Failed SOL's two years running

[Anonymous]

For this issue, I would schedule an appointment with the Assistant Principal in charge of testing for your school. If your child is reading on grade level then this could be a test taking issue and not a reading issue. I would want to rule that out before doing tutoring all year.

My DS has been barely passing the reading SOL for years and I kept asking the school to figure out what the issue was and they didn’t. He failed this past year (by one question). His teacher spent about 40 minutes with him going over the types of questions he was getting wrong and gave him some practice questions. His score went up by 50 points on his retake.

We give the kids all these tests but we don’t give them enough explicit instruction on being good test takers. It is a different skill than the content and some kids have it naturally while others do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What grade is this? Upper elem? Middle school?

Failed 3rd and 4th grade.
Reads daily at home independently and is read to at home each evening, enjoys books, weekly family trip to library, good reading grades since K so definitely not a lack of literary interest at home, it just doesn't add it at this point- I dismissed 3rd grade as COVID craziness but they were in-person all last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The reading SOLs have been made much harder in recent years. Yes, OP should consider a tutor but she shouldn't have the wrong idea about the SOLs.



What? No. The SOLs were much easier in the Spring 2022 administration. My proof is the SDPQ (only school admin and teachers see this) or whatever it is called. Across the board, more low level questions than I ever recall seeing before. (A Teacher)

You are not a teacher. Teachers aren't allowed to look at the SOL questions, do not see the test in advance, and don't see it after the test.

RIF. The teacher doesn't look at the SOL questions. Teachers and admin receive a report from Pearson that lists each question number, the standard and then whether the question is high, medium or low. Sounds like you need as much help as OP's kid. Our admin hand out the reports for each student in ELA and I presume for all the other tested subjects. It is very helpful information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What grade is this? Upper elem? Middle school?

Failed 3rd and 4th grade.
Reads daily at home independently and is read to at home each evening, enjoys books, weekly family trip to library, good reading grades since K so definitely not a lack of literary interest at home, it just doesn't add it at this point- I dismissed 3rd grade as COVID craziness but they were in-person all last year.

Ask your school the % of kids that passed the reading SOL. Most do. You need to figure out what’s wrong that your child isn’t passing.

[Anonymous]

Some kids don’t do well with the pressure of standardized tests. My sister was very much like that. She had the worst time with any standardized test even if she knew the material cold.

OP, have you tried SOLpass? Your school may have an account to share or you can sign up for a free trial. Your DC can take several example tests and you can match up the answers to see where your child is having trouble. My son’s Ffx Co ES used this as prep. He said the prep questions were much harder than the real test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What grade is this? Upper elem? Middle school?

Failed 3rd and 4th grade.
Reads daily at home independently and is read to at home each evening, enjoys books, weekly family trip to library, good reading grades since K so definitely not a lack of literary interest at home, it just doesn't add it at this point- I dismissed 3rd grade as COVID craziness but they were in-person all last year.

What does he like to read independently?

[Anonymous]

Sometimes parents just need to accept that some kids are below average. It can be a hard pill to swallow but not everyone goes to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What grade is this? Upper elem? Middle school?

Failed 3rd and 4th grade.
Reads daily at home independently and is read to at home each evening, enjoys books, weekly family trip to library, good reading grades since K so definitely not a lack of literary interest at home, it just doesn't add it at this point- I dismissed 3rd grade as COVID craziness but they were in-person all last year.

I suggest asking for a student support meeting. The school should provide tiered interventions. A school evaluation for special education should also be discussed, particularly if the child doesn't respond well to the interventions.

If you can afford it, I also suggest a private psycho-educational evaluation.

[Anonymous]

It could be because the SOLs are not actually related to anything kids are graded on. They aren't made by the teacher and the teachers don't even know what will be on them, plus they come at the end of the year, so there is no way for a teacher to do anything about a failing sol score because it's too late by the time they find out (if they ever find out). He could indeed be on grade level and still not passing the sol test - could be stamina, persistence, maybe just not caring (that happens a LOT), or just not being familiar with the test format (maybe the teachers aren't doing a lot of test prep - a good thing, not a bad thing). Ask about how he is determined to be on grade level and look at the books he is reading. SOL's are not really very useful measures.

[Anonymous]

My ADHD kid with exceptionally average intelligence passes easily each year. As he gets older, I spend a little time with him teaching him how to take standardized tests. That is an additional skill.

And looking at some of the released older tests, they are often quite poorly done. If you have a kid who thinks at all differently, the test is a mess. I am an excellent test taker and the sample tests are a breeze for me, but my kid who marches to a different drummer will select an answer and when I ask him how/why he will often give me an answer that makes perfect sense when you look at the question that way. So you have to teach the kid how to test.

[Anonymous]

my 3rd grader passed easily with adhd and dyslexia. But they also receive excellent in-school supports and an appropriate learning environment.

OP: The imbalance of what your kid can and can't do is concerning. I suspect there's a specific issue and that needs to be discovered (by the school or a private eval) and no amount of generalized tutoring will help. But, if you address that issue, sounds like your kid will be back on track. I also think it's very important to discover this in elementary school. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes parents just need to accept that some kids are below average. It can be a hard pill to swallow but not everyone goes to college.

op, this is rubbish. Your kid gets excellent grades. This is a problem with standardized testing. It’s why colleges are de-emphasizing them now on applications. Some kids won’t be good standardized testers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How would you approach new teacher this year and how would you frame concern around disconnect of two years of failing reading on SOL's and yet consistently high grades on report cards.

Is this just bad test taking at its extreme or is it easy grading that isn't reflecting a larger issue that needs to be addressed outside of SOL's? What kind of assessment (if any) should I be asking for?

Teacher and parent perspectives welcome!

Parent and former teacher. You need to get your kid a tutor. Sure talk to the school, but SOLs aren’t very hard. You should have gotten a tutor after the first failure.

I agree. My child started last year a year behind grade level and passed the SOL. Are you not aware of your child's reading level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How would you approach new teacher this year and how would you frame concern around disconnect of two years of failing reading on SOL's and yet consistently high grades on report cards.

Is this just bad test taking at its extreme or is it easy grading that isn't reflecting a larger issue that needs to be addressed outside of SOL's? What kind of assessment (if any) should I be asking for?

Teacher and parent perspectives welcome!

Parent and former teacher. You need to get your kid a tutor. Sure talk to the school, but SOLs aren’t very hard. You should have gotten a tutor after the first failure.

Translation: Yes, schools are inflating grades to hide the results of poor curriculum choices, poor teaching and to avoid being held accountable. No, your child is not in the minority as most kids would test poorly without outside tutoring and parental help. Yes, the emperor has no clothes; public schools in this area are only rated well because parents heavily supplement. No, you should not expect any meaningful help from the school staff. They are overwhelmed, ill-equipped, and textbook-less.

My advice to you is to homeschool before your child falls too far behind. Choose a classical curriculum that includes vocabulary lists, spelling, grammar, composition, and classical literature. Don't keep doing the same thing and going the same places hoping things will get better. Don't be afraid of change. Wishing you and your family all the best.

+1000

You're one of those people who shows up at school board meetings and screams at everyone aren't you? We get your point of view.

Gosh no! I'm in Alexandria where there was a gang rape of a child in the 9th grade building and 99.9% of parents didn't care. We know the school board, superintendent, city council and the mayor are all our betters and they were right to cover it up for six months. We don't scream and yell here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It could be because the SOLs are not actually related to anything kids are graded on. They aren't made by the teacher and the teachers don't even know what will be on them, plus they come at the end of the year, so there is no way for a teacher to do anything about a failing sol score because it's too late by the time they find out (if they ever find out). He could indeed be on grade level and still not passing the sol test - could be stamina, persistence, maybe just not caring (that happens a LOT), or just not being familiar with the test format (maybe the teachers aren't doing a lot of test prep - a good thing, not a bad thing). Ask about how he is determined to be on grade level and look at the books he is reading. SOL's are not really very useful measures.

I'm not sure any of this is true. Teachers know the skills that are supposed to be tested on the SOL--they are the same skills that are taught in that grade. Teachers also know how the test is generally set up and how such skills are tested. My 3rd grader did SOL-like practice tests weekly all of last year. Those "weekly review" assignments were graded. If kids struggled with the questions they got extra help until they understood how to answer the quesrion. I really doubt the teachers were surprised by more than a few SOL scores. By the time the kids took the SOL they'd been well trained on the format and how to answer multiple choice questions. The teachers also had a good sense of whether students could answer SOL-like practice questions correctly.