SOL opt-out

[Anonymous]

I am considering opting my elementary school-aged kid out of SOLs. What are the pros and cons of doing this, in your opinion, and what do the kids who are opted out do on test day? Stay home? Sit in the classroom and do nothing? My kid gets good grades and did well on the SOLs last year (scores in the 500s with one 600) and I don't really see the point of all the standardized testing and the pressure it puts on the younger kids. The scores aren't used for class placement or anything that could benefit the child is he/she does well, so what is the point other than the school being able to say their students passed the SOLs.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this is current, but here's one piece of information: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2013/142-13.shtml

On the direct impact on your student, aside from possibly frustrating your Principal, there shouldn't be any. They do use the 6th grade math SOL for 7th grade math placement, but that's the only test in Elementary or Middle school that oyu need to worry about. In High School you have to get a certain number of verified credits, and that means passing the SOL tests in a few subject areas. But for elementary school you are fine for most tests until Math 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this is current, but here's one piece of information: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2013/142-13.shtml

On the direct impact on your student, aside from possibly frustrating your Principal, there shouldn't be any. They do use the 6th grade math SOL for 7th grade math placement, but that's the only test in Elementary or Middle school that oyu need to worry about. In High School you have to get a certain number of verified credits, and that means passing the SOL tests in a few subject areas. But for elementary school you are fine for most tests until Math 6.

The student also needs to pass the 8th grade writing SOL to graduate from HS.

[Anonymous]

There as been some discussion on these forums, but let's recap what has been said...

1) There's no actual movement to do this. You can choose to do it, but you will be tagged as one of "those" parents.

2) Opting out of the test does not equal opting out of the prep.

3) This can hurt gifted and talented identification/appeals and math placement since its one less data point and those decisions are driven largely by data points. This is especially true for kids heading into middle school, but also in terms of math groupings in ES.

4) Getting kids accustomed to taking these tests will help them later when they really mean something.

5) They don't really take that many tests. It's under 3 a year across all the grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There as been some discussion on these forums, but let's recap what has been said...

1) There's no actual movement to do this. You can choose to do it, but you will be tagged as one of "those" parents.

2) Opting out of the test does not equal opting out of the prep.

3) This can hurt gifted and talented identification/appeals and math placement since its one less data point and those decisions are driven largely by data points. This is especially true for kids heading into middle school, but also in terms of math groupings in ES.

4) Getting kids accustomed to taking these tests will help them later when they really mean something.

5) They don't really take that many tests. It's under 3 a year across all the grades.

I agree with these two points especially. They are getting ready all year. One day of testing is not really going to make that big a deal. I do think it's good to get them used to sitting and taking a test since they will have SOLs up through high school. In high school you do need to pass SOLs in order to get the verified class credit.

[Anonymous]

Super easy to opt out- numbers are double at our school this year. DS sat with another class last year that wasn't testing.

The kids were gone for up to 4 hours per session, that is ridiculous for 3rd graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There as been some discussion on these forums, but let's recap what has been said...

1) There's no actual movement to do this. You can choose to do it, but you will be tagged as one of "those" parents.

Not true. The impulse to opt out now has a level of organization behind it: http://www.novaoptout.com/
Is the movement in this area as big as it is in NYC? No, but it wasn't that long ago that NYC didn't have many parents opting out, either.

2) Opting out of the test does not equal opting out of the prep.

True, but when you write to say that you are opting out, you can also request that your child be given something else to do or be allowed to read quietly.

3) This can hurt gifted and talented identification/appeals and math placement since its one less data point and those decisions are driven largely by data points. This is especially true for kids heading into middle school, but also in terms of math groupings in ES.

The SOLs are not the only, or even the main, source of data for student evaluation. In Arlington, at least, any parent can ask that their child be assessed for gifted identification and can parent-place for middle school math.

4) Getting kids accustomed to taking these tests will help them later when they really mean something.

Kids take tons of standardized tests even without the SOLs. If your kid tests well, the practice s/he gets on the SOLs is unnecessary. Maybe it's helpful for kids who don't; I know parents whose kids get more wound up the more tests they take, and the parents are hoping that time and maturity will do what endless testing does not. In any case, the tests that "mean something" don't happen, at the earliest, until 7th grade, when kids taking algebra need to pass the SOL to get high school credit.

5) They don't really take that many tests. It's under 3 a year across all the grades.

When you add in test prep and standardized tests that aren't the SOLs, a lot more time is getting wasted on filling bubbles than three days a year.

[Anonymous]

2) Opting out of the test does not equal opting out of the prep.


True, but when you write to say that you are opting out, you can also request that your child be given something else to do or be allowed to read quietly.

For up to one-half the year? The SOL prep covers the curriculum...you cannot opt your child out of learning it. You clearly need to learn more about what goes on in a school classroom.

[Anonymous]

My problem with opting out is that at our school anyway, the teachers you rah rah the kids and talk about the SOL's weeks before they happen. Last year, they had a whole week about de stressing before the test, and the teacher sent home a card each day with a motivational saying which was sometimes also a destressor. I mean 3 weeks ago, we started a VA race to history just in order to get ready for the SOL. My kid has been going through all this at school with the whole entire grade, and now when the big day comes, I tell them - go sit and read a book? I just can't bring myself to do that. It's a big social/group thing at school.

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah, and my dd has an IEP, and they use the SOL testing to help evaluate her accommodations. I guess I could opt out, but I am the 14:18 poster, and I wouldn't opt out due to social reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

2) Opting out of the test does not equal opting out of the prep.


True, but when you write to say that you are opting out, you can also request that your child be given something else to do or be allowed to read quietly.

For up to one-half the year? The SOL prep covers the curriculum...you cannot opt your child out of learning it. You clearly need to learn more about what goes on in a school classroom.

I was given that information by a teacher who is opting her children out. I'm pretty sure she knows what goes on in a classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My problem with opting out is that at our school anyway, the teachers you rah rah the kids and talk about the SOL's weeks before they happen. Last year, they had a whole week about de stressing before the test, and the teacher sent home a card each day with a motivational saying which was sometimes also a destressor. I mean 3 weeks ago, we started a VA race to history just in order to get ready for the SOL. My kid has been going through all this at school with the whole entire grade, and now when the big day comes, I tell them - go sit and read a book? I just can't bring myself to do that. It's a big social/group thing at school.

If your kid wants to take the SOLs and you want to let her/him, how is that a problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this is current, but here's one piece of information: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2013/142-13.shtml

On the direct impact on your student, aside from possibly frustrating your Principal, there shouldn't be any. They do use the 6th grade math SOL for 7th grade math placement, but that's the only test in Elementary or Middle school that oyu need to worry about. In High School you have to get a certain number of verified credits, and that means passing the SOL tests in a few subject areas. But for elementary school you are fine for most tests until Math 6.

In Arlington 5th grade SOL results are factored into math, reading and English placement.

[Anonymous]

Opt out is not just about the tests. It's a kind of peaceful resistance that is meant to undermine the validity of test results, with the hope that once test results are so clearly invalid that they can't be used to judge teachers and schools, testing mandates will be relaxed and we can get rid of the test-prep heavy curriculum.

I was a teacher, and I'm not lying when I say that all we did all year was test prep. Sure, it's the curriculum. But if the curriculum says the student will identify the main idea, and we use all kinds of high quality texts to talk about and analyze main ideas, and they can't identify the main idea in a poorly written SOL passage with a confusingly stated question, then we don't pass. So all year we read test passages and answer test questions instead of the high quality activities that we should be doing. That's what education has turned into. And we pressure kids into working harder and doing more sooner, until they are nearly at their breaking points, because that's what we have to do to pass.

Opting out is a way of ending this insanity. No one is listening to teachers, so it's up to parents to put an end to it by simply not participating.

That's why you should opt out. Not because Larla doesn't want to take a test.

Also, for the poster who said it's only 3 tests, not so. There are three SOL tests, plus a whole bunch of other tests, plus two practice SOL tests during the other parts of the year (so that's 9 tests total, just for SOL's). If you're in ESOL there are yet more tests, and there are reading tests and writing tests and other math tests, and it never ends. And specialists aren't available to teach for the entire last two months of the year in my school because we are pulled to proctor tests. The library and computer lab are closed for testing for over a month. And the list goes on.

[Anonymous]

If you care about your home value and you think your kid will pass, you shouldn't opt out. If you think your kid will fail, then PLEASE--- opt out! The rest of us know that test scores do affect home values. Like it or not.

I don't think the tests are that big of a deal. I want my kids to be able to show what they've learned all year (or at least the parts that are on the test). They have pride in knowing that they've passed. DD (who was about to flunk out of adv. math last spring) was especially proud when she surprised everyone (including herself) by getting adv. pass on the dang math SOL! (It was only b/c I was alerted at interims that I worked with her on the practice tests and that's what brought her up from failing to adv. pass in 6 weeks). She is still proud of herself for that.