Reply to SOL opt-out

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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. [/quote]

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.

[quote]2) Opting out of the test does not equal opting out of the prep.[/quote]

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.

[quote]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.[/quote]

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.

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

[b]Kids take tons of standardized tests even without the SOLs.[/b] 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.

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

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.
[/quote]

I'm an elementary school teacher and this really isn't true.  Kids in K-3 get PALS testing (but not SOLs before 3rd) In 3rd, they get the COGAT and Naglieri, but there is really no other standardized testing other than the SOLs done in elementary school. [/quote]

I don't know what elementary school you are in, but I am in FCPS and cogat and naglieri are given in 1st and 2nd, and in 3rd kids get 3-4 sol's plus additional esol tests if they are in esol.  Depending on the school they also get various county or school reading, writing and math assesments.  K-2 gets DRA and a math assessment, and sometimes PALS or ECAP, a writing assessment, sometimes a spelling assessment, and additional tests if they are in esol.  The testing burden for the kids is nominal in k-2 because they don't sit and bubble all day like in 3rd, but it's not nominal for the teacher, who has to stress all year about those tests and who spends a lot of time sitting in the hallway testing kids instead of teaching.[/quote]

ESOL testing and end of unit tests are not considered standardized testing. Schools have always given tests and quizzes. [/quote]

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