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

[Anonymous]

Yes, I do. Minimally they need to pass. That's my opinion and I don't care if someone else says it's not important to pass.

[Anonymous]

I tell them not to stress, but also not to blow them off. They still need to pass them in HS to graduate.

DS goofed off and marked random answers during his first tests in middle school and had to retake them all. That actually stressed him out more because friends and classmates were teasing him.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I care if they pass. I don't care about passing advanced.
- Parent and teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This is good to know. I never heard about this.

[Anonymous]

I told my kids that this is actually a test for the benefit of the school - it's testing how well the teachers are teaching them. And it's true, doesn't SOL scores affect funding and things like that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DP, but nobody has told us this, thank you! I have a 6th grader who gets reading support in school, but historically has passed her reading SOL. She will be devastated if she can't take art because she has to take a literacy class. I'd rather spend money on a tutor. Can you decline it?

[Anonymous]

Also, what happens to middle schoolers if they don't pass the math SOL? Same thing?

[Anonymous]

When do they release the results? Another month or two from now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I told my kids that this is actually a test for the benefit of the school - it's testing how well the teachers are teaching them. And it's true, doesn't SOL scores affect funding and things like that?

These tests are a reflection of intelligence, wealth, acquisition of the English language…and a few other factors.

But least of all, a reflection of teaching. Students can have great teachers and kids can still perform poorly. We see it all the time with Title I schools and ESL students, those teachers aren’t necessarily worse then the ones at affluent schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I told my kids that this is actually a test for the benefit of the school - it's testing how well the teachers are teaching them. And it's true, doesn't SOL scores affect funding and things like that?

Federal funding is the smallest chunk (by a lot) compared to state and local taxes - and a good chunk of that is based on ESL, SPED, and Title I numbers.

[Anonymous]

Yes you can decline the literacy class
No need to worry about passing any
SOL until HS courses.

[Anonymous]

Don’t care if they pass.

[Anonymous]

I care about my 6th grade child’s math SOL. Students in advanced math in 6th grade need to pass advance the 7th grade math SOL in order to take Algebra I in 7th grade.

Advice for parents of elementary students. Your child needs to do well on the SOLs and iReady tests if you want them to get into the AAP program.

[Anonymous]

Elementary and Middle School SOL'S? No
High School? Yes

[Anonymous]

Well...if they fail something is definitely wrong, right? Why wouldn't you care?