Anonymous
Post 07/23/2021 06:48     Subject: Arlington SOLs
Anonymous wrote:I am shocked. My 8th grader got straight As this year, but failed Reading and Math SOLs. I don’t really know what to think and now I don’t trust that the teachers are going to be honest with us. Clearly those As were fake.

How does your child generally do with tests? The format doesn’t work well for some people.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2021 04:25     Subject: Arlington SOLs
I am shocked. My 8th grader got straight As this year, but failed Reading and Math SOLs. I don’t really know what to think and now I don’t trust that the teachers are going to be honest with us. Clearly those As were fake.
Anonymous
Post 07/23/2021 02:31     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I feel like such a failure - thought we were doing all of the right things over the years like reading every night, after school enrichment, going to the library, Kumon, limited tv, no video games, expensive summer camps....

Now having failed the 3rd grade SOLs - we might as well give up. Seems like we just threw all that money down the toilet.


Wait, you just found out? Anyone who failed was given a retake earlier in the summer…


Nobody should have just found out. Those who failed should have been notified (well, the parents). They should have been offered summer school and then had it rescinded.


Send the parents a workbook, have them log into Lexia, Dreambox, Khan Academy, Reflex.... Really this is the parents fault and they need to own it....not just blame APS.
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 21:47     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I feel like such a failure - thought we were doing all of the right things over the years like reading every night, after school enrichment, going to the library, Kumon, limited tv, no video games, expensive summer camps....

Now having failed the 3rd grade SOLs - we might as well give up. Seems like we just threw all that money down the toilet.


Wait, you just found out? Anyone who failed was given a retake earlier in the summer…


Nobody should have just found out. Those who failed should have been notified (well, the parents). They should have been offered summer school and then had it rescinded.
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 20:27     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
No retakes for secondary either
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 19:30     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
There were no retakes this year for elementary students.
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 18:52     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
Anonymous wrote:I feel like such a failure - thought we were doing all of the right things over the years like reading every night, after school enrichment, going to the library, Kumon, limited tv, no video games, expensive summer camps....

Now having failed the 3rd grade SOLs - we might as well give up. Seems like we just threw all that money down the toilet.


Wait, you just found out? Anyone who failed was given a retake earlier in the summer…
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 18:50     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
Anonymous wrote:I feel like such a failure - thought we were doing all of the right things over the years like reading every night, after school enrichment, going to the library, Kumon, limited tv, no video games, expensive summer camps....

Now having failed the 3rd grade SOLs - we might as well give up. Seems like we just threw all that money down the toilet.
m


Agree with the above poster. I understand how disappointing this is, but the third grade SOL tests a pretty narrow body of knowledge.
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 17:35     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
Anonymous wrote:I feel like such a failure - thought we were doing all of the right things over the years like reading every night, after school enrichment, going to the library, Kumon, limited tv, no video games, expensive summer camps....

Now having failed the 3rd grade SOLs - we might as well give up. Seems like we just threw all that money down the toilet.


That’s ridiculous, presuming you’re not taking the piss. My kid went to a school where SOL scores were the be-all and end-all, and not necessarily a happy place. In a regular year they drilled those kids on the tests over and over. I’m guessing they either didn’t do that in your school ever, or couldn’t do it this year. Your child just may not be good at filling in bubbles.

The only reason I’m not 100% sure you’re kidding is that there are people around here who really do worry about stuff like this.
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 17:02     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
I feel like such a failure - thought we were doing all of the right things over the years like reading every night, after school enrichment, going to the library, Kumon, limited tv, no video games, expensive summer camps....

Now having failed the 3rd grade SOLs - we might as well give up. Seems like we just threw all that money down the toilet.
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 16:59     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My 3rd grader with an IEP was in the "pass/proficient" category but not by much in both categories (score was well below 450 for both, special needs are mild). This is obviously our first time dealing with SOLs. Trying to figure out how we should feel about this. I always had high scores on standardized tests as a kid. I'm trying not to care. And my kid will never know this matters to me other than that I was them to try their best. But trying to figure out if it's actually common for this type of score.


This sometimes happens in 3rd since it's their first time taking the SOLs


a few years ago, my kid who now has an iep, but didn't at the time, failed math and was a few points into the pass for the other measure, reading, in 3rd. Passing is passing and it sounds like the IEP is working maybe?
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 14:17     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
Also Dibels has different passages for beginning, middle, and end of year. For my grade (4th) we found the mid year the easiest one, and the end of year was very hard comparatively. I think students will do better as well with the test in person vs online. We were not allowed to give it in person even once we returned. I expect students scores will improve this year with in person paper administration bs reading off a screen.
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 14:15     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
Dibels is specifically a test of oral reading and vocabulary comprehension. It measures reading skills- like actually reading the text. The SOL measures lots of other skills where you apply your reading skills- read a passage and answer questions is a big part, but also context clues, dictionary skills, main idea, theme, etc.
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 09:10     Subject: Re:Arlington SOLs
Anonymous wrote:Kid did awesome on the SOLs and poorly on his dibbels. Not sure what to make of it.


We had that, too. Kid scores lower in the spring than they did in the fall! Chalking it up to a bad testing day.
Anonymous
Post 07/22/2021 07:59     Subject: Arlington SOLs
Anonymous wrote:Fascinating… My kids scored average on SOL‘s but on the advanced end of math and reading inventory. Are they not correlated somehow now? Who would I contact at their school over the summer to understand?


They are not correlated. Sol tests are aligned specifically to the Virginia SOLs. SRI and SMI are generalized proficiency tests that are nationally normed formative assessments. They are 2 different things. Sounds like your child is fine.