Permission to retake SOLs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't think it bothers your child? I hate high stakes standardized testing and want it gone ... but I see this policy change as an opportunity to lessen its impact on the kids who really shouldn't have to carry that burden of "failing." It's an attempt to make the testing more accurately reflect what the kid has done all year - and that seems like a welcome change. I have signed the form and returned it.

I think being pulled out of class to retake a test all him classmates know he's already taken is worse psychologically that just him knowing he didn't pass the SOL. I would then tell him he came really close to passing and not to worry too much about it because we can work on the subject and get him up to speed. He'll already know he didn't pass, no need to broadcast it to everyone else--that's a heavy burden.

+1
I'm wondering how the child would even know he had failed in the first place - they send those scores home in the mail, right? And I agree, I would never want my child to have to draw attention to the fact that s/he failed by being pulled out of class for a retake. Absolutely not.

[Anonymous]

For what it's worth, at the high school level, the SOLs are for the benefit of the school only, especially in upper years. Langley forces kids to retake in order to provide stats to the County. DS knew a kid who had to take it five times so the school could report him as a pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For what it's worth, at the high school level, the SOLs are for the benefit of the school only, especially in upper years. Langley forces kids to retake in order to provide stats to the County. DS knew a kid who had to take it five times so the school could report him as a pass.

I don't think that is true at the high school level. I think you need to pass a certain number of SOLs to graduate. In high school, you should let your kid retake to meet that requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For what it's worth, at the high school level, the SOLs are for the benefit of the school only, especially in upper years. Langley forces kids to retake in order to provide stats to the County. DS knew a kid who had to take it five times so the school could report him as a pass.

Completely untrue. You must have a certain number of "verified credits" in each subject (meaning you pass the class AND the SOL). If you do not pass enough high school SOLs in the right subjects, then you don't get a full diploma.

The SOLs are for the benefit of the school only in elementary and middle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't think it bothers your child? I hate high stakes standardized testing and want it gone ... but I see this policy change as an opportunity to lessen its impact on the kids who really shouldn't have to carry that burden of "failing." It's an attempt to make the testing more accurately reflect what the kid has done all year - and that seems like a welcome change. I have signed the form and returned it.

I think being pulled out of class to retake a test all him classmates know he's already taken is worse psychologically that just him knowing he didn't pass the SOL. I would then tell him he came really close to passing and not to worry too much about it because we can work on the subject and get him up to speed. He'll already know he didn't pass, no need to broadcast it to everyone else--that's a heavy burden.

+1
I'm wondering how the child would even know he had failed in the first place - they send those scores home in the mail, right? And I agree, I would never want my child to have to draw attention to the fact that s/he failed by being pulled out of class for a retake. Absolutely not.

Official scores are mailed in August to your house. But "unofficial scores" are sent home (in our case in the Tuesday folder) pretty soon after testing. I've never seen a discrepancy between the 2, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

I haven't decided whether to sign it. I've got 3 kids in elementary school who came home with them - 2 of the kids have IEPs and one is a 6th grader that has never passed a math SOL. One of the kids has high level of anxiety, particular test anxiety, and I just don't see the value of him taking it again.

[Anonymous]

I didn't plan to sign it -- recycled the form. Today a somewhat urgent email came from the teacher to all parents reminding us to turn in the forms ASAP. The form clearly stated there is no effect on the child and I have no interest in making my kid test even more. But I didn't know that we will be pressured by the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't decided whether to sign it. I've got 3 kids in elementary school who came home with them - 2 of the kids have IEPs and one is a 6th grader that has never passed a math SOL. One of the kids has high level of anxiety, particular test anxiety, and I just don't see the value of him taking it again.

I also have a 6th grader who didn't pass the math SOL last year and is so stressed out about it this year. We work with him at home, he's had tutors, etc. Frankly, the SOLs seem designed for failure. Too many strangely worded questions and multiple possible answers. I really don't see the value in having him take it again either, if it's just to benefit the school.

[Anonymous]

You have to sign the form and turn it in. They seem to have a new requirement to have them on file. I just checked NO and signed. My kids never came close to failing, but even if they did, I wouldn't want them wasting time taking them again.

[Anonymous]

I signed no retake. If my child were even close to failing then we'd have bigger concerns than the school getting credit for the pass. I'm not putting mychild through that test twice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I signed no retake. If my child were even close to failing then we'd have bigger concerns than the school getting credit for the pass. I'm not putting mychild through that test twice.

+1

[Anonymous]

For those of you insisting that it's against the law for the SOL test score to impact class placement, you are frankly unbelievably naive. Kids that fail the SOL are well-known and thoroughly tracked by the admin. The ones "on the bubble" are in for even more scrutiny, because the schools figure they have a better chance of getting that kid to pass next year than the kid who failed abysmally. Your kid's school day will be impacted.

Continue to advocate for less standardized testing, and improved evaluation methods by all means, but in the meantime, sign the form!

You are the naive one and seem to have an agenda. My DC is in aap and did not pass math SOL. DC is 2E and a great student, but due to an issue, does not do well on long tests. The school cannot place DC in nonAAP math without my permission. They suggested moving DC out and I said no. I know my rights, and I know the law. I suggest educating yourself. Check out Wrights Law for a lot of info. It's a good starting point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of you insisting that it's against the law for the SOL test score to impact class placement, you are frankly unbelievably naive. Kids that fail the SOL are well-known and thoroughly tracked by the admin. The ones "on the bubble" are in for even more scrutiny, because the schools figure they have a better chance of getting that kid to pass next year than the kid who failed abysmally. Your kid's school day will be impacted.

Continue to advocate for less standardized testing, and improved evaluation methods by all means, but in the meantime, sign the form!

You are the naive one and seem to have an agenda. My DC is in aap and did not pass math SOL. DC is 2E and a great student, but due to an issue, does not do well on long tests. The school cannot place DC in nonAAP math without my permission. They suggested moving DC out and I said no. I know my rights, and I know the law. I suggest educating yourself. Check out Wrights Law for a lot of info. It's a good starting point.


How old is your son?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of you insisting that it's against the law for the SOL test score to impact class placement, you are frankly unbelievably naive. Kids that fail the SOL are well-known and thoroughly tracked by the admin. The ones "on the bubble" are in for even more scrutiny, because the schools figure they have a better chance of getting that kid to pass next year than the kid who failed abysmally. Your kid's school day will be impacted.

Continue to advocate for less standardized testing, and improved evaluation methods by all means, but in the meantime, sign the form!

You are the naive one and seem to have an agenda. My DC is in aap and did not pass math SOL. DC is 2E and a great student, but due to an issue, does not do well on long tests. The school cannot place DC in nonAAP math without my permission. They suggested moving DC out and I said no. I know my rights, and I know the law. I suggest educating yourself. Check out Wrights Law for a lot of info. It's a good starting point.


AAP goes out the window for math in MS. He will be in 7th Honors unless he can get a Pass Advanced on the7th grade SOL and a 91 percentile or higher on the Iowa Algebra readiness test. Both are considered advanced math. Then, there are SOL tests that are required for HS graduation. I am not sure how you get around those. If you know what part of IDEA (or other legislation) allows for a standard or advanced diploma without meeting the stated requirements, please let post. I am interested.

[Anonymous]

Even if you sign that you want your child retested, you could still reverse your decision if your child fails an SOL. You should confer with your child's teacher as a starting place. It certainly wouln't be worth it for your child to fail the same SOL twice. I would only do the retest if it was a student who was expected to pass (did well on eCARTs, etc), and if the child doesn't have anxiety issues. Also, if by looking at the score break-down (teachers and admin have access to that information), there is one particular area that is much weaker than others, that could indicate that targeted remediation may be effective. The turn-around time is so short that it wouldn't be worth it for many students to retake.