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

[Anonymous]

Kids should be able to do well in sol without much prep at home. The schools prepare them well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here, non-SOL subject. Look, I agree that SOLs are annoying and take way too much time. And I hate that they stress out everyone.

However…

Please don’t tell your students that the tests don’t matter. They do. The scores affect our accreditation and funding, even if they are more of a reflection of socioeconomic factors than quality of teaching.

They are changing the scoring system this year, so it’s not just about passing. Each student needs to show personal improvement, and the school gets more points for pass advance. So each kid needs to take the tests seriously.

And as someone else pointed out, failing can have consequences. At our school kids who fail are placed in reading and/or math support classes instead of electives. Yeah, you could probably fight that, but you will face push back from the school.

Nice try, teach. A parent can and should absolutely refuse SOL test prep support classes in lieu of electives. Not "probably could fight".

The courses that the teacher is talking about above are not SOL test prep support classes. Their math and reading intervention classes, not the same thing.

[Anonymous]

OPT OUT

If enough parents did this perhaps we could show that SOLs are a colossal waste of time and resources.

Also: opt out for the horrible Risky Behaviors Survey, too (can’t recall what it is actually called) but kids now skew the results by purposely answering that they do it all daily!

My DC in 4th grade came home after taking g this survey to ask all sorts of questions about sex, drugs and abuse. Nice work FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Its literally the exact same thing

[Anonymous]

PP it’s called FCPS Youth Survey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I want DCs to do well on the tests. I would love for them to pass all of them on the first try.

What do you mean, first try? You have to approve any second tries LOL. Just say no *unless it’s a HS credit and they need it to graduate*

Do you ever deal with special needs kids or neurodiverse kids? Testing is very different for this subset of the student population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I want DCs to do well on the tests. I would love for them to pass all of them on the first try.

What do you mean, first try? You have to approve any second tries LOL. Just say no *unless it’s a HS credit and they need it to graduate*

Do you ever deal with special needs kids or neurodiverse kids? Testing is very different for this subset of the student population.

+1 I opted my SN out until he was able to handle the test and the testing environment. Last year he passed one and was close enough to passing on another that he didn't get an automatic retake option. I opted to not have him retake. So yeah, I hate it when people give a flippant LOL comment like above. It's just not so cut and dry for some of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Some students really struggle with tests in general due to ASD, ADHD, anxiety, etc. It’s not always the content.

My kid is dyslexic among other things. He failed every year and no we didn't care about the SOLs.

good luck then getting a high school diploma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I want DCs to do well on the tests. I would love for them to pass all of them on the first try.

What do you mean, first try? You have to approve any second tries LOL. Just say no *unless it’s a HS credit and they need it to graduate*

Do you ever deal with special needs kids or neurodiverse kids? Testing is very different for this subset of the student population.

they actually have better test taking skills because they are out of the box thinkers.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know in high school, if a student fails an SOL, does the school contact them immediately? Or does the school only contact if the score is in the retake range?
Not sure if no news is good news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OPT OUT

If enough parents did this perhaps we could show that SOLs are a colossal waste of time and resources.

Also: opt out for the horrible Risky Behaviors Survey, too (can’t recall what it is actually called) but kids now skew the results by purposely answering that they do it all daily!

My DC in 4th grade came home after taking g this survey to ask all sorts of questions about sex, drugs and abuse. Nice work FCPS.

Sounds like you should homeschool

[Anonymous]

Teacher here: yes parents! Instead of jumping on the internet and complaining, why don’t you opt your kids out. Surveys and SOL’s.

The survey is the dumbest thing ever. Then they analyze the results and everyone has to sit through a meeting. Half of the kids who take the survey just click through or don’t understand the questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I want DCs to do well on the tests. I would love for them to pass all of them on the first try.

What do you mean, first try? You have to approve any second tries LOL. Just say no *unless it’s a HS credit and they need it to graduate*

Do you ever deal with special needs kids or neurodiverse kids? Testing is very different for this subset of the student population.

they actually have better test taking skills because they are out of the box thinkers.

Some may, but many take hours to complete the test. They are distracted, unable to concentrate, exhibit difficulty attending to the task repeatedly of taking 50 questions, have extreme anxiety and a sense of overwhelm, struggle to focus for long periods of time, rush through or guess to just get it over with, etc. There are real problems that surface with some kids when it comes to standardized testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Some students really struggle with tests in general due to ASD, ADHD, anxiety, etc. It’s not always the content.

My kid is dyslexic among other things. He failed every year and no we didn't care about the SOLs.

good luck then getting a high school diploma.

Private schools don't do this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

I really don’t care a bit.