81. Paul Fleisher--standardized Testing We give kids a multiple choice test. The Virginia standards of learning may be the most destructive thing politicians have done to public schools since http://home.earthlink.net/~pfleishe/SOLessay.html

For those of you from outside Virginia, this articles refer to a standardized testing program our politicians have instituted to "raise educational standards". Beware. It may happen in your locality too. The Educational Assembly Line The SOLs are limiting our children's education. by Paul Fleisher What should we expect from our schools? Certainly we want children to read, write and compute. We want them to be able to think analytically and solve problems, to know basic information about our world, and become responsible citizens. They should learn to work together, and solve conflicts peacefully. We want them to develop an appreciation of the arts, and respect for cultures different from our own. We want children to learn skills that make them employable. We want to be sure they're healthy and well-fed, and want them to find life-long interests to make them happy. How do we in Virginia determine whether our schools are meeting these expectations? We give kids a multiple choice test. The Virginia Standards of Learning may be the most destructive thing politicians have done to public schools since "massive resistance." The problem is not so much the standards themselvesalthough they are written with far too much inflexible detail. (For example, one standard insists that students learn to use interactive video-discs, a technology that was obsolete five years ago.) It's the testing that is making the lives of Virginia educators and schoolchildren miserable, and robbing them of a first-rate education.

82. Virginia Standards Of Learning - HamptonRoads.com SchoolZone SOL Center The standards of learning are the Hampton Roads school districts are applying these standards. Special Reports 2002 test results Region s schools http://home.hamptonroads.com/schoolzone/schoolsol/search.cfm

Welcome! It's Saturday, June 12, 2004 Updated 12:37 AM EST APARTMENTS AUTOPILOT CAREERCONNECTION CLASSIFIEDS ... YELLOW PAGES City Guides Chesapeake Franklin Gloucester Hampton James City Newport News Norfolk NE North Car. Outer Banks Poquoson Portsmouth Smithfield/IOW Suffolk VA Beach Williamsburg York County Search Local Search Net Search News Search Yellow Pages Channels SchoolZone Scholastic Achievement Student Gallery Black History Month ... Weather Guides Ask an Expert Best of HR City Guides Contests ... Web Guide Site Tools Archives E-mail Newsletter Free E-mail Accounts Multimedia Plug-ins ... Make Your Homepage SOL Center The Standards of Learning are the cornerstone of Virginia's education system. Here's information you need about how Hampton Roads school districts are applying these standards. SOL QUIZ Think you know it all? Test your knowledge against these samples from last year's SOL test. Take our Daily SOL Quiz GET SOL RATINGS AND PASS RATES 2003 SOL Test Results Scores show percent of students who passed in each subject for 2003. Choose a City... Accomack Chesapeake Franklin Gloucester Hampton Isle of Wight Mathews Newport News Norfolk Northampton Poquoson Portsmouth Southampton Suffolk Virginia Beach Williamsburg-James City County York ...and Type of School Alternative Combined Elementary High Middle 2003 VA Public Schools Accreditation Ratings Accreditation is based on the results of the 2002 SOL test scores.

83. SchoolZone - SOL Questions Answered SOL Center Questions and Answers There have been many questions concerning the standards of learning (SOL) since the first test results were released http://home.hamptonroads.com/schoolzone/schoolsol/solQuestions.cfm

Welcome! It's Saturday, June 12, 2004 Updated 12:37 AM EST APARTMENTS AUTOPILOT CAREERCONNECTION CLASSIFIEDS ... YELLOW PAGES City Guides Chesapeake Franklin Gloucester Hampton James City Newport News Norfolk NE North Car. Outer Banks Poquoson Portsmouth Smithfield/IOW Suffolk VA Beach Williamsburg York County Search Local Search Net Search News Search Yellow Pages Channels SchoolZone Scholastic Achievement Student Gallery Black History Month ... Weather Guides Ask an Expert Best of HR City Guides Contests ... Web Guide Site Tools Archives E-mail Newsletter Free E-mail Accounts Multimedia Plug-ins ... SOL Center : Questions and Answers There have been many questions concerning the Standards of Learning (SOL) since the first test results were released throughout the state in the spring of 1999. This guide is intended to answer questions you may have regarding the SOLs. Q: What are the Standards of Learning? Adopted in June 1995, the SOLs outline expectations for students in the four core areas of English, mathematics, science, and history and social science. Computer technology standards are also included. The SOL tests are designed to show how well a student has mastered the SOLs in the four content areas. The SOL do not measure one student against anther, but against a specific body of skills and knowledge. Q: When are the Standards of Learning tests administered?

84. STATE TESTING PROGRAM The standards of learning Test assesses students progress on the state’s standards of learning in the content areas and associated levels listed below http://www.spotsylvania.k12.va.us/instruction/mpos/testing.htm

Search for: Quick Links Superintendent School Board Administration Human Resources ... SCS Home Page General Information Directory What's Hot! 2003-2004 Calendar 2004-2005 Calendar ... More General Info Educational Resources For Parents For Students For Teachers School Home Pages Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Alternative Schools Employment Job Postings GroupWise Web Access Elementary Middle High Administration Instructional Programs - Middle School Program of Study and Course Offerings STATE TESTING PROGRAM The Virginia State Testing Program requires that students in grades 3, 5, 6, 8 and 11 be tested. The testing program provides information for the purposes of evaluating the effectiveness of instruction, redirecting instructional activities when needed, and monitoring student achievement. As a part of the state assessment program, sixth graders take the Literacy Passport Test and eighth graders take the Stanford Achievement Test and the Standards of Learning Test. Students must pass the sixth grade Literacy Passport Test to be classified as a ninth grade student in high school and before receiving a standard high school diploma. Sixth grade students are tested in reading, math and writing.

85. The Best Answer (washingtonpost.com) standards of learning were introduced to The intense pressure to raise test scores eventually squeezed the life out of school, both for my kids and for me. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48919-2004Feb17.html

thisNode = 'print/sunday/washpostmagazine'; commercialNode =''; var SA_Message="SACategory=" + thisNode; PRINT EDITION Subscribe to NEWS OPINION ... REAL ESTATE SEARCH: Top 20 E-mailed Articles washingtonpost.com Print Edition Washington Post Magazine The Best Answer Under pressure to improve his students' Standards of Learning scores, a Virginia teacher decides to: (a) End free reading time; (b) Give more practice tests; or (c) Quit the public schools By Emmet Rosenfeld Sunday, February 22, 2004; Page W20 "Yo, Mr. R we gonna read today?" A battered copy of a young-adult novel called The Giver materialized from the depths of his baggy jeans pocket as the 11th-grader sauntered into English class at Mount Vernon High School. "This book's pretty good," he said, launching into an enthusiastic synopsis. Often unburdened by pesky school trappings like pens or homework, this young man wasn't one of my more engaged students. He wasn't reading on grade level and often seemed as if he was just marking time in high school. His unexpected burst of bibliophilia gave me a warm fuzzy teacher moment. Which faded a second later as I glanced down at the freshly copied stack of Standards of Learning practice tests sitting on my desk. The junior's description of The Giver, Lois Lowry's story about a boy who is the sole repository for memories in a colorless future, was cut short by the bustling entrance of his backpack-slinging classmates. They were a study in Fairfax County diversity. Kids hailing from million-dollar homes with a view of the Potomac River took seats next to others who had never walked its banks, even though they lived just a few miles away along the Route 1 corridor or at nearby Fort Belvoir.

86. The Truth About SOLs is indisputably essential for all children to learn. college survey course, while other standards are developmentally Many test items look more like Trivial http://www.fairtest.org/arn/The Truth About SOLs.htm

The Truth About the SOLs The Virginia Board of Education says that: The SOL program will improve public education by holding everyone to high standards through high-stakes testing. TRUTH: It is a common, but untrue, assumption that high-stakes testing produces improved learning and student achievement. Test scores rise, in large part, because of more focus on expected test content and more familiarity with the tests. The SOL program will narrow instruction and undermine education quality as teachers are forced to teach to the tests and short-change the rest of the curriculum simply to raise test scores. Low-income, minority, limited English, and special needs students are especially subject to getting drill and test practice instead of rich and varied education programs. They are at higher risk of being denied diplomas or dropping out in frustration before reaching12th grade. High standards cannot be maintained and education improved for all simply by raising the stakes for students. SOL test scores are the single best measure of students' and schools'performance and should be the primary criteria for graduation and accreditation.

87. VEA : Search Results : Article Detail fear of overreliance on standardized tests, pointing out is becoming an obstruction to learning. She spoke of technical validity in the tests and concluded http://www.veaweteach.org/search_results_detail.asp?ContentID=343

88. Standards Of Learning Fishburn Park used some of the same techniques that have been successful in raising test scores in Fishburn Park Elementary standards of learning Pass Rates http://www.roanoke.k12.va.us/schools/fishburn/sol2.html

Article from the August 17, 2000 Roanoke Times newspaper 'It begins with teachers and teamwork,' principal says Fishburn Park: example for success By Joel Turner The Roanoke Times No longer will Superintendent Wayne Harris have to point to schools outside Roanoke to support his contention that children from low-income families can score high on Virginia's Standards of Learning tests. He can turn to Fishburn Park Elementary. About four out of every 10 pupils at the school qualify for free or reduced-price lunches because of family income. It is also racially diverse with Asians, blacks, Hispanics and other minorities making up more than a third of the enrollment. Yet, Fishburn Park is one of only five Roanoke schools that became fully accredited this year by reaching the benchmark 70 percent pass rate on SOL tests. "It dispels the myth" that schools with large numbers of poor students can't score high on standardized tests, Harris said. Fishburn Park fell below the 70 percent pass benchmark on only one test - third grade English. But it met the standard for full accreditation because a recent change by the state Board of Education permits elementary schools to combine third and fifth grade English. Because of a high pass rate in fifth grade English (88 percent), Fishburn Park met the 70 percent rate for the combined score for third and fifth grade English.

89. Fairfax County (VA) Council Of PTAs spent reviewing for the SOL tests time that to stop important classroom discussions and learning experiences, just move on to one more benchmark or standard. http://www.fccpta.org/speeches/sp_sol.htm

Speeches Forum on Standards of Learning/Assessment April 20, 1999 Remarks of Rosemary Lynch President, Fairfax County Council of PTAs Good Evening. I am Rosemary Lynch, President of Fairfax County Council of PTAs (FCCPTA). Tonight our guests are Kirk Schroder, President of the State BOE, Suzy Noble and Sen. John Russell, members of the BOE. In the audience are Linda McGinn and Dr. Margaret Roberts from the Department of Education. Mr. Schroder, Ms Noble and Ms. McGinn thank you for joining us tonight. We are pleased that you accepted our invitation to our community meeting. We are excited because we view this event as an opportunity for our community to have an open dialogue with the State Board of Education. The FCCPTA appreciates the adjustments that the State BOE made to the SOLs. Parents and education professionals presented recommendations at public hearings across the state. The Board listened to these concerns and as a result the scores of limited English proficient students will not be reported with school scores for two years. The Board changed the timing of the History SOL tests for grades 5 and 8 so that it more closely matches the time of the instruction. Finally, the Board moved the tests closer to the end of the year. Despite these adjustments, we feel there are fundamental concerns that still need to be addressed. The FCCPTA supports high academic standards and accountability, however, we believe that a solitary assessment is not the best way to get a true picture of the accomplishments of students, teacher, and schools. We advocate a balanced assessment package. With such high stakes we need more than multiple choice questions to determine a child's mastery of the curriculum or the overall quality of a school.

90. NewsHour Extra: SOL Testing - September 12, 1999 testThat s how many students feel about the standards of learning how well teachers are teaching and students are learning. It s a really big test because if http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec99/sol.html

NewsHour Links: Are you ready for 12th grade? Take the SOL test Are the tests working? Should failing students be forced to repeat a grade The Clinton administration proposes requiring schools to meet tougher standards to receive federal funds. Pass or Fail Too tough a test. That's how many students feel about the Standards of Learning (SOL) program in Virginia. SOL tests are designed to measure how well teachers are teaching and students are learning. Students who don't pass, don't graduate. For some students, the possibility of having to repeat a grade is scary. "It's a really big test because if you fail you have to repeat the third grade," says nine-year-old Genny Miller. "I want to go on to the fourth grade with my friends and I just want to pass it so it will be over with." The pressure is so intense it's giving some students headaches, stomachaches and other stress-related illnesses.

91. The Civil War At Endview's Education Department And School Group Tours with programs that meet multiple standards of learning of a house museum, artifacts, handson learning, and critical to 8th grade Virginian SOL test as a http://www.endview.org/educatio.htm

Education Department Welcome Programs Docents/Volunteering Fees ... Historical Interpreters Dear Educator, We are pleased to introduce you to what the Education Department has to offer! The Department presents programs of a thematic nature to provide students and educators with programs that meet multiple Standards of Learning requirements. The Department achieves this through its' intergration of a house museum, artifacts, hands-on learning, and critical thinking exercises. These programs are offered on Endview's premises or at a site of your preference. Here are a few comments about our programs: "Discussion and question-answering session related to the [Newport News, VA] 4th Grade curriculum and [Virginia] SOLs." "Related to 8th grade [Virginian] SOL test as a refresher in preparation to the test." "Well informed, enthusiastic, and entertaining. Related well to students." "The enthusiasm, knowledge, and control of both presenters were outstanding. They had the students attention." The following is a complete listing of educational programs, fees, and program pre-visit amd post-visit materials. Please feel free to contact the staff at the Education Department through any one of the above methods.

92. Article | Study Rates Florida First In School Tests at the expense of important learning skills and of the report, compared highstakes standardized tests with their low of the Florida s state tests and Stanford http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_richmond_td-study_rates_fla_f.htm

HOME ABOUT M.I. CCI CLP ... CONTACT Site Navigation Support M.I. Scholars' Articles M.I. Issues Subscribe to City Journal Board of Trustees Staff Directory Links M.I. Book Catalog Internship Opportunities Join email updates Study rates Florida first in school tests Va., other areas lagging behind February 12, 2003 By Jason Wermers A study of standardized testing systems in Virginia, Florida and seven large public-school divisions around the country concluded that Virginia and the others lag behind Florida. The report, issued yesterday, concludes that high-stakes standardized testing programs, if correctly implemented, can be reliable measures of what students are learning in the classroom. But the study by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research's Center for Civic Innovation found that of the programs it studied, only Florida's actually achieves this goal. The school systems studied in the report - "Testing High Stakes Tests: Can We Believe the Results of Accountability Tests?" - together represent nearly one-tenth of the nation's total public-school enrollment. These systems' high-stakes testing programs - in particular, Virginia's Standards of Learning tests - provide accurate yearly snapshots of how well schools are teaching students what they need to learn, according to the study. But these snapshots cannot confidently be compared over time to say that student achievement is improving or declining, the report finds.

93. Standards Of Learning and books that have withstood the test of time grammar are not substitutes for learning the rules Please note the Computer/Technology standards following grade http://www.knowledge.state.va.us/main/sol/solview.cfm?curriculum_abb=E/W

94. Nelson County Public Schools standards and Virginia standards of learning to activities plans, and projects designed to teach the standards. topics, and an automated testing component for http://www.nelson.k12.va.us/Instruction/techresources.htm

NCPS NEWS! 2004-2005 School Calendar Approved! New DOE K-3 History and Social Science Online Resource Spring 2003 SOL Test Release Items Available Here ! No Child Left Behind Information ... NCPS email on the Web (for registered users only) Internet Resources and Materials for Classroom Instruction Nelson County Public Schools offers teachers and students additional curriculum and instructional resources to meet the varying needs of our student population. Focused on the Virginia Standards of Learning as minimum competencies, we strive to allow instructors and students the opportunity to explore the vast array of resources available to them via the Internet. Two of these teacher-friendly resources include the Marco Polo Project http://marcopolo.worldcom.com and Project ECOLE. http://www.vciconnectandlearn.com/ The MarcoPolo project was launched in 1997 as a partnership between the WorldCom Foundation and some of the nation's leading educational organizations. With WorldCom funding and support, each of these organizations has created its own, independent, discipline-specific web site to provide teachers with standards-based Internet Content for the Classroom. In addition, they have joined with the WorldCom Foundation to provide teachers with professional development support through online training materials and on-site training programs.

95. Del Ray Citizens Association BBS http//personal.cfw.com/~dday/SOLletters.html Standardized testing on such a prep centers, with teaching to the test replacing genuine learning. http://www.delraycitizen.org/discus/messages/38/45.html?TuesdayNovember219990448

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