Failed SOL notifications already?

[Anonymous]

I got too fired up! I have strong feelings about SOLs, obviously! To clarify, I *am* a parent, but my children are nowhere near SOL-aged.

Tangential example of test culture that makes me crazy:
My school has a chant/pledge that is like "I will work hard every day, to read and write, etc etc....to pass the SOL tests"

No other reasons given!!

Like really that's why we want kids to think they should work hard? To pass a test? Anyway like I said my concerns go beyond retakes, so if you're in favor and think it's in your kid's best interest, which you may decide it is for any number of reasons and is an individual determination, go for it.

Anti SOL soapboxes standing down!

[Anonymous]

*soapboxer. sheesh. autocorrect + intensity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: My neighbor just texted me that she got notified via phone that her son failed one of his SOL's. He's in the same grade as my son, and they took the SOL just this Monday. Do they always notify you this quickly if I child fails?

Presumably they want your kid to retake?

YES, she was asking me if I thought he should retake it. He has reading comprehension issues, so she's not sure if taking it again would be any help. Plus he gets stressed. I told her not to tell him and move on. No point in stressing out a 4th grader for a test that doesn't count for anything.

YES, this! --teacher

[Anonymous]

Opt Out of SOLs - protect your children from predatory standardized testing?
Stop feeding the data machine & testing machine.

Tests are not about the kids. Testing is about $$$$ for Pearson Testing Company.

Between $46 - $37 million from VA taxpayers go annually to support testing.

3rd - 8th graders can be easily Opted Out by parents writing a letter to principal. High School credit classes are still currently a roadbloak to earning a diploma. Start learning and asking questions.

Opt Out in VA is increasing. Check out the Facebook pages for these Opt Out groups in VA - RVA Opt Out - NOVA Opt Out - Williamsburg Opt Out - VA Beach Opt Out - SWVA Opt Out
Opt Outs stats from the VA Dept. of Education.
2014 - 2015 - 640 students
2015 - 2016 - 1,426 students
Parents are becoming informed about the waste of $, the uselessness of these tests and the stress on our children and teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: My neighbor just texted me that she got notified via phone that her son failed one of his SOL's. He's in the same grade as my son, and they took the SOL just this Monday. Do they always notify you this quickly if I child fails?

Presumably they want your kid to retake?

YES, she was asking me if I thought he should retake it. He has reading comprehension issues, so she's not sure if taking it again would be any help. Plus he gets stressed. I told her not to tell him and move on. No point in stressing out a 4th grader for a test that doesn't count for anything.

YES, this! --teacher

Agree.
Teacher x2

[Anonymous]

I would totally opt my kid out if it meant what they were taught in the classroom wasn't so test focused. But my kid would still have to do the drilling and the curriculum, so I just let him take them. It sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would totally opt my kid out if it meant what they were taught in the classroom wasn't so test focused. But my kid would still have to do the drilling and the curriculum, so I just let him take them. It sucks.

You can Opt Out of mid-year bench mark testing and EOY testing. In addition, you can communicate with your kid's teacher and ask that he/she not be given any multiple choice practice sheets, since you are Opting Out.

And - by Opt Out - you are sending a message to Richmond that you want TEACHING not TESTING!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing an SOL doesn't necessarily get you more services or remediation. I think passing a retake can help a kid's confidence. Can you imagine failing at a school with 90% pass rates? That must feel awful for a kid.

Yes it does mean your child gets remediation. The school is required to provide it for every child who fails.

The required minimum is one hour.

I am expecting that my 6th grader will fail his Math 7 SOL. Fairly or unfairly, I blame his teacher. (My mom is a teacher, so I don't say those words lightly. And she agrees with me.) I have two questions.

(1) In light of the fact that I blame his teacher (and by extension the school -- meaning I care NOT AT ALL if his teacher or the school looks bad), should I allow him to retake the test if a retake is offered? He has no anxiety issues, but he may be embarrassed if his friends find out he failed the SOL.

(2) What kind of remediation will he receive, given that he was already in an advanced class? We're in APS, if it matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing an SOL doesn't necessarily get you more services or remediation. I think passing a retake can help a kid's confidence. Can you imagine failing at a school with 90% pass rates? That must feel awful for a kid.

Yes it does mean your child gets remediation. The school is required to provide it for every child who fails.

The required minimum is one hour.

I am expecting that my 6th grader will fail his Math 7 SOL. Fairly or unfairly, I blame his teacher. (My mom is a teacher, so I don't say those words lightly. And she agrees with me.) I have two questions.

(1) In light of the fact that I blame his teacher (and by extension the school -- meaning I care NOT AT ALL if his teacher or the school looks bad), should I allow him to retake the test if a retake is offered? He has no anxiety issues, but he may be embarrassed if his friends find out he failed the SOL.

(2) What kind of remediation will he receive, given that he was already in an advanced class? We're in APS, if it matters.

Students are only permitted by the state to re-take if they score between 375-399. I imagine you will be contacted quickly if he is in this group. If you are not contacted then either he passed or he did not pass but his score was too low to be allowed to re-take.

If he fails, don't delude yourself: his friends probably will find out anyway. Either because he tells them or because of his math class assignment next year or because of how his school might set up the remediation program for the students who are not re-takers. At one kid's school last year, all the passers were in one classroom doing projects and all the failers were in another classroom doing math practice sheets while the smaller group of re-take students were working pretty much one-on-one with a teacher and para.

If he is in the re-take group and if you agree to re-take, the method of remediation will vary. The teachers get pretty detailed reports about each student who is eligible to re-take and most teachers will use that to focus the remediation on those areas. Now is the time to ask these questions. Not later.

I have a feeling you are going to blow off this recommendation but my suggestion is that if you have concerns about the teacher then you should surface those to the Principal asap. In fact, you should have done it a long time ago. I know you say it is the teacher's fault but remember the saying...when you point one finger at someone else look at your hand and you will see that you are pointing three fingers right back at yourself... What were you doing if you thought that his teacher was so bad? That's on you.

Good luck to your son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing an SOL doesn't necessarily get you more services or remediation. I think passing a retake can help a kid's confidence. Can you imagine failing at a school with 90% pass rates? That must feel awful for a kid.

Yes it does mean your child gets remediation. The school is required to provide it for every child who fails.

The required minimum is one hour.

I am expecting that my 6th grader will fail his Math 7 SOL. Fairly or unfairly, I blame his teacher. (My mom is a teacher, so I don't say those words lightly. And she agrees with me.) I have two questions.

(1) In light of the fact that I blame his teacher (and by extension the school -- meaning I care NOT AT ALL if his teacher or the school looks bad), should I allow him to retake the test if a retake is offered? He has no anxiety issues, but he may be embarrassed if his friends find out he failed the SOL.

(2) What kind of remediation will he receive, given that he was already in an advanced class? We're in APS, if it matters.

Students are only permitted by the state to re-take if they score between 375-399. I imagine you will be contacted quickly if he is in this group. If you are not contacted then either he passed or he did not pass but his score was too low to be allowed to re-take.

If he fails, don't delude yourself: his friends probably will find out anyway. Either because he tells them or because of his math class assignment next year or because of how his school might set up the remediation program for the students who are not re-takers. At one kid's school last year, all the passers were in one classroom doing projects and all the failers were in another classroom doing math practice sheets while the smaller group of re-take students were working pretty much one-on-one with a teacher and para.

If he is in the re-take group and if you agree to re-take, the method of remediation will vary. The teachers get pretty detailed reports about each student who is eligible to re-take and most teachers will use that to focus the remediation on those areas. Now is the time to ask these questions. Not later.

I have a feeling you are going to blow off this recommendation but my suggestion is that if you have concerns about the teacher then you should surface those to the Principal asap. In fact, you should have done it a long time ago. I know you say it is the teacher's fault but remember the saying...when you point one finger at someone else look at your hand and you will see that you are pointing three fingers right back at yourself... What were you doing if you thought that his teacher was so bad? That's on you.

Good luck to your son.

Thank you for your thoughtful response. So he will only get remediation if we agree to a retake? And the remediation will be in the hands of his classroom teacher? Regarding contacting admin, it's been done by me and others. Hence, the reason I blame the teacher and, by extension, the school. (And the reason my teacher-mom agrees with me.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing an SOL doesn't necessarily get you more services or remediation. I think passing a retake can help a kid's confidence. Can you imagine failing at a school with 90% pass rates? That must feel awful for a kid.

Yes it does mean your child gets remediation. The school is required to provide it for every child who fails.

The required minimum is one hour.

I am expecting that my 6th grader will fail his Math 7 SOL. Fairly or unfairly, I blame his teacher. (My mom is a teacher, so I don't say those words lightly. And she agrees with me.) I have two questions.

(1) In light of the fact that I blame his teacher (and by extension the school -- meaning I care NOT AT ALL if his teacher or the school looks bad), should I allow him to retake the test if a retake is offered? He has no anxiety issues, but he may be embarrassed if his friends find out he failed the SOL.

(2) What kind of remediation will he receive, given that he was already in an advanced class? We're in APS, if it matters.

Students are only permitted by the state to re-take if they score between 375-399. I imagine you will be contacted quickly if he is in this group. If you are not contacted then either he passed or he did not pass but his score was too low to be allowed to re-take.

If he fails, don't delude yourself: his friends probably will find out anyway. Either because he tells them or because of his math class assignment next year or because of how his school might set up the remediation program for the students who are not re-takers. At one kid's school last year, all the passers were in one classroom doing projects and all the failers were in another classroom doing math practice sheets while the smaller group of re-take students were working pretty much one-on-one with a teacher and para.

If he is in the re-take group and if you agree to re-take, the method of remediation will vary. The teachers get pretty detailed reports about each student who is eligible to re-take and most teachers will use that to focus the remediation on those areas. Now is the time to ask these questions. Not later.

I have a feeling you are going to blow off this recommendation but my suggestion is that if you have concerns about the teacher then you should surface those to the Principal asap. In fact, you should have done it a long time ago. I know you say it is the teacher's fault but remember the saying...when you point one finger at someone else look at your hand and you will see that you are pointing three fingers right back at yourself... What were you doing if you thought that his teacher was so bad? That's on you.

Good luck to your son.

That is not really fair. You should be perfectly aware that principals will defend their teachers to the death unless there is much concrete proof of a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing an SOL doesn't necessarily get you more services or remediation. I think passing a retake can help a kid's confidence. Can you imagine failing at a school with 90% pass rates? That must feel awful for a kid.

in elementary school a child never has to know if they passed or failed a SOL UNLESS a parent tells them! Therefore at that level, boosting confidence is irrelevant unless you tell them they failed.

A teacher told my son he failed it when he was in 3rd grade and started remediation for a retake without our permission. She also insulted my child and the children she was working with during this remediation and put tons of pressure on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would totally opt my kid out if it meant what they were taught in the classroom wasn't so test focused. But my kid would still have to do the drilling and the curriculum, so I just let him take them. It sucks.

You can Opt Out of mid-year bench mark testing and EOY testing. In addition, you can communicate with your kid's teacher and ask that he/she not be given any multiple choice practice sheets, since you are Opting Out.

And - by Opt Out - you are sending a message to Richmond that you want TEACHING not TESTING!

As a former teacher and a parent I am pro testing, but I think the test-makers need more input from teachers. Not a fan of the current tests. However, without some accountability you could get stuck with the teacher who BSes the whole year. Even if they give tests throughout the year, the SOLs provide some important data. Early on it lets the school know of which kids need some extra help and presuming a teacher did not have many kids with LDs, etc it can help indicate a teacher may need more strategies. You'd be surprised. That kid everyone labels as a goof off could get a high pass indicating she/he was learning the material. Meanwhile the child quietly struggles with learning issues who tries to compensate, may be identified as needing the extra help she/he was too afraid to ask for. Keep in mind the scores don't affect the child in terms of making a child repeat a grade or class until highschool. They are getting practice with test taking. If a child repeatedly fails say a math SOL, then there is nothing wrong with putting that child in a math group where the teacher has more repitition and makes sure to use a multi-sensory approach (which supposedly they all do).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would totally opt my kid out if it meant what they were taught in the classroom wasn't so test focused. But my kid would still have to do the drilling and the curriculum, so I just let him take them. It sucks.

You can Opt Out of mid-year bench mark testing and EOY testing. In addition, you can communicate with your kid's teacher and ask that he/she not be given any multiple choice practice sheets, since you are Opting Out.

And - by Opt Out - you are sending a message to Richmond that you want TEACHING not TESTING!

As a former teacher and a parent I am pro testing, but I think the test-makers need more input from teachers. Not a fan of the current tests. However, without some accountability you could get stuck with the teacher who BSes the whole year. Even if they give tests throughout the year, the SOLs provide some important data. Early on it lets the school know of which kids need some extra help and presuming a teacher did not have many kids with LDs, etc it can help indicate a teacher may need more strategies. You'd be surprised. That kid everyone labels as a goof off could get a high pass indicating she/he was learning the material. Meanwhile the child quietly struggles with learning issues who tries to compensate, may be identified as needing the extra help she/he was too afraid to ask for. Keep in mind the scores don't affect the child in terms of making a child repeat a grade or class until highschool. They are getting practice with test taking. If a child repeatedly fails say a math SOL, then there is nothing wrong with putting that child in a math group where the teacher has more repitition and makes sure to use a multi-sensory approach (which supposedly they all do).

Well said and a lot of excellent points!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Failing an SOL doesn't necessarily get you more services or remediation. I think passing a retake can help a kid's confidence. Can you imagine failing at a school with 90% pass rates? That must feel awful for a kid.

Yes it does mean your child gets remediation. The school is required to provide it for every child who fails.

The required minimum is one hour.

I am expecting that my 6th grader will fail his Math 7 SOL. Fairly or unfairly, I blame his teacher. (My mom is a teacher, so I don't say those words lightly. And she agrees with me.) I have two questions.

(1) In light of the fact that I blame his teacher (and by extension the school -- meaning I care NOT AT ALL if his teacher or the school looks bad), should I allow him to retake the test if a retake is offered? He has no anxiety issues, but he may be embarrassed if his friends find out he failed the SOL.

(2) What kind of remediation will he receive, given that he was already in an advanced class? We're in APS, if it matters.

Students are only permitted by the state to re-take if they score between 375-399. I imagine you will be contacted quickly if he is in this group. If you are not contacted then either he passed or he did not pass but his score was too low to be allowed to re-take.

If he fails, don't delude yourself: his friends probably will find out anyway. Either because he tells them or because of his math class assignment next year or because of how his school might set up the remediation program for the students who are not re-takers. At one kid's school last year, all the passers were in one classroom doing projects and all the failers were in another classroom doing math practice sheets while the smaller group of re-take students were working pretty much one-on-one with a teacher and para.

If he is in the re-take group and if you agree to re-take, the method of remediation will vary. The teachers get pretty detailed reports about each student who is eligible to re-take and most teachers will use that to focus the remediation on those areas. Now is the time to ask these questions. Not later.

I have a feeling you are going to blow off this recommendation but my suggestion is that if you have concerns about the teacher then you should surface those to the Principal asap. In fact, you should have done it a long time ago. I know you say it is the teacher's fault but remember the saying...when you point one finger at someone else look at your hand and you will see that you are pointing three fingers right back at yourself... What were you doing if you thought that his teacher was so bad? That's on you.

Good luck to your son.

That is not really fair. You should be perfectly aware that principals will defend their teachers to the death unless there is much concrete proof of a problem.

Not in our school system. Our principals have a totally different mindset.