Anonymous wrote:You absolutely should NOT prepare your child for SOL. The SOL is a test for the school. If the school isn't educating your child well enough for them to pass the SOL then the state should know about that. I never prep my children and the one year my child was offered a retake I knew it was purely for selfish reasons from the school, so I declined.

Same. I'd never put my kid through that twice.

Anonymous wrote:Parents who worry about and have their kids prep for the SOLs are very odd. When their kids get to to high school they will finally see how meaningless it all was.

SOLs are used as part of the decision to place kids in Advanced Math, LIII, and principal place into LLIV classes.

You shouldn’t need to study for the SOL if you are doing well in a class. The class should be teaching the material.

Parents who worry about and have their kids prep for the SOLs are very odd. When their kids get to to high school they will finally see how meaningless it all was.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with most parents on that the SOL is designed to judge the school/teacher more than the student. If a teacher has 99% pass advanced rate they are doing a great job, if they have a 5% pass rate they suck and the school needs to know that the teacher is failing at their job.

That being said if your DC is worried about a test I personally think it's fine to have them see the format ahead of time. The first time one of my daughters took a multiple choice test she didn't know what was going on and didn't realize she was trying to make the statement true, she has an active imagination and would frequently pick what she thought was the funniest answer.

Or the parents suck and are failing at their job of providing the school with teachable, school-ready students?

I agree with most parents on that the SOL is designed to judge the school/teacher more than the student. If a teacher has 99% pass advanced rate they are doing a great job, if they have a 5% pass rate they suck and the school needs to know that the teacher is failing at their job.

That being said if your DC is worried about a test I personally think it's fine to have them see the format ahead of time. The first time one of my daughters took a multiple choice test she didn't know what was going on and didn't realize she was trying to make the statement true, she has an active imagination and would frequently pick what she thought was the funniest answer.

I strongly, strongly disagree.

These tests require very, very specific reading comprehension that as a teacher, we spend very, very little time teaching. Kids can, indeed, do know standards but miss questions because they aren't understanding what the question is asking, how to structure the problems the questions are asking, etc. Linguistically, people learning English struggle because while the test does test academic standards, it is ALSO a test in a very specific genre of English we don't teach esol students.

- FCPS teacher home who had taught in wealthy AAP centers and in a title I school with sick toddler.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely should NOT prepare your child for SOL. The SOL is a test for the school. If the school isn't educating your child well enough for them to pass the SOL then the state should know about that. I never prep my children and the one year my child was offered a retake I knew it was purely for selfish reasons from the school, so I declined.

The SOL may seem like it's just for the school, but it's the students who take the test, and their scores are attached to their names. It’s not simply a test without consequences for students. For instance, my child got advanced scores in both Math and Reading in 3rd grade, and it helped them get into full-time AAP. So, please don't imply that it's solely a test for the school.

You don't know what you're talking about. Your kid wasn't even smart enough to get into AAP in 2nd on their own merits

The SOL is a measure of how well the school is teaching your child. If your child is going to fail them, let them fail, let the school know they're doing a shitty job. And if your child fails, don't accept the retake offer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely should NOT prepare your child for SOL. The SOL is a test for the school. If the school isn't educating your child well enough for them to pass the SOL then the state should know about that. I never prep my children and the one year my child was offered a retake I knew it was purely for selfish reasons from the school, so I declined.

The SOL may seem like it's just for the school, but it's the students who take the test, and their scores are attached to their names. It’s not simply a test without consequences for students. For instance, my child got advanced scores in both Math and Reading in 3rd grade, and it helped them get into full-time AAP. So, please don't imply that it's solely a test for the school.

+1 SOL is a big deal for kids and most want to do really well. My child's teacher is out for the rest of the year, and you better believe we're prepping for SOL. The long term sub is barely holding her head above water.

Is this really true? I have never heard of SOL being part of the AAP application.

I believe they are included for kids applying after 2nd grade and some parents might reference them in parent referrals in third and fourth grade. There are no SOLs to include for the first year of applications and that is when most kids are considered.