Teaching to the Test in VA?

[Anonymous]

I have heard in casual conversation that VA schools (e.g. Arlington) might be less focused on teaching to the test than Montgomery County, MD schools. I was wondering whether anyone in this forum would have an opinion on this. In our opinion, Moco has gone off the charts in its focus on testing and, despite a possible long commute, we are looking into Arlington, VA as a better alternative.

Any thoughts? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Curious what others have to say. My DD is a 3rd grader in a GT center. This is the year they start SOL testing and they take 5 tests in May. I have been pleasantly surprised that there has been zero test prep so far as I can tell (other than the curriculum itself being matched to the SOL). In 1st and 2nd grades they got a math worksheet once a week that was clearly SOL prep. But it was not long or onerous, and it was pretty obviously just an attempt to teach the test format. It may have been that children who had trouble got extra prep, I dunno.

In 5th grade they do the writing test and I am curious if they will prep more for that. But so far, no worksheet type prep that I have seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious what others have to say. My DD is a 3rd grader in a GT center. This is the year they start SOL testing and they take 5 tests in May. I have been pleasantly surprised that there has been zero test prep so far as I can tell (other than the curriculum itself being matched to the SOL). In 1st and 2nd grades they got a math worksheet once a week that was clearly SOL prep. But it was not long or onerous, and it was pretty obviously just an attempt to teach the test format. It may have been that children who had trouble got extra prep, I dunno.

In 5th grade they do the writing test and I am curious if they will prep more for that. But so far, no worksheet type prep that I have seen.

I'm also the parent of a 3rd grader at a GT Center and I haven't seen any test prep thus far. They are covering items in the curriculum that are on the SOL (this week they are studying China and have a "China day" on Friday) but there hasn't been any worksheets that are "SOL-like."

I'm interested to see what other respondents post to your query.

[Anonymous]

We took our 1st grader from one of the best MOCo public school, and moved to VA. It was a year ago, and we are really happy with our decision.

[Anonymous]

Another 3rd grade FCPS parent here. My daughter's teacher said at BTS night that she's not worried about the SOL's, she knows the kids will do fine. And since then, we haven't heard another peep about them, or seen any obvious SOL related material.

[Anonymous]

I have a second grader in FCPS. The curriculum clearly tracks the SOLs, but it seems well rounded so I don't have an issue with it. I haven't really seen worksheets geared to the SOLs. I saw a worksheet on analogies right before the NNAT last fall, but that's all I've seen.

[Anonymous]

For the person that moved their child out of Moco to VA, can you say some more about your reasons for moving your child and what has been better in VA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the person that moved their child out of Moco to VA, can you say some more about your reasons for moving your child and what has been better in VA?

In her MoCo ES they spent most of the day doing Math and Language Arts. PE, Computer, Arts were only once a week. She liked the school, but me and my husband had another view on how the 6-7 year should spend a school day. I have also seen a lot of parents from our very, very good MoCo school taking kids from it, and placing them into private because of the same reasons.
The school DD goes now has a more balanced approach: she has PE twice a week, Arts twice a week, Spanish. The homework makes more sense to us.