APS: SOL Failure Notification

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lost 9 weeks due to this failure to notify almost entirely over the summer when the child was continuing the “summer slide” to 1) begin the process of diagnosing a
Learning Disability, which could take months, and, 2) we did not set up tutoring because we were not advised by the teacher/school that the need was there. I get that the teacher should have given us some information and I fault this particular teacher but had APS given us the score we would have realized how bad things might be. So rather than enter the new elementary year having worked over the summer, child did not meet standards over last year and fell further behind over the summer. The failure to notify us was truly harmful to our child.

“9 weeks”? Did your kid fail the math SOL?

No one should be using the SOL as a diagnostic criteria for LDs.

Your kid has received multiple assessments throughout the year that would have raised concerns. If you ignored all of that and were waiting on the SOL (which isn’t even helpful to diagnose LDs) then that’s on you.

Seems like people are just looking for things to complain about.

Why are you apologizing for APS on this one? You seriously think it's A-Ok that they delay this long to notify of failure to meet standards?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like it would be helpful to know immediately so the student could do summer school. Additionally, right now there is the VDOE grant the family could have used for tutoring.

The fact APS has a policy to wait till the last allowable minute unlike FCPS is the concerning theme of this thread IMO. Why hide this from parents?

I don't know, but people should be making public comments about this to the school board. emailing the principal does nothing when it's a district wide policy.

No one is going to make public comment about their own kid failing SOLS. That’s not a realistic expectation and should not be needed.

Ok then send an email then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lost 9 weeks due to this failure to notify almost entirely over the summer when the child was continuing the “summer slide” to 1) begin the process of diagnosing a
Learning Disability, which could take months, and, 2) we did not set up tutoring because we were not advised by the teacher/school that the need was there. I get that the teacher should have given us some information and I fault this particular teacher but had APS given us the score we would have realized how bad things might be. So rather than enter the new elementary year having worked over the summer, child did not meet standards over last year and fell further behind over the summer. The failure to notify us was truly harmful to our child.

“9 weeks”? Did your kid fail the math SOL?

No one should be using the SOL as a diagnostic criteria for LDs.

Your kid has received multiple assessments throughout the year that would have raised concerns. If you ignored all of that and were waiting on the SOL (which isn’t even helpful to diagnose LDs) then that’s on you.

Seems like people are just looking for things to complain about.

+1

I am. Don’t worry. They know nothing about the data/my child. We do understand that SOLs aren’t diagnostic tools. We also understand that they are data point. One that APS hides from parents for months for no good reason as far as I can tell.

I can articulate the harm to my child.

What is the justification for the delay?

Any harm to your child comes from you wasting time focusing on the wrong issues.

Ok, I'll bite, what wrong issues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like it would be helpful to know immediately so the student could do summer school. Additionally, right now there is the VDOE grant the family could have used for tutoring.

The fact APS has a policy to wait till the last allowable minute unlike FCPS is the concerning theme of this thread IMO. Why hide this from parents?

I don't know, but people should be making public comments about this to the school board. emailing the principal does nothing when it's a district wide policy.

No one is going to make public comment about their own kid failing SOLS. That’s not a realistic expectation and should not be needed.

Parents can meet with school board members privately.

This. Tell me how to do this. I do not want my child’s SOL story the fodder for public comments. See deeply offensive comments on this thread about the child and our parenting skills.

What!? You choose to put this on a public anonymous message board and proceeded to throw several hissy fits when responses didn’t back up your outrage.

Op here. Feel pretty backed up. My reading is that no one here can justify APS’ delay and most folks think it was pretty horrible to not tell families before summer break.

I’d say it’d be “pretty horrible” for kids who need to earn HS credit and have to change their whole HS schedule last minute and may not graduate on time.

Very, very few kids get selected for summer school. VA DOE isn’t giving out more grants. So the school was likely going to address it in the fall when they have someone available to actually set up intervention plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, ignore the haters. You're right to be upset.

Agree, ignore the syphax agents on here

Nope. Just a parent who knows how to count and understands how SOLs/LDs work.

Well I don't agree with you at all. And neither does FCPS apparently which is a much better run school division than APS.

Signed,

Also a parent who knows how to count and who understands how SOLs and LDs work, expect I'm not an apologist for APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, ignore the haters. You're right to be upset.

Agree, ignore the syphax agents on here

Nope. Just a parent who knows how to count and understands how SOLs/LDs work.

Sorry but it seems really dumb for a parent to do nothing in the face of a failing a math or reading SOL in elementary school. Sure, it is just one data point, but it is data nonetheless, data that a parent can use to make sure their kid doesn’t fall even further behind.

Yes. It certainly warrants further inquiry at the very least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like it would be helpful to know immediately so the student could do summer school. Additionally, right now there is the VDOE grant the family could have used for tutoring.

The fact APS has a policy to wait till the last allowable minute unlike FCPS is the concerning theme of this thread IMO. Why hide this from parents?

I don't know, but people should be making public comments about this to the school board. emailing the principal does nothing when it's a district wide policy.

No one is going to make public comment about their own kid failing SOLS. That’s not a realistic expectation and should not be needed.

Parents can meet with school board members privately.

This. Tell me how to do this. I do not want my child’s SOL story the fodder for public comments. See deeply offensive comments on this thread about the child and our parenting skills.

What!? You choose to put this on a public anonymous message board and proceeded to throw several hissy fits when responses didn’t back up your outrage.

Op here. Feel pretty backed up. My reading is that no one here can justify APS’ delay and most folks think it was pretty horrible to not tell families before summer break.

I’d say it’d be “pretty horrible” for kids who need to earn HS credit and have to change their whole HS schedule last minute and may not graduate on time.

Very, very few kids get selected for summer school. VA DOE isn’t giving out more grants. So the school was likely going to address it in the fall when they have someone available to actually set up intervention plan.

1). The schools did not contact us ever.

2). We are in Arlington. I took it as a red flag. I acted immediately. I have a right to know. Maybe not the same day, I get it. But waiting until basically August is unreasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lost 9 weeks due to this failure to notify almost entirely over the summer when the child was continuing the “summer slide” to 1) begin the process of diagnosing a
Learning Disability, which could take months, and, 2) we did not set up tutoring because we were not advised by the teacher/school that the need was there. I get that the teacher should have given us some information and I fault this particular teacher but had APS given us the score we would have realized how bad things might be. So rather than enter the new elementary year having worked over the summer, child did not meet standards over last year and fell further behind over the summer. The failure to notify us was truly harmful to our child.

“9 weeks”? Did your kid fail the math SOL?

No one should be using the SOL as a diagnostic criteria for LDs.

Your kid has received multiple assessments throughout the year that would have raised concerns. If you ignored all of that and were waiting on the SOL (which isn’t even helpful to diagnose LDs) then that’s on you.

Seems like people are just looking for things to complain about.

+1

I am. Don’t worry. They know nothing about the data/my child. We do understand that SOLs aren’t diagnostic tools. We also understand that they are data point. One that APS hides from parents for months for no good reason as far as I can tell.

I can articulate the harm to my child.

What is the justification for the delay?

Any harm to your child comes from you wasting time focusing on the wrong issues.

Ok, I'll bite, what wrong issues?

Waiting on the SOL test results. They aren’t that meaningful for diagnosing LDs. If OP was concerned should should have lined up something for the summer. Instead of waiting around for this one data point. Same is true for summer slide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, ignore the haters. You're right to be upset.

Agree, ignore the syphax agents on here

Nope. Just a parent who knows how to count and understands how SOLs/LDs work.

Sorry but it seems really dumb for a parent to do nothing in the face of a failing a math or reading SOL in elementary school. Sure, it is just one data point, but it is data nonetheless, data that a parent can use to make sure their kid doesn’t fall even further behind.

It depends on the other data points. Are all other test scores and assessments great? Then probably ok to wait until the start of school to discuss with school. If they weren’t great, then you knew that before the summer and could make plans accordingly. They offered some virtual summer work. Maybe OP should have done that with her kid.

And maybe OP could have done that had they known earlier that their kids FAILED the freakin SOL. See how this works?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, ignore the haters. You're right to be upset.

Agree, ignore the syphax agents on here

Nope. Just a parent who knows how to count and understands how SOLs/LDs work.

Save your self-righteousness for AEM.

I don’t post on AEM but I have offered up helpful posts here for years. OP wasn’t looking for help. She just wanted to trash APS.

Perhaps what you consider helpful isn't actually helpful. If you only post anonymously and won't put things out there under your real name, I definitely have my doubts about your "helpfulness."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lost 9 weeks due to this failure to notify almost entirely over the summer when the child was continuing the “summer slide” to 1) begin the process of diagnosing a
Learning Disability, which could take months, and, 2) we did not set up tutoring because we were not advised by the teacher/school that the need was there. I get that the teacher should have given us some information and I fault this particular teacher but had APS given us the score we would have realized how bad things might be. So rather than enter the new elementary year having worked over the summer, child did not meet standards over last year and fell further behind over the summer. The failure to notify us was truly harmful to our child.

“9 weeks”? Did your kid fail the math SOL?

No one should be using the SOL as a diagnostic criteria for LDs.

Your kid has received multiple assessments throughout the year that would have raised concerns. If you ignored all of that and were waiting on the SOL (which isn’t even helpful to diagnose LDs) then that’s on you.

Seems like people are just looking for things to complain about.

Why are you apologizing for APS on this one? You seriously think it's A-Ok that they delay this long to notify of failure to meet standards?

Should APS get the scores out sooner? Sure.

Is OP using it as some excuse for inaction over the summer? Sure sounds like it.

Both can be true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, ignore the haters. You're right to be upset.

Agree, ignore the syphax agents on here

Nope. Just a parent who knows how to count and understands how SOLs/LDs work.

Save your self-righteousness for AEM.

I don’t post on AEM but I have offered up helpful posts here for years. OP wasn’t looking for help. She just wanted to trash APS.

Perhaps what you consider helpful isn't actually helpful. If you only post anonymously and won't put things out there under your real name, I definitely have my doubts about your "helpfulness."

I told OP about the office hours and provided a link for signup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, ignore the haters. You're right to be upset.

Agree, ignore the syphax agents on here

Nope. Just a parent who knows how to count and understands how SOLs/LDs work.

Sorry but it seems really dumb for a parent to do nothing in the face of a failing a math or reading SOL in elementary school. Sure, it is just one data point, but it is data nonetheless, data that a parent can use to make sure their kid doesn’t fall even further behind.

It depends on the other data points. Are all other test scores and assessments great? Then probably ok to wait until the start of school to discuss with school. If they weren’t great, then you knew that before the summer and could make plans accordingly. They offered some virtual summer work. Maybe OP should have done that with her kid.

And maybe OP could have done that had they known earlier that their kids FAILED the freakin SOL. See how this works?

It’s one test. It’s not a big deal for most kids (HS credit obviously).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lost 9 weeks due to this failure to notify almost entirely over the summer when the child was continuing the “summer slide” to 1) begin the process of diagnosing a
Learning Disability, which could take months, and, 2) we did not set up tutoring because we were not advised by the teacher/school that the need was there. I get that the teacher should have given us some information and I fault this particular teacher but had APS given us the score we would have realized how bad things might be. So rather than enter the new elementary year having worked over the summer, child did not meet standards over last year and fell further behind over the summer. The failure to notify us was truly harmful to our child.

“9 weeks”? Did your kid fail the math SOL?

No one should be using the SOL as a diagnostic criteria for LDs.

Your kid has received multiple assessments throughout the year that would have raised concerns. If you ignored all of that and were waiting on the SOL (which isn’t even helpful to diagnose LDs) then that’s on you.

Seems like people are just looking for things to complain about.

Why are you apologizing for APS on this one? You seriously think it's A-Ok that they delay this long to notify of failure to meet standards?

Should APS get the scores out sooner? Sure.

Is OP using it as some excuse for inaction over the summer? Sure sounds like it.

Both can be true.

There is no way for you to know whether I should have acted earlier you complete jerk. I have provided no data about the child. I am flipping mad at APS, and I have every right to be. You can shove your judgement on my parenting where the son doesn’t shine. Go look in the mirror because I am guessing you probably have some glaring inadequacies in your own family life that make you come on here and post that I should have acted earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lost 9 weeks due to this failure to notify almost entirely over the summer when the child was continuing the “summer slide” to 1) begin the process of diagnosing a
Learning Disability, which could take months, and, 2) we did not set up tutoring because we were not advised by the teacher/school that the need was there. I get that the teacher should have given us some information and I fault this particular teacher but had APS given us the score we would have realized how bad things might be. So rather than enter the new elementary year having worked over the summer, child did not meet standards over last year and fell further behind over the summer. The failure to notify us was truly harmful to our child.

“9 weeks”? Did your kid fail the math SOL?

No one should be using the SOL as a diagnostic criteria for LDs.

Your kid has received multiple assessments throughout the year that would have raised concerns. If you ignored all of that and were waiting on the SOL (which isn’t even helpful to diagnose LDs) then that’s on you.

Seems like people are just looking for things to complain about.

Why are you apologizing for APS on this one? You seriously think it's A-Ok that they delay this long to notify of failure to meet standards?

Should APS get the scores out sooner? Sure.

Is OP using it as some excuse for inaction over the summer? Sure sounds like it.

Both can be true.

There is no way for you to know whether I should have acted earlier you complete jerk. I have provided no data about the child. I am flipping mad at APS, and I have every right to be. You can shove your judgement on my parenting where the son doesn’t shine. Go look in the mirror because I am guessing you probably have some glaring inadequacies in your own family life that make you come on here and post that I should have acted earlier.

If you were concerned you should have done something. Even something 1:1 with you. Your kid had their iPad - math and ELA apps. There is a library - read together. Get on the schedule for an assessment - it can take a while. Find a tutor. There were many things you could have done instead of waiting on the SOL, which they said wasn’t coming out until end of July.