Raise your hand if you got "the call" about SOLs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher and posted earlier. My students finish times finish between 25 minutes and 2 hours.

This teacher's experience mirrors my own. But what I think he or she means is that those times apply to one session of the reading or math test. Those are two-day tests.

That was me. Correct. I meant each section.

We took both parts of the reading in one morning with a ten minute break in between. Still, they started around 9:05 and all were done by 11:45.

The math we took over two days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Retake or not, but over 90% pass, so not passing is a reason to asses and reflect on your child's situation. Sometimes "it is what it is" and that's fine. But sometimes it's test anxiety and it's worthwhile to get some reps under their belt or counseling/therapy for when the tests matter. Being in the bottom 10% is fine, but root cause analysis is useful.

This will be my child.

Test anxiety is real. Better to deal with it when it's not critical than hide from it till it really matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So if you don't pass SOLs in ES ... there is no need for a retake? It doesn't affect you?

... Is that correct?

At our ES all students who didn't pass an SOL were grouped together in the same class the following year. Let's call it tracking.

What if your kid is in AAP? They can't track them. Do all AAP kids pass SOLs? Don't they take the SOLs of the year ahead of them? My oldest is in K so I know nothing.

In Elementary School all the kids take the same SOLs with the exception of the Advanced Math classes. Starting in 5th grade, the Advanced Math class will take the 6th grade SOL, because they are being taught the 6th grade math curriculum. The 6th grade Advanced Math class takes the 7th grade SOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this 6 hours? Each elementary test takes about 1 hour to complete.

Not true. I know of a few kids who spent the entire school day (except lunch) on their math SOL at my child's ES.

Yes my dd spent 4.5 hours on her math SOL yesterday. She carefully rechecks each answer. She brought her lunch with her to the test. She's in 4th grade. She said another kid spent even longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this 6 hours? Each elementary test takes about 1 hour to complete.

Not true. I know of a few kids who spent the entire school day (except lunch) on their math SOL at my child's ES.

Yes my dd spent 4.5 hours on her math SOL yesterday. She carefully rechecks each answer. She brought her lunch with her to the test. She's in 4th grade. She said another kid spent even longer.

Do you or your DD feel that is too long for her to be working on something? Seems like no 9 yr. old should have to focus for 4.5 hrs. Just wondering if your child is fried or if she is just exceedingly cautious in answering and not feeling pressured for 4.5 hrs.

Interestingly, both of my kids (one a girl and the other a boy) said that it is mostly the girls in their class who take "forever" to complete the SOLs b/c they go back and check and check and check. Made me wonder if girls don't really need more time, but they need more confidence to believe they are right!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So if you don't pass SOLs in ES ... there is no need for a retake? It doesn't affect you?

... Is that correct?

At our ES all students who didn't pass an SOL were grouped together in the same class the following year. Let's call it tracking.

What if your kid is in AAP? They can't track them. Do all AAP kids pass SOLs? Don't they take the SOLs of the year ahead of them? My oldest is in K so I know nothing.

In Elementary School all the kids take the same SOLs with the exception of the Advanced Math classes. Starting in 5th grade, the Advanced Math class will take the 6th grade SOL, because they are being taught the 6th grade math curriculum. The 6th grade Advanced Math class takes the 7th grade SOL.

So what happens if an AAP kid doesn't pass SOLs in ES or MS? They won't be tracked into lower classes. Should they re-take it?

[Anonymous]

Yes, the cut off in elementary is somewhere in the 60s for percentile not 50s. Whoever said over 90% of students pass needs to go through the data for the schools in FCPS. It varies greatly-some schools have pas rates more like 60percent or 70 percent of students.

[Anonymous]

Yes, and my child did the retake. She was close to passing. She was not stressed, there was no pressure put on her. She passed on the second attempt. This was last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So if you don't pass SOLs in ES ... there is no need for a retake? It doesn't affect you?

... Is that correct?

At our ES all students who didn't pass an SOL were grouped together in the same class the following year. Let's call it tracking.

What if your kid is in AAP? They can't track them. Do all AAP kids pass SOLs? Don't they take the SOLs of the year ahead of them? My oldest is in K so I know nothing.

In Elementary School all the kids take the same SOLs with the exception of the Advanced Math classes. Starting in 5th grade, the Advanced Math class will take the 6th grade SOL, because they are being taught the 6th grade math curriculum. The 6th grade Advanced Math class takes the 7th grade SOL.

So what happens if an AAP kid doesn't pass SOLs in ES or MS? They won't be tracked into lower classes. Should they re-take it?

Our Elementary School specifically says that SOL scores are not used to determine class placement. If you kid is excelling on other tests and getting good grades in the AAP curriculum and fails the SOL, there is obviously something going on and you should figure out what it is. Was the kid have a bad day? Is there a medical or behavioral issue? Does he/she really not understand the material? In this case I would treat the bad test score as a symptom, not the problem itself.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor's son fails the reading comprehension every year. He is a smart, sweet kid that does great in school. Even though he is at grade level in his DRAs he struggles with this test. And the fact that he failed it before just adds to his stress. This year, his teacher told my neighbor, in confidence, not to make him retake it again. The teacher sees his anxiety and thinks he is fine and at grade level, so no need to add more stress to a kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So if you don't pass SOLs in ES ... there is no need for a retake? It doesn't affect you?

... Is that correct?

At our ES all students who didn't pass an SOL were grouped together in the same class the following year. Let's call it tracking.

What if your kid is in AAP? They can't track them. Do all AAP kids pass SOLs? Don't they take the SOLs of the year ahead of them? My oldest is in K so I know nothing.

In Elementary School all the kids take the same SOLs with the exception of the Advanced Math classes. Starting in 5th grade, the Advanced Math class will take the 6th grade SOL, because they are being taught the 6th grade math curriculum. The 6th grade Advanced Math class takes the 7th grade SOL.

So what happens if an AAP kid doesn't pass SOLs in ES or MS? They won't be tracked into lower classes. Should they re-take it?

I have a little math whiz in AAP. Although he knows his stuff very well according to his teacher, he struggles with long math tests because of sever inattention. So, out of 60 questions, he'll get the first 30 right, and just guess anything that requires a lot of work from then on. He has not failed a Math SOL, but he is definitely not passing advanced. I would not make him retake the test anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is this 6 hours? Each elementary test takes about 1 hour to complete.

Then your school must be the only one in FCPS to offer a shorter version of the tests. My son, who excels in school and is a fast test taker, took 1 1/2 hours for the first half and 1 1/2 hours for the second half of his tests. So about 3 hours per test and it took a lot of his classmates longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So if you don't pass SOLs in ES ... there is no need for a retake? It doesn't affect you?

... Is that correct?

At our ES all students who didn't pass an SOL were grouped together in the same class the following year. Let's call it tracking.

What if your kid is in AAP? They can't track them. Do all AAP kids pass SOLs? Don't they take the SOLs of the year ahead of them? My oldest is in K so I know nothing.

In Elementary School all the kids take the same SOLs with the exception of the Advanced Math classes. Starting in 5th grade, the Advanced Math class will take the 6th grade SOL, because they are being taught the 6th grade math curriculum. The 6th grade Advanced Math class takes the 7th grade SOL.

So what happens if an AAP kid doesn't pass SOLs in ES or MS? They won't be tracked into lower classes. Should they re-take it?

Our Elementary School specifically says that SOL scores are not used to determine class placement. If you kid is excelling on other tests and getting good grades in the AAP curriculum and fails the SOL, there is obviously something going on and you should figure out what it is. Was the kid have a bad day? Is there a medical or behavioral issue? Does he/she really not understand the material? In this case I would treat the bad test score as a symptom, not the problem itself.

Yes, we were told NNAT and CogAt aren't used either. The next year the advanced classes were the kids who's parents shared they got 99th percentile, 95th percentile and whatever, even if the kid got 2s on the report card. I understand it and it doesn't bother me. What bothers me is the fact people claim these tests aren't used. I have no doubt SOL scores are part of placement too. Maybe not at every school.

[Anonymous]

My kid gets so bored and overwhelmed by the length of the tests that he tries at first, then when he gets so bored by the test, he puts any answer. Maybe I should opt him out next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor's son fails the reading comprehension every year. He is a smart, sweet kid that does great in school. Even though he is at grade level in his DRAs he struggles with this test. And the fact that he failed it before just adds to his stress. This year, his teacher told my neighbor, in confidence, not to make him retake it again. The teacher sees his anxiety and thinks he is fine and at grade level, so no need to add more stress to a kid.

I have an AAP kid who has been diagnosed with anxiety since she was 7 years old. She doesn't always pass the SOLs. She does great in AAP. We don't have her do retakes, we have her getting counseling for anxiety.