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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Failing an SOL doesn't necessarily get you more services or remediation.  I think passing a retake can help a kid's confidence.  Can you imagine failing at a school with 90% pass rates? That must feel awful for a kid.  [/quote]

Yes it does mean your child gets remediation. The school is [b]required[/b] to provide it for every child who fails.[/quote]

The required minimum is one hour.[/quote]

I am expecting that my 6th grader will fail his Math 7 SOL.  Fairly or unfairly, I blame his teacher.  (My mom is a teacher, so I don't say those words lightly.  And she agrees with me.)  I have two questions.

(1) In light of the fact that I blame his teacher (and by extension the school -- meaning I care NOT AT ALL if his teacher or the school looks bad), should I allow him to retake the test if a retake is offered?  He has no anxiety issues, but he may be embarrassed if his friends find out he failed the SOL.

(2) What kind of remediation will he receive, given that he was already in an advanced class?  We're in APS, if it matters.[/quote]

Students are only permitted by the state to re-take if they score between 375-399.  I imagine you will be contacted quickly if he is in this group.  If you are not contacted then either he passed or he did not pass but his score was too low to be allowed to re-take.

If he fails, don't delude yourself:  his friends probably will find out anyway.  Either because he tells them or because of his math class assignment next year or because of how his school might set up the remediation program for the students who are not re-takers.  At one kid's school last year, all the passers were in one classroom doing projects and all the failers were in another classroom doing math practice sheets while the smaller group of re-take students were working pretty much one-on-one with a teacher and para.

If he is in the re-take group and if you agree to re-take, the method of remediation will vary.  The teachers get pretty detailed reports about each student who is eligible to re-take and most teachers will use that to focus the remediation on those areas.  Now is the time to ask these questions.  Not later.

I have a feeling you are going to blow off this recommendation but my suggestion is that if you have concerns about the teacher then you should surface those to the Principal asap.  In fact, you should have done it a long time ago.  I know you say it is the teacher's fault but remember the saying...when you point one finger at someone else look at your hand and you will see that you are pointing three fingers right back at yourself...  What were you doing if you thought that his teacher was so bad?  That's on you.

Good luck to your son.[/quote]

Thank you for your thoughtful response.  So he will only get remediation if we agree to a retake?  And the remediation will be in the hands of his classroom teacher?  Regarding contacting admin, it's been done by me and others.  Hence, the reason I blame the teacher and, by extension, the school.  (And the reason my teacher-mom agrees with me.)[/quote]

From what I've seen, only the re-take children get close to one-on-one remediation.  The kids whose scores are less than 375, so not eligible for re-takes, usually are in a class with subs and they do math work but there are a lot of kids in those classrooms to compensate for the teachers pulled to remediate with re-takers so it is definitely worksheet based.  It may not be the case at your child's school but I've seen a couple of schools (we are emergency-care foster parents so our foster children stay in their school not our zoned geographic school) and it seems to look a lot alike at all the schools.

Thanks for clarifying about the principal.  It is so important to be in contact to let them know what you are seeing.  The teacher is the first contact and resource, and most of the ones I see are just great, but every once in a while you find a dud and then you really do need to let someone know what you're seeing or not seeing.

I hope this helps.  You really do need to talk to your school and find out what they will be doing.  Like I said, every school is different and it just may be that the schools I am seeing are alike but others are different...  Good luck![/quote]

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