Do you care how your kid does on SOL’s?

[Anonymous]

Even if I don’t care - I want my kid to care. Mostly because I want my kids to care about themselves enough to try to do well on a test, even if the scores are of little consequence. We, as adults who have experience, have learned to be cynical about the things we should be cynical about. Kids haven’t.

[Anonymous]

Kid is on a 'Pass Advanced' streak, and we would like that to continue..

Had the discussion with him, where he said - "Does this matter?" "No... But still do your best!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope! I told me kid to fill in all AS and then read his book.

Yikes. We don't stress about it, but I wouldn't tell my kid to do this. If you're actively trying to sabotage results, just pull your kid out and homeschool or send to private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes and no.

Yes because they are a measure of what he has learned this year. But it is a crappy measure, and I think they should be later in the year so there is more time to teach the kids the material that they will be tested on.

No because it has no real impact on his grades and they don't really measure anything in depth. I think they are a waste of time and money and would prefer to get rid of them all together.

That’s true, if your primary concern is their transcript, which it may be; but if they have As and barely pass the SOL then their tests are too easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. My kid was stressing about one this am. He’s never passed one and he’s in 5th grade. I do not care if he passes or not. I will not make him retake it.

Not every student is at the same level, so if you’re OK with your kid failing then that’s totally fine. He may find the honors classes in middle school too hard; but again, if you’re OK with that then fine.

He has a learning disability, so he will not be taking honors in MS. He tries and that's all I care about.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I tell them to take it seriously, otherwise, they click through like the iReady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:just pass

Same....I have a friend who stresses her kids out about it. I just don't see the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very high stress/high strung perfectionist elementary school child, so yes I absolutely downplay them.

At the end of the day they are a useful metric to make sure my kid is absorbing information as expected.

This, but mine is in middle now. I tell her constantly that "SOLs don't matter one bit for you--they only matter for the teachers and the school." She still doesn't believe me. I also said, "literally every other test and even quiz this entire year matters more than this stupid SOL." She finally did say, "I only need to pass. It doesn't matter if I pass advanced." And I said, "You don't even need to pass!!!" The truth is, I do care how she does and I do think it is one metric to assess what she is learning, but she stresses about enough things in her life so I do not need this to be one of them. So to answer the question, yes I care, but no, I do not tell my kid I care.

I have a HS kid, too, but he never gets stressed about tests of any kind.

She needs to pass her reading SOL if she's rising 7th or 8th grade. If she doesn't, she will be evaluated to have an official reading plan (Part of the Virginia Literacy Act), and she could lose an elective because she could be placed in a literacy support class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes and no.

Yes because they are a measure of what he has learned this year. But it is a crappy measure, and I think they should be later in the year so there is more time to teach the kids the material that they will be tested on.

No because it has no real impact on his grades and they don't really measure anything in depth. I think they are a waste of time and money and would prefer to get rid of them all together.

This, all of this, very single part.
- teacher whose school is ridiculous about these stupid tests

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools are stressing kids out, making teachers say make sure you get enough sleep, eat a good breakfast, blah blah. The school districts make the kids and their teachers feel like this is the most important thing in their life. I have an elementary school kid and a middle school kid and I really feel like telling them “it really doesn’t matter in the scheme of things.” do you downplay the importance of SOL testing to your kids? (I’m not talking about high school kids.)

Fixed it for you.

[Anonymous]

I repeat over and over that I don’t care about SOLs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes and no.

Yes because they are a measure of what he has learned this year. But it is a crappy measure, and I think they should be later in the year so there is more time to teach the kids the material that they will be tested on.

No because it has no real impact on his grades and they don't really measure anything in depth. I think they are a waste of time and money and would prefer to get rid of them all together.

That’s true, if your primary concern is their transcript, which it may be; but if they have As and barely pass the SOL then their tests are too easy.

The good news for my son is that he has always passed advanced on the SOL so no worries there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a very high stress/high strung perfectionist elementary school child, so yes I absolutely downplay them.

At the end of the day they are a useful metric to make sure my kid is absorbing information as expected.

I opted DC out!

It was too stressful and honestly meaningless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Not one bit. Even if they fail.

If they tried, and they failed, there is a problem that you should be concerned about.

I don't care if they try or not. This is not a reflection on their ability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Not one bit. Even if they fail.

If they tried, and they failed, there is a problem that you should be concerned about.

I don't care if they try or not. This is not a reflection on their ability.

But it is.