APS - SOL

[Anonymous]

Those that take SOL this year, how long does it take to get the result? ES and MS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those that take SOL this year, how long does it take to get the result? ES and MS

Typically what seems "forever." The scores are known right away; but schools generally don't release them until they have been verified by the State. So it is usually sometime over the summer, depending on how quickly your particular school mails them out.

[Anonymous]

Are the results used at all to place kids (in classes with similarly knowledged kids for instance?) My 3rd grader came home and said --

1) It was online and you couldn't go back to change an answer (which she discovered when she accidentally clicked the wrong choice).
2) The teacher said they could read a book when they were finished and she brought along one she was super excited to finish, so she raced through the test so she could read.

I'm sure it's a wonderful encapsulation of her knowledge this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the results used at all to place kids (in classes with similarly knowledged kids for instance?) My 3rd grader came home and said --

1) It was online and you couldn't go back to change an answer (which she discovered when she accidentally clicked the wrong choice).
2) The teacher said they could read a book when they were finished and she brought along one she was super excited to finish, so she raced through the test so she could read.

I'm sure it's a wonderful encapsulation of her knowledge this year.

I wouldn't worry about that for 3rd grade. They have used 5th grade math SOL scores for 6th grade math placement. They can also look at SOL scores for "gifted" designation consideration; but there are a lot of other factors that contribute to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the results used at all to place kids (in classes with similarly knowledged kids for instance?) My 3rd grader came home and said --

1) It was online and you couldn't go back to change an answer (which she discovered when she accidentally clicked the wrong choice).
2) The teacher said they could read a book when they were finished and she brought along one she was super excited to finish, so she raced through the test so she could read.

I'm sure it's a wonderful encapsulation of her knowledge this year.

I don't believe so, but not totally certain. My understanding is that, in terms of testing, APS uses the NNAT and CogAT to help identify kids for gifted services.

[Anonymous]

They only use sols to place classes if your child does really well or really badly. If they fail math, they will put them with other kids who may need a little extra help for math (based off of other kids grades and sols). I don’t think reading has any effect because they use other things to assess reading level/etc to identify kids that need extra help.

As I tell my kids, it’s more of an assessment of the school than the kid, but you don’t want to fail because that might mean summer school. I think that summer school isn’t likely this year since they couldnt staff it anyways, so there really isn’t any negative effect to failing.

[Anonymous]

If your child fails but either was close to passing or the score was so out of line with your child's performance all year that they think something went wrong on testing day, the school will contact you pretty quickly before the re-test days in June. Otherwise, you most likely will not hear anything until mid to late summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your child fails but either was close to passing or the score was so out of line with your child's performance all year that they think something went wrong on testing day, the school will contact you pretty quickly before the re-test days in June. Otherwise, you most likely will not hear anything until mid to late summer.

I’m pretty they are not offering retests this year—at least my school is not.

[Anonymous]

Yup no retakes this year. It’s possible they will be offered for tests required for verified credits but definitely not for elementary and middle school (non HS credit) courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the results used at all to place kids (in classes with similarly knowledged kids for instance?) My 3rd grader came home and said --

1) It was online and you couldn't go back to change an answer (which she discovered when she accidentally clicked the wrong choice).
2) The teacher said they could read a book when they were finished and she brought along one she was super excited to finish, so she raced through the test so she could read.

I'm sure it's a wonderful encapsulation of her knowledge this year.

They have been online for YEARS. No offense, but I think learning to take your time is part of the learning. They all want to rush through and do that. That’s a teachable moment. (YES- the teacher probably addressed it as well, but if may need to be reinforced at home.)

[Anonymous]

Reading and math SOLs are both computer adaptive tests- the questions are different depending on the previous question’s answer. That’s why you cannot go back. On reading you can go back to the questions within a passage but once you leave that part and start a new passage you cannot go back and see a warning screen. On math you must select an answer but cannot go back.

3rd grade is a students first time taking the SOL so it’s not a huge predictor but if you don’t have big concerns about your child’s performance they probably did fine. It’s not a terribly high bar to get a passing score. Schools see the scores (preliminary scores) immediately after testing (same day) but parents get official mailed scores in the summer. Sometimes scores change if they find a bad question and throw it out or whatever.