Reply to SOL opt-out

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I always get a bit confused when I hear people complaining about the SOLs, is the concern the amount of class time spent on prep or the actual amount of time students spend testing?  I understand the first concern, but not the second. Students really spend very little time on the actual tests, they are spread out and most finish them in an hour. [/quote]

I can tell you that's not true of the elementary school where I worked up until a few years ago.  I don't know what goes on in other fcps schools, but in ours (high FARM), we lived for these tests.  In 3rd grade we had 4 tests, over 4 days.  The build up to test week was unreal.  The stress and anxiety could be felt everywhere.  On test days (which lasted 2-3 weeks total for the whole school), everything was affected.  Specials and lunch and recess were altered or canceled.  Everyone had to be super quiet in the classrooms and hallways.  There were no ESOL or spec ed teachers available the whole time because they were busy proctoring, and some teacher assistants, too.  We had a strict schedule to follow as far as getting out testing materials and beginning the test - down to the minute.  If anyone stepped out of line, made a peep in the hallway, picked up a test kit a moment late, there was hell to pay.  We were warned and threatened to the point of near panic attacks about proper testing procedures and what would happen to us if we messed up.  The possibility of a student needing to use the bathroom, for example, was treated like a major international event.  We were encouraged to make the kids sit and test as long as necessary to make sure they did the best job possible.  If someone finished too quickly, we would try not to take their paper.  Everyone had to sit in the room until the last person was finished (with exceptions for kids who needed more than 3 hours).  Only the best students finished in an hour - most needed at least 2 hours, and more than a few needed most of the day.  For students with accommodations (we had a lot of them), the procedures were more intense and the tests longer.

Basically, life stopped for SOL tests, and we did this not once, but 3 times a year for each grade.

I am envious of those in low FARM schools who apparently don't go through this.  It is apparently yet another example of how our low-income kids get a lower quality education, from the very thing intended to equalize.[/quote]

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