far beyond the struggling peers. So I let it go, didn’t have the energy to fight, and this was a crazy year and everyone gets a pass. But I was right, in the end, as the kid’s scores show. And I’m not going to listen to spouse any longer about holding our capable kid back to fit with peers. That’s a ridiculous mentality, and not one that most other parents in our SES position in Arlington take, as you have noted.

Are you in APS? How do you have your students scores?

[Anonymous]

SOL scores were posted today in ParentVUE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SOL scores were posted today in ParentVUE.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

My 3rd grader with an IEP was in the "pass/proficient" category but not by much in both categories (score was well below 450 for both, special needs are mild). This is obviously our first time dealing with SOLs. Trying to figure out how we should feel about this. I always had high scores on standardized tests as a kid. I'm trying not to care. And my kid will never know this matters to me other than that I was them to try their best. But trying to figure out if it's actually common for this type of score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SOL scores were posted today in ParentVUE.

Why do I have to read DCUM to find this out? Thank you for posting, but WTF APS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SOL scores were posted today in ParentVUE.

Why do I have to read DCUM to find this out? Thank you for posting, but WTF APS?

It is a test to find out which parents are all over dcurbanmom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 3rd grader with an IEP was in the "pass/proficient" category but not by much in both categories (score was well below 450 for both, special needs are mild). This is obviously our first time dealing with SOLs. Trying to figure out how we should feel about this. I always had high scores on standardized tests as a kid. I'm trying not to care. And my kid will never know this matters to me other than that I was them to try their best. But trying to figure out if it's actually common for this type of score.

I’m an APS teacher and parent. I would just hold this info for now because for a 3rd grader it’s a baseline. Same for 4th graders. Typically scores go up the 2nd year because students know what to expect and the unfamiliarity isn’t as big a factor. The good news is your student passed the test and it shows they are capable of doing so. It’s a single data point and doesn’t have any implications for your child.

[Anonymous]

*same for 4th graders this year because they did not take the SOLs last year so it is also their first time taking it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SOL scores were posted today in ParentVUE.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I have a 3rd grader, so hard to really know how this test was impacted by this year. He was identified as gifted in K. He scored almost perfect on the reading section but barely above 450 on math (even though he was identified as gifted for math and works with a private tutor 2 grade levels ahead on math).

So who knows. Obviously, glad he passed and no complaints since he did well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 3rd grader, so hard to really know how this test was impacted by this year. He was identified as gifted in K. He scored almost perfect on the reading section but barely above 450 on math (even though he was identified as gifted for math and works with a private tutor 2 grade levels ahead on math).

So who knows. Obviously, glad he passed and no complaints since he did well.

Sounds like your tutor should give you a refund.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 3rd grader, so hard to really know how this test was impacted by this year. He was identified as gifted in K. He scored almost perfect on the reading section but barely above 450 on math (even though he was identified as gifted for math and works with a private tutor 2 grade levels ahead on math).

So who knows. Obviously, glad he passed and no complaints since he did well.

Sounds like your tutor should give you a refund.

ha ha. Maybe.

[Anonymous]

What score would put you at ease? 450 is a solid pass, right?