Reply to SOL opt-out

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Reply to "SOL opt-out"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Every day of the year or every day the test was being held? Our school talks about them the week before and during the tests. I don't think that's too much time.[/quote]

Just because "they don't talk about" the SOLs, doesn't mean, the teachers, administrators and kids aren't living under the shadow of these tests all year long.  Pay close attention. Take a look at the worksheets - the cloze reading practices, the vocabulary matching sheets, the on-screen surveys and practices. It's all test prep. Notice what is missing - field trips, hands-on-learning, smaller classes, double recess, writing projects, writing stories and book reports, creative projects. If you're lucky, your kid's teacher may do one of those per year. Talk to your kid's teachers, the experienced teachers of 5+ years, and ask them how they've had to change their lessons in the past 5 years.

If parents do nothing - nothing will change with the SOLs.  [/quote]

I call that teaching to a curriculum. That's different than test prep. Our school has 3 in class field trips and 3 out of class field trips. It's plenty. The teachers are the ones who aren't into teaching writing BECAUSE THE SOL WRITING TEST WAS REMOVED! And because they are time consuming for teachers so teachers tend to stick with what is required by the curriculum. Recess is once per day because THAT'S WHAT'S REQUIRED BY LAW. FCPS is all about hands on, project based learning. There's something every month which is more than enough.They just have too many kids per class to implement it well. They'd rather spend their money on other things than class size. Reducing class size is not a huge cost and overall FCPS does not have the largest class size in the region. They just give more teachers to the poorer schools. Class size is just not something they're willing to rob Peter to pay Paul. Book reports are a thing of the past because FCPS feels they are not beneficial. It has nothing to do with testing. [/quote]

40% of teachers' evaluation is based on student achievement. Teachers are force into teaching to the test. Administrators expect that. They force teachers to have weekly meetings to go over the "data", scores from practice tests and other assessments. Clearly - this person above has never, ever taught a day in her/his life. And, wouldn't last a half day on a good day. Students in VA take an average of 7 tests @ year. (SOLs, SOL test prep, Standardized reading, standardized math, enrichment identification, ELL tests and the lists goes on.  Look at your districts testing calendar. FCPS testing calendar is 10 PAGES long. Testing has warped the curriculum and stressed out teachers and students.  [/quote]

I didn't think that in fcps or surrounding counties test scores were being used in teacher evaluations.  Are they?[/quote]

Only if the teacher chooses to use them as the metric for his/her SMARTR goal. [/quote]

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