Anonymous
Post 05/16/2026 09:01     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Anonymous wrote:Question then- if my child is an A student in MS HR and scores between 400-500 which they claim is "proficient" then why would they get a B added to their grade? Are parents now supposed to make sure we get outside tutoring for our child to take a standardized test based on material a teacher (every teacher is different) taught my child so they can get above a 500 (which they claim is advanced)....I get the premises of the test but I don't agree with it being part of your permanent grade now.


Omg. How many times do you have to be told we don’t know yet how it will look. Worry about it when you get the facts.
Anonymous
Post 05/16/2026 08:48     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Question then- if my child is an A student in MS HR and scores between 400-500 which they claim is "proficient" then why would they get a B added to their grade? Are parents now supposed to make sure we get outside tutoring for our child to take a standardized test based on material a teacher (every teacher is different) taught my child so they can get above a 500 (which they claim is advanced)....I get the premises of the test but I don't agree with it being part of your permanent grade now.
Anonymous
Post 05/16/2026 08:25     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
I think it is already common practice with some high school classes. We have a rising college sophomore and another in HS. Even the now college students sol scores counted as a final grade in some HS classes. Teacher would break down Sol scores into “grades”. If you were not satisfied with the grade you could retake finale and were given a final that teacher created. It probably wasn’t mandatory like it might be.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 13:52     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our kid's bio teacher is already doing it this year...so I'm not sure it's so far-fetched


There is a federal requirement for HS students to sit for an end of course test in biology so all biology students have to take it. Not related to the VA law this thread is referring to.


Yes- but my kid's school is using it as a final grade. They have their own conversion between score and letter grade. It's pretty lenient, as I think a 550 is a 96, and a 500 is a 90. But it's still pretty obnoxious
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 10:31     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Anonymous wrote:Our kid's bio teacher is already doing it this year...so I'm not sure it's so far-fetched


There is a federal requirement for HS students to sit for an end of course test in biology so all biology students have to take it. Not related to the VA law this thread is referring to.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 10:21     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:And our DC’s teacher gave them weekly graded quizzes off of old SOL test questions for the past 5 months. So, the SOL tests are already being incorporated into their grades.


That's different, because it's practice. I'm pretty irritated about this whole thing though because teaching to standardized tests is the whole reason education has been dumbed down so much over the past 20 years. Let's please do away with all the standardized testing.
It’s actually worse. The SOL being tied into one final grade only impacts one quarter. But, the constant SOL quizzes tied into Q2, Q3, and Q4 grades downgrades them for 3 quarters. Plus, the teacher does not teach or review the material— that is all on the child. The class turned into a testing center with a weekly SOL test each Monday. This is while the ongoing new material was required. It was constant testing off of the SOLs.


Everyone is doing the year long rolling gradebook next year so it won't make a difference. But if it's counted as 10% of the overall grade as claimed, the final exam grade is separate from the year long gradebook and averaged in at the end anyway, even if they did quarterly averaging.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 07:58     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:And our DC’s teacher gave them weekly graded quizzes off of old SOL test questions for the past 5 months. So, the SOL tests are already being incorporated into their grades.


That's different, because it's practice. I'm pretty irritated about this whole thing though because teaching to standardized tests is the whole reason education has been dumbed down so much over the past 20 years. Let's please do away with all the standardized testing.
It’s actually worse. The SOL being tied into one final grade only impacts one quarter. But, the constant SOL quizzes tied into Q2, Q3, and Q4 grades downgrades them for 3 quarters. Plus, the teacher does not teach or review the material— that is all on the child. The class turned into a testing center with a weekly SOL test each Monday. This is while the ongoing new material was required. It was constant testing off of the SOLs.


Maybe it helped them get a good grade on the the actual SOL.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 07:57     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:And our DC’s teacher gave them weekly graded quizzes off of old SOL test questions for the past 5 months. So, the SOL tests are already being incorporated into their grades.


That's different, because it's practice. I'm pretty irritated about this whole thing though because teaching to standardized tests is the whole reason education has been dumbed down so much over the past 20 years. Let's please do away with all the standardized testing.
It’s actually worse. The SOL being tied into one final grade only impacts one quarter. But, the constant SOL quizzes tied into Q2, Q3, and Q4 grades downgrades them for 3 quarters. Plus, the teacher does not teach or review the material— that is all on the child. The class turned into a testing center with a weekly SOL test each Monday. This is while the ongoing new material was required. It was constant testing off of the SOLs.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 07:51     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
It's also ridiculous that Virginia doesn't just do common core like everyone else.
Anonymous
Post 05/15/2026 07:50     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Anonymous wrote:And our DC’s teacher gave them weekly graded quizzes off of old SOL test questions for the past 5 months. So, the SOL tests are already being incorporated into their grades.


That's different, because it's practice. I'm pretty irritated about this whole thing though because teaching to standardized tests is the whole reason education has been dumbed down so much over the past 20 years. Let's please do away with all the standardized testing.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2026 14:52     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
And our DC’s teacher gave them weekly graded quizzes off of old SOL test questions for the past 5 months. So, the SOL tests are already being incorporated into their grades.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2026 10:17     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Our kid's bio teacher is already doing it this year...so I'm not sure it's so far-fetched
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2026 07:52     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Wouldn’t worry about it. Governor and VA legislators will be hard at work dumbing down the VA K-12 educational system. Requirement will go away.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2026 22:41     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know who I can reach out to in order to understand how FCPS is planning to incorporate the SOL into the final grades last year? I really don't want internet speculation, I am just looking for who specifically at Gatehouse I should be asking.


You’ll find out when they want you to know. Nothing has been finalized at this point so it’s not worth worrying about now.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2026 22:38     Subject: Who to reach out to about next year's SOL grading policy?
Does anyone know who I can reach out to in order to understand how FCPS is planning to incorporate the SOL into the final grades last year? I really don't want internet speculation, I am just looking for who specifically at Gatehouse I should be asking.