At our school I believe after they finish math in 6th and take the SOL they move into a practical math unit where they have to work on budgeting. Kids seem to actually like it. |
maybe in elementary school. Not in middle school or high school |
That would be wonderful and I would be very happy with that. It would be good for them and practicle uses of math are great to teach. |
Why is it that whenever a certain party decides to mix “boycott!” with “public schools,”
- invariably it is the children’s education which loses out? |
Administering SOL tests at the elementary level takes an enormous amount of time and staff resources. There are so many kids with English learner issues or special education issues that need private or small group testing that takes the whole morning for most schools. Every room is used, the library may be closed, the schedules are all upended, and every special ed teacher and IA and warm body is used to get adults to monitor the tests in each room. This means that if your kid is supposed to get special ed services, I can almost guarantee you that they aren’t during SOL month, because there is no time around the testing of multiple groups of kids. The IAs that usually go into rooms to support teachers are not there that month, either, and then retesting happens.
Kids that are generally good students spend hours at some schools doing review packets and going over and over stuff they already know. Teachers are under great pressure to have students pass, and the tests have absolutely gotten harder. Meanwhile, Pearson makes tons of money and the district spends tons on tech review crap. Unless you work in an elementary school, you can’t really understand the impact this whole SOL process has. And when it’s over, there are still weeks left but everyone has mentally checked out. |
But that is not a standard FCPS unit, so the majority of schools won’t do that unit. |
Standardized, end-of-year tests are important for assessing how well kids learned the year's material. SOLs are useful. |