SOLs/Incentives Bribes?

[Anonymous]

Is it legal for schools to give incentives, i.e. extra points, bonus items, etc. to students for doing well on the SOLs? Isn't this in effect a bribe?

I thought the SOLs were a measure of how effective the school is at teaching students. What do the schools receive for high ranking SOL scores?

[Anonymous]

What school is doing this??? The schools get money from the state depending on their SOL scores. That's why I refuse to prep my kids for these tests since their class room grades have no relation to their SOL scores. I am thisclose to telling my kids to fudge the whole thing just to screw up the schools, to be honest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What school is doing this??? The schools get money from the state depending on their SOL scores. That's why I refuse to prep my kids for these tests since their class room grades have no relation to their SOL scores. I am thisclose to telling my kids to fudge the whole thing just to screw up the schools, to be honest.

Cooper does it. TC Williams. Langley. Some other VA schools outside of FCPS. It's becoming the new thing.

I feel the same way you do. I had to call my DC school yesterday to ask them if the SOLs counted towards their grades because the kids were in a panic that they did - rumor going around school. They said "No, we don't even recommend that the kids study for them". I then asked why the teacher are offering after-school study sessions. Crickets. I asked them to make an announcement to clarify the situation to the students. My DC came home today and stated they were offered a sliding point system based on how well they did, i.e. those points would be added to their final grades. There were no penalties though. In addition, some students could substitute their SOL grade for their final if they did well.

Since, as you stated, SOL results judge the school itself and their teachers, this is tantamount to bribing the students to save their own collective a**es. Too much Govt. involvement always breeds corruption IMHO.

[Anonymous]

DC means Dear Child in the above context, not District of Columbia. Sorry about that.

[Anonymous]

Do they use SOL scores for advanced placement in classes? My DC is in elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do they use SOL scores for advanced placement in classes? My DC is in elementary school.

An advanced math curriculum student must score pass advanced on the 7th grade math SOL in 6th grade and score 91% or higher on the IAAT in order to take Algebra in 7th grade.

[Anonymous]

A public school should not be offering what amounts to bribes to increase performance, when performance is tied to their funding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they use SOL scores for advanced placement in classes? My DC is in elementary school.

An advanced math curriculum student must score pass advanced on the 7th grade math SOL in 6th grade and score 91% or higher on the IAAT in order to take Algebra in 7th grade.

Which is not hard to do on the SOL.