41. NewsHour Extra: SOL Testing - September 12, 1999 many students feel about the standards of learning well teachers are teaching and students are learning. and almost all states are instituting similar tests. 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.

42. Frontline: Testing Our Schools: Testing: In The Classroom | PBS So even the highstakes tests do afford us an opportunity to grow a teacher who was leaving teaching because she said the standards of learning and that http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/schools/testing/theme.html

var loc = "../../../"; In the course of making "Testing Our Schools," correspondent John Merrow and producer John Tulenko interviewed teachers and school administrators who are grappling with the realities of testing and its effects for better and worse on teaching and learning in the classroom. Here are excerpts from some of those interviews, with educators in Virginia and California, in March 2001. The Mood Inside the Schools Teaches kindergarten in Richmond, Va. ... This year has been the most stressful year for me and for my team, and I think for many teachers, because there has been so much pressure from on top, that you have to make sure that these children learn these SOLs [Standards of Learning], that they pass this test. And we're doing lesson plans, OK? Detailed lesson plans. We're making games, we're correcting all those papers that you see in my file. We're not only doing this during the day; ... we have to take work home. People forget that we have families and we have a life of our own. So on weekends, we're doing work. I'm up sometimes 'til 2 a.m. trying to do stuff that will help these children learn. ... I am not against assessment. ... I am against the methods they are using to test our children. I am against the pressure and the stress that is put on us for getting children to master these SOLs at the same rate of speed when everyone knows that all children do not [learn] the same way or at the same rate. ...

43. Re: Two Takes On Testing : August 2003 : ARN-L students have the ability to learn, and the Virginia standards of learning tests will prove accommodations to assist them when taking the SOL tests just as http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/archives/Aug2003/msg00221.html

Join the ARN E-mail Discussion Group ARN Home FairTest Home Search the Discussion Archives Subscribe/ Unsubscribe Author Prev ... Thread Index Re: Two Takes on Testing To : "'arn-l@interversity.org'" <arn-l@interversity.org> Subject : Re: Two Takes on Testing From : "Roberts, John - Vanguard High School" <robertsj1@marion.k12.fl.us> Date : Mon, 18 Aug 2003 06:33:29 -0500 Oh Sue: If only you could put a child's mind in a test tube. Scientists are charged with finding finite "truth". I'll bet you can get children to slobber like Pavlov's dog! Children, responding to prescribed stimuli is not learning. Mike -Original Message- From: Sue Allison [ mailto:sueallison@comcast.net Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2003 1:36 PM To: "Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@interversity.net Subject: [arn-l] Two Takes on Testing http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1152-2003Aug15.html washingtonpost.com Two Takes on Testing Virginia's SOLs are proving their worth. Sunday, August 17, 2003; Page B08 In the past few years I have heard complaints from just about everyone about the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) and the accompanying assessment tests. The complainers include students, parents, teachers and even

44. SMART NEIGHBORHOODS - Newport News, VA curriculum leading to students excelling in educational standards of learning ((sols)) assessments and 5. We help them with their homework, pretesting for the http://smart.nn.k12.va.us/powerup.htm

45. Fairfax County (VA) Council Of PTAs Further, standards for learning and performance and their experiences, interests, gifts, abilities, and learning styles. pass one of many tests and therefore 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.

46. Other Voices The Downside Of Testing Frenzy Passport tests, standards of learning tests, Objective Referenced of wellrounded individuals, standardized tests are not keep reducing our standards to these http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-08499sy0may13,0,6064877.story?coll=dp-

47. Richmond.com must learn each year in order to be prepared for the tests, and no be based on multiple criteria, including, but not limited to, the standards of learning. http://www.richmond.com/output.cfm?ID=773844

48. Food For Thought in Virginia began with the SOL (standards of learning) tests. Sampling techniques that are a standard tool of any having a problem passing the test, enroll the http://www.co-opliving.com/coopliving/issues/2003/July/food.htm

Food For Thought SOLs and Graduation-How High the Stakes? by John E. Bonfadini, Ed.D., Contributing Columnist Professor Emeritus, George Mason University John E. Bonfadini Public officials have chosen to put increased emphasis on high-stakes testing as one measure. Many educators, including myself, have opposed the use of these types of tests as the final determiner of educational achievement. No single test can be a better evaluator of student achievement than 12 years of formal evaluation by trained professional teachers. Those who have failed to listen to the educational community are suffering from “testing backlash.” Throughout the country large numbers of students have been denied graduation because they failed to pass the high-stakes test. Many of these students have good educational-achievement records. Using high-stakes testing as the sole final determiner for graduation lacks the element of common sense. Evaluate the Program, Not the Pupil I think this type of testing should be used to evaluate the curriculum and not the individual student. Sampling techniques that are a standard tool of any research could be used to determine the same student outcomes with a significantly smaller expenditure. We may not have the individual evaluations on every student, but we will obtain necessary data for identifying program strengths and weaknesses. Resources could then be directed to improve identified program weaknesses rather than wasted on testing schemes for everyone.

49. 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.

50. Virginia School Report Card Downloadable Files is outlined in the standards of learning ((sols)). Accreditation—The Regulations Establishing standards for Accrediting those in the school taking the test . http://va-reportcards.vipnet.org/html/glossary.html

Virginia School Report Cards Glossary Dropouts —Students in grades 7-12 who leave school before graduation and do not transfer to another school are considered dropouts. Dropout information is reported for any school with a grade 7 or higher. General Educational Development (GED) Certificates —This number indicates high school students who earned a GED. Adults earning a GED certificate through adult education programs are not included in these numbers. Limited English Proficient —Students who are identified as limited-English-proficient (English as a Second Language) are expected to take and pass the SOL tests; however, these students may be granted an exemption from taking the tests for one grade level only at grades 3, 5, or 8. For School years 1997-98 and 1998-99, LEP students’ scores will not be included in the calculation and reporting of school-wide scores. Paired Schools —School accreditation is based on student performance on the SOL tests. SOL tests are administered to students in grades 3, 5, 8, and high school. Schools that do not house these grades or offer courses for which SOL tests exist are paired with another school in the division housing one or more of the grades or courses in which SOL tests are administered. The pairings are at the recommendation of the division superintendent. Standards of Learning (SOL) —In June 1995, the Virginia Board of Education adopted new, more rigorous student academic standards in the four core content areas of English, mathematics, science, and history and social science. What a student is expected to know and be able to do at each grade level and in certain high school courses is outlined in the Standards of Learning (SOLs). The SOLs form the basis for the SOL tests administered to students in grades 3, 5, 8, and in 11 high school courses.

51. SWOC Archives May 2001 ( 2) although she likes having statewide standards, she doesn t think the tests should be Parents Across Virginia United to Reform standards of learning, a group http://lists.wayne.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0105&L=swoc&F=&S=&P=148

52. Citzenship In The Digital Age the social studies standards of learning ((sols)) that indicated Sometimes state standards, such as the (sols) in exercises on social studies state test materials. http://www.knowledgeway.org/works/citizenship/admingroup.html

Strategic Initiatives: Home KnowledgeWayWORKS Citizenship in the Digital Age Citizenship in the Digital Age Introduction Administrator Focus Group Summaries Instructional Technology Specialist Focus Group Summaries Teacher Focus Group Summaries ... Next Steps Administrators Focus Group The purpose of the Administrator Focus Group session was to gain a greater understanding of their views on the current environment in which schools are operating, the ideal environment for undertaking a collaborative effort, and the potential challenges and opportunities in undertaking this project. A summary of the findings follows below. Current Environment The following essential themes emerged during the discussion of the current environment in which schools are operating: Key measures for success: Standards of Learning, not technological ability Performing up to state standards is a major concern for administrators. The administrators from Virginia, in particular, recently received testing information on the social studies Standards of Learning (SOLs) that indicated low performance. There was consensus among participants that performance on the SOLs would have to be addressed before any other initiatives are considered. Other districts, such as DC, use different tests that should also be reviewed, such as the Stanford-9. Sometimes state standards, such as the SOLs in Virginia, and other initiatives, such as technology integration, are seen as competing priorities within the schools. Administrators found this very frustrating. However, there was some agreement that technology might be used to help performance on the SOLs by using computers for drill exercises on social studies state test materials. These types of drills apparently are available for other subject areas.

53. Standards Of Learning = Fun - News - Springfield Connection - Connection Newspap to stress the basis of experimentation methods that are not only used by NASA but also may be part of the standards of learning (SOL) tests that Fairfax http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?archive=true&article=15317&paper

54. American Association Of School Administrators - The School Administrator the criticism against Virginia s standards of learning tests has to The setting of standards, cutoff points and passing that the best use of the test should be http://www.aasa.org/publications/sa/2000_12/domenech.htm

search site awards and scholarships career center conferences education marketplace ... home The School Administrator Web Edition December 2000 My Stakes Well Done The issue isn't academic benchmarks, it's the misguided use of a single test BY DANIEL A. DOMENECH A colleague on the National Assessment Governing Board refers to testing as an illusion. By that he means that we ascribe much more power and exactness to tests than they actually possess. In part, that illusion of testing has created many of the problems currently encountered with the assessment portion of the high standards movement. My home state of Virginia was recognized early on in the standards-setting process as having developed an excellent product in the Standards of Learning, known widely as SOL. Indeed, educators in Virginia embraced the SOLs as quality benchmarks for learning in the 21st century. Today, the state's SOLs face serious challenges from educators and parents concerned with the eventual impact the tests might have on children and education. The standards themselves remain quality expectations for our children. The problem is with the high-stakes assessment program that is supposed to measure whether or not the standards are being met. It was not enough to simply raise the bar and expect our children to perform at higher levels. Along with the higher standards came accountability. Our policymakers were determined to hold students and educators accountable for their performance or lack thereof. Enter high-stakes testing.

55. Alliance For Childhood - Techology Literacy Psychological Association s Testing Committee Editor, Testing African American Across Virginia United to Reform (sols) (standards of learning), a network of http://www.allianceforchildhood.net/news/histakes_test_position_statement.htm

HIGH-STAKES TESTING: A STATEMENT OF CONCERN AND CALL TO ACTION April 25, 2001 Political leaders throughout America, including President Bush, are calling for a dramatic increase in standardized testing in public schools. The new tests invariably carry high stakesthat is, the test results are linked to serious consequences for students, teachers, and schools. We believe that this massive experiment, intended to raise educational achievement, is based on misconceptions about the nature and value of testing and about how children develop a true love of learning. We further believe that this experiment may harm children's health by causing excessive anxiety and stress. Health-care professionals and parents already report that test-related stress is literally making many children sick. At the same time, we know a great deal about the kinds of schools and assessment practices that will best support children's learning and the development of the skills and capacities most needed in the 21st century. Such schools foster strong bonds between students, families, and good teachers. They help students to frame questions intelligently, to pursue and analyze information, and to think with originality, creativity, and concern for others. Yet these schools and practicesas well as some of our most able teachersare placed increasingly at risk by the proliferation of standardized tests.

56. Atrocities (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out) state is doing is lowering the standards while pretending blame schools for the socalled learning gap and this dilemma after ballyhooing their tests for the http://www.susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.html?id=642

57. The Cavalier Daily imposes the strict Virginia standards of learning and its exams force teachers to teach to the test from cryptically numbered standards that leave http://www.cavalierdaily.com/lead.asp?pid=1103

58. Ms. Shaw's Favorite Websites Virginia SOL Related. Virginia standards of learning currently in Virginia SOL Release of Spring 2002 tests Great place to get sample questions for practice http://www.hopewell.k12.va.us/techsol/favweb.htm

Ms. Shaw's Favorite Websites Virginia SOL Related Search Engines Teacher's Treasures Science ... Online Games Virginia SOL Related Virginia Standards of Learning currently in effect for Virginia Public Schools . This includes all subject areas and grade levels. 2003 Released SOL Tests This includes all grade levels and subject areas except History and Social Science (see below). Virginia SOL Release of Spring 2003 History and Social Science Tests Ten released items for each of the history tests are available. Great place to get sample questions for practice. SOLpass SOL content review for Science and Social Studies Virginia SOLs and Assistance Thanks to Tami Maloney and Poquoson Schools for sharing these great resources for grades 3, 5, 8 and EOC tests. All tests are made with Hot Potatoes using the SOL released test items . The 2003 released items tests need Internet Explorer 6.0 to work correctly. Middle School SOL Pretests This site provides links to online practice tests in the four core area SOLs for grades 6, 7 and 8. These interactive tests enable you to receive instant feedback on correct answers and scoring. Thanks to Beverley Manor Middle School in Augusta Co. for sharing these resources. Jefferson Lab's Science, Math, and Technology SOL Practice Tests

59. Public Testimony Regarding State Education Standar used to live in Virginia where the standards of learning lose much of their love for learning after the now structured around preparing for the tests since the http://www.parentsunited.org/Standards/PublicTestimony.htm

S EE KIDS AGAIN! How similar standards are working in Virginia. Public testimony regarding State Education Standards The following is testimony given about the proposed education social studies standards. Standards of Learning My name is Cheryl Anderson. As a parent of two elementary school children, I am encouraging all of us to exercise caution before adopting any proposed curriculum. I believe we should all fully understand the benefits, as well as the flaws of the proposed curriculum, so we can make an informed decision. I believe strongly in the value of education, having benefited personally from strong public schools that helped to teach me to think through things and not simply accept them at face value. I am concerned that the Standards of Learning Curriculum may be more focused on facts and figures than in teaching our children how to think for themselves. I am also concerned about the increased levels of testing. I used to live in Virginia where the Standards of Learning have already been introduced. My sisters, who also value quality education, both have expressed great frustration with the curriculum. While they think teachers and schools should be accountable for providing quality education, they believe that the SOLs have been implemented in a way that the negatives outweigh the positives. They have watched their children lose much of their love for learning after the SOLs were implemented. My nieces and nephew’s classes are now structured around preparing for the tests since the teachers and schools are measured by the results. In history, they are focused on learning facts and figures, many obscure according to my sister, rather than understanding why the event took place. The students in Virginia now cram subject matter in preparation for a test rather than experience creative learning. They have specialists come in to help them prepare for the question types, home booklets, study sheets, early morning prep sessions, and practice tests all in preparation for the standardized test. They have lost the joy of learning.

60. Bogus "advanced Proficiency Status" By Domenico Rosa snapshots of life under Virginia s standards of learning status, cultural status and learning ability status his daughter s SOL earth science test arrived at http://mathforum.org/epigone/math-teach/flersangzou/3B96997C.A4C24DAD@teikyopost

Bogus "advanced proficiency status" by Domenico Rosa reply to this message post a message on a new topic Back to messages on this topic Back to math-teach Subject: Bogus "advanced proficiency status" Author: DRosa@teikyopost.edu Date: http://forum.swarthmore.edu/epigone/math-teach/brilzhobrol/ The Math Forum

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