61. Parents Across Virginia              United To Reform SOLs (sols) has been formed to improve the Virginia standards of learning and standards 1. prohibit the use of SOL test scores or pass rates as the sole or http://www.solreform.com/

Parents Across Virginia United to Reform SOLs SOLs haven't improved education-new poll Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll on public attitudes on public schools Why high stakes tests are harmful -Alliance for Childhood position statement ... SAT scores How SOL pass rates are manipulated Apples to processed applesauce Locally awarded verified credits -Scoring the writing tests 5,625 writing scores changed to pass ... Lowered cut scores in history About PAVURSOL Contact us Media requests For more information JOIN OUR DISCUSSION GROUP. What is PAVURSOL? PAVURSOL is an internet-based, growing grassroots network of over 6,000 parents, grandparents and concerned citizens who want to ensure that the standards and assessments used with our children are educationally defensible. As parents, grandparents and supporters of school-aged children, we recognize the need for ensuring that all students acquire the knowledge and skills needed for success in school and beyond. However, we believe that our current "one-size-fits-all" SOL system will fail to accomplish this and will hurt, not help, students, schools, and communities. To join, click here.

62. Test Usage Information Links Research, articles, and information about high stakes tests and their misuse fromgroup opposing Virginia s standards of learning tests. http://home.rica.net/airedale/test_usage_information_links.htm

SOL -Standards of Learning PAVURSOL SOL Reform Test Usage Information Links: January, 2003 "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." -Albert Einstein "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi "I don't ever want you to forget that there are millions of God's children who will not, and cannot get a good education, and I don't want you feeling that you are better than they are. For you will never be what you ought to be until they are all that they ought to be." -Martin Luther King Jr. "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." H. L. Mencken. Please contact me regarding any corrections and/or additions needed for this page. Lowell L. Fulk

63. Frontline: Testing Our Schools: Testing: In The Classroom | PBS been so much pressure from on top, that you have to make sure that thesechildren learn these (sols) standards of learning, that they pass this test. 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. ...

64. STATE TESTING PROGRAM The standards of learning Test assesses students progress on the state’s standardsof learning Life Science. Physical Science. Technology, Grade 8 (sols) http://www.spotsylvania.k12.va.us/instruction/mpos/testing.htm

Spotsylvania County Schools Administrative Services 8020 River Stone Drive Fredericksburg, VA 22407 Fax: 540-834-2556 TDD: 540-834-2557 Search for: Directions Quick Links Superintendent School Board General Assembly Administration ... SCS Home Page General Information Directory 2005-2006 Calendar 2006-2007 Calendar Health Services ... 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.

65. Do SOL Tests Really Test Learning? learning? The fifth grade science SOL test this year will have fifty items standards, and test experts say the tests do not really assess proficiency http://www.fairtest.org/arn/Debate over Virginia SOL's.html

By Mickey VanDerwerker There is a debate in Virginia over whether the SOLs and the high stakes tests are good enough for our schools and our students. The state is trying to dismiss the criticisms of those who question what is being imposed on our children. Is it good enough to use fifty items to measure from one to four years of learning? The fifth grade science SOL test this year will have fifty items for the 67 Standards, including the bullets, in fourth and fifth grade science. If a child passes, does it really mean he knows all 67 Standards? The Department of Education acknowledges that the tests do not cover all the standards, and test experts say the tests do not really assess "proficiency" in them. Are the tests, then, good enough for us to over-rely on the results to "verify" student achievement? Is it good enough to use questions like "what is a cartouche?" to measure a student's learning of "the contributions of ancient Egypt and China which have had an impact on world history, with emphasis on written language, laws

66. Virginia State Standards Of Learning Science, Math And Technology Practice Tests Practice for the Virginia State standards of learning tests! The SOL Practicetests support strand selection and nonrandom tests. http://education.jlab.org/solquiz/

Privacy and Security Notice Science Education Welcome to the Virginia State Standards of Learning Practice Tests! All of the questions on this site come from test materials released by the Virginia Department of Education Explanations have not yet been written for every test question. Explanations are currently being written for the questions which are most frequently answered incorrectly. The SOL Practice Tests support strand selection and non-random tests Read this page for details Do you have a question about the SOL Practice Tests? Please read the Frequently Asked Questions page before contacting us. How many questions would you like? Which question sets would you like to use? You can choose more than one. Science 3 Math 3 Science 5 Math 5 ... Geometry This page is maintained by Steve Gagnon Citation and linking information

67. Patrick Welsh Like all her classmates, she took Virginia s standards of learning (SOL) exams The (sols) are based on a simplistic, paintby-numbers view of learning, http://www.lessonplans.com/readwelsh2.htm

Passing Test Scores Are Failing The Students Who Earn Them Patrick Welsh, English teacher at T.C. Williams High School Alexandria, Virgina Published in the St. Petersburg Times Sunday, October 22, 2003 Christina Walker is a senior at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., who will be attending Virginia Commonwealth University in the fall. Like all her classmates, she took Virginia's Standards of Learning (SOL) exams in the spring semester every year of her high school careear. When she received an "advanced proficiency" rating in chemistry last year, she coundn't help being pleased - and highly amused. After all, she had gotten a "C" in her chemistry class, hardly a mark of "advanced" proficience. But in fact, Walker says whe knows lots of kids who actually failed certain courses, yet passed the SOLs in those same courses " with flying colors." If that's true, those's something seriously amiss here. The SOLs are supposed to measure student achievement and raise school standards. Yet there's clearly a discrepancy between actual achievement and the scores students are getting on these state exams. Nevertheless, over the past five years, Alexandria school officials have joined the state Department of Education in trying to convince the public that an academic revolution is taking place because more and more students are passing Virginia's SOLs. No one sees through the charade more clearly than many of the seniors who are graduating from T.C. Williams "The SOLs are based on a simplistic, paint-by-numbers view of learning," says 17-yearj-old Molly Grove, who will attend Oberlin College in Ohio this fall. "Any decent student should be able to handle them easily."

68. Number 2 Pencil: One Teacher's Response To The SOLs A Virginia teacher blames the (sols) (standards of learning) exams for his Just because a test is standardized doesn t mean that something other than http://www.kimberlyswygert.com/archives/001910.html

Number 2 Pencil Kimberly's take on testing and education reform Main February 23, 2004 One teacher's response to the SOLs A Virginia teacher blames the SOLs (Standards of Learning) exams for his decision to leave the public school system Standards of Learning were introduced to make education better. But in my experience, they had the opposite effect. The intense pressure to raise test scores eventually squeezed the life out of school, both for my kids and for me... The idea behind the SOLs is simple: Lay out what kids should know, test them on it and then hold the schools accountable for their scores...Beginning this June, students who do not pass the high school tests won't graduate; beginning in 2007, schools that do not have a 70 percent passing rate on the exams will risk losing state accreditation. From the start, the get-tough tests rubbed me the wrong way. Implicit in the notion of "accountability" are the assumptions that: (a) education is a product, the input and output of which can be standardized and measured; and (b) it's high time for teachers and schools to quit slacking and get to work. It's very hard for me to imagine what education is if there's no observable change in the student. Just because a test is standardized doesn't mean that something other than reading and math can be measured with it. And some teachers have been spending an awful lot of time slacking, though they call it "child-centered education" while others call it "the soft bigotry of low expectations."

69. Standards Of Learning Links Each curriculum area has been aligned with the standards of learning withappropriate instructional materials identified to Virginia SOL Test Blueprints http://k12.albemarle.org/Instruction/SOLs/standards.html

Standards of Learning and Graduation Requirements Albemarle County Public Schools is committed to assisting students, staff, and parents as Virginia implements the new Standards of Accreditation. Each curriculum area has been aligned with the Standards of Learning with appropriate instructional materials identified to support student learning. Below is a menu that will help you understand this new program. Virginia State Assessment Program and Graduation Requirements Virginia Standards of Learning for English, Math, Science, and Social Studies Virginia Standards of Learning for Music Virginia SOL Test Blueprints ... University of Richmond's Teaching Virginia's Standards of Learning Site Back to Instructional Programs This page is maintained by Chuck Pace Home About Us In the News ... Search This page was last updated on August 25, 2000

70. VA-SOL-News And Events Archives to assist 4th and 5th-graders with the standards of learning ((sols)) in theearth sciences. The Virginia standards of learning Training Initiative http://www.knowledge.state.va.us/main/news/archives.htm

send us email Archives Luck Stone Corporation Partners with First Lady Roxane Gilmore and State to Boost Science SOLs SOL Training Initiative Early Intervention L.E.A.P. AT&T and First Lady Roxane Gilmore announced a new public-private partnership to upport Virginia's educational web site "Commonwealth of Knowledge." During a special luncheon for spouses of General Assembly members at The Valentine Museum Mrs. Gilmore, the keynote speaker at the luncheon, took attendees on an online tour of Commonwealth of Knowledge, which helps teachers incorporate Virginia's Standards of Learning into their curriculum. " We are fortunate to have a corporate partner like AT&T that shares our vision and commitment to education," said Mrs.Gilmore.

71. T/TAC-W&M - Articles - VA SOLs And Students With Disabilities, Pretest Checklist Virginia standards of learning and Students with Disabilities Pretest Checklist Decisions about participation in the testing program and how a student http://www.wm.edu/ttac/articles/iep/pretestcheck.html

HOME ABOUT T/TAC: Services Staff ... SEARCH T/TAC Virginia Standards of Learning and Students with Disabilities: Pretest Checklist By Mary M. Mehaffey, Ed.D. f rom TTAC Link Lines February/March 2002 It is the intent of the Commonwealth of Virginia to include students with disabilities in the Standards of Learning (SOL) Assessment Program.  School leaders who communicate this message to their staff members clearly are more likely to see higher access rates.  To assist students with disabilities, the Virginia Department of Education provides certain testing accommodations that meet standard and non-standard conditions. Decisions about participation in the testing program and how a student with a disability is assessed should be made independently for each content area.  The IEP Team makes the decisions on the need for and the selection of accommodations for students with disabilities.  This checklist may be used by school division personnel long before the assessment dates arrive. Yes No 1. The IEP Teams are addressing assessment needs.

72. SOLs Keep Few From Graduating In N.Va. (washingtonpost.com) to pass six high school standards of learning exams or approved substitutes In DC schools, graduation requirements are not tied to standardized test http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35401-2004Aug2.html

var SA_Message="SACategory=" + thisNode; Hello Edit Profile Sign Out Sign In Register Now ... Subscribe to SEARCH: News Web var ie = document.getElementById?true:false; ie ? formSize=27 : formSize=24 ; document.write(''); Top 20 E-mailed Articles washingtonpost.com Education Virginia ... E-Mail This Article SOLs Keep Few From Graduating In N.Va. School Districts Credit Focused Teaching Effort By Rosalind S. Helderman Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, August 3, 2004; Page B01 Fewer than 100 Northern Virginia seniors failed to graduate with their classmates in June solely because of their performance on state standardized tests. Graduation numbers were highly anticipated this year, the first in which students were required to pass six high school Standards of Learning exams or approved substitutes to receive a diploma. Graphic Graduating Seniors Free E-mail Newsletters News Headlines News Alert More than 20,300 seniors were enrolled in Northern Virginia schools this spring. Some of them did not get diplomas because they failed classes, regardless of whether they passed the SOLs. But only a handful fewer than 1 percent in many districts fell short only because of their performance in the state testing program. Since 1998, students have taken SOL exams in third, fifth and eighth grades and in high school in English, history, math and science. This year, their scores counted officially for the first time: To graduate, they were required to pass high school tests in reading and writing, usually taken in the 11th grade, and four other tests in subjects of their choice. In 2007, they will be required to spread those tests across the curriculum.

73. Va. Schools Pumping Up Kids For SOL Tests These kids were getting revved up to take their state standardized tests.Fourthgraders cheer on classmates during a standards of learning game at Bren Mar http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051101968.

var SA_Message="SACategory=" + 'education'; Hello Edit Profile Sign Out Sign In Register Now ... Subscribe to SEARCH: News Web var ie = document.getElementById?true:false; ie ? formSize=27 : formSize=24 ; document.write(''); Top 20 E-mailed Articles washingtonpost.com Education Print This Article ... E-Mail This Article RSS News Feeds Top News Education What is RSS? All RSS Feeds Va. Schools Pumping Up Kids for SOL Tests Pep Rallies, Games Aim to Boost Scores By Maria Glod Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, May 12, 2005; Page B05 The children of Fairfax County's Bren Mar Park Elementary School marched around the building yesterday afternoon clapping and cheering just as loudly as they could. Their mascot in superhero garb that included a red cape and a lightning bolt across his chest led the parade. Filing into the gym, waving banners and yelling, "Let's go!" and "We are ready!" they might have been mistaken for pep rally participants psyching up for the big game. But the chants weren't about basketball or soccer. These kids were getting revved up to take their state standardized tests. Fourth-graders cheer on classmates during a Standards of Learning game at Bren Mar Park Elementary.

74. Charlottesville City Schools | Science Department VA standards of learning ((sols)). The science standards of learning identifyacademic content for essential components of the science curriculum at different http://www.ccs.k12.va.us/departments/science.html

Science Department Coordinator: Beverly L. Catlin Beverly.Catlin@ccs.k12.va.us Elementary Science Secondary Science Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) ... Web-based Science Resources In the Charlottesville City School students learn scientific content through active involvement in hands-on, problem-solving activities. They use a variety of science processes to explore the world around them. Students learn scientific methodology through the systematic use of inquiry skills such as observing; classifying and sequencing; communicating; measuring; predicting; hypothesizing; inferring; defining; controlling and manipulating variables in experimentation; and interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating data. They are encouraged to associate science with aspects of everyday living. Teachers have access to a variety of resources when teaching the science curriculum. These include the VDOE Curriculum Framework, science activity kits, textbooks, paperback books, web sites, and technology resources. Elementary Science Scientific Investigation Force, Motion, and Energy

75. Article | Study Rates Florida First In School Tests A study of standardized testing systems in Virginia, Florida and seven large testing programs in particular, Virginia s standards of learning tests http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_richmond_td-study_rates_fla_f.htm

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 HOME ABOUT MI CCI CLP ... CONTACT 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.

76. FETConnections - Winter 2000 The Strands indicate what standards of learning ((sols)) and additional If thetest is taken at the computer, it is automatically scored and the child http://www.fetc.org/fetcon/2001-Fall/badolato.htm

Project ECOLE - Virginia Computer Institute and Manassas Park City Schools, Jennifer K. Badolato Project ECOLE is an Electronic Community Of Learning and Education. It is Manassas Park City School System's curriculum in an automated format created by Virginia Computer Institute. Together, we have constructed a web page format for our curriculum and have linked the curriculum to the National Standards and the Virginia Standards of Learning. We have three different webs: a Kindergarten through fifth grade web, a sixth through eighth grade web, and a ninth through twelfth grade web. This project is unique in that it is the only automated curriculum in Virginia. An impressive tool in the project is the 1,500 teacher-created activities designed to teach the National Standards which are linked to the Virginia Standards of Learning. The activities are done in a lesson plan format complete with topic, description, a materials list, directions, scoring rubric, extended activities and resource list. If there are any necessary worksheets, they have been scanned in and are accessible through Adobe Acrobat. Project Partners Explore the Weather The Project Partners component allows the teachers in our school system to work collaboratively on a topic with teachers from other school systems. Through e-groups, the teachers and students can communicate over the Internet and simultaneously explore a topic. This is a very exciting component of Project ECOLE and expands the scope of learning for students and teachers all over the world.

77. American Prospect Online - ViewPrint When standards of learning ((sols)) first appeared in my Northern Virginia Virginia s gettough test reflected a national trend toward standards spawned http://www.prospect.org/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=7001

78. Richmond.com - Feature Story: 'A Decade Later ' For It s standards of learning time. All the kids are focused and excited, said The (sols) test students in grades three, five and eight, as well as nine http://www.richmond.com/education/output.aspx?Article_ID=3661788&Vertical_ID=11&

79. TfHS Virginia History Samples from the tests for Higher standards in History/Social Science a planto allow students an opportunity to learn the (sols) for their grade level. http://www.tfhs.net/vahistory.htm

Samples from the Tests for Higher Standards in History/Social Science All files are in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format. Grade-Level Tests Any use of the TfHS Grade-Level Tests will do at least two things: · provide students with practice for the state-mandated SOL tests, and · give teachers the chance to see SOL content embodied in actual test items. Test Coverage The Tests for Higher Standards Grade-Level Tests in the areas of Mathematics, Science, English (Reading and Writing), and History and Social Science for grades Kindergarten through eleven have been developed to help teachers focus instruction on the content and processes of the Virginia Standards of Learning. Because TfHS Grade-Level Tests closely match Virginia Standards of Learning, their value is to help teachers plan, teach, and assess, providing information about student and program strengths and weaknesses. Test Description TfHS Grade-Level Tests are criterion-referenced, four-alternative, multiple-choice tests. Each test generally contains some fifty to eighty items - three to six items per Standard - and can be administered in one or two sittings. Each test Item (question) has been designed to measure one or more aspects of a single Standard. The resulting TfHS Grade-Level Tests are content valid in that test items are clearly referenced to individual Standards and measure them directly.

80. TfHS Virginia Science Samples from the tests for Higher standards in Science but you do need a planto allow students an opportunity to learn the (sols) for their grade level. http://www.tfhs.net/vascience.htm

Samples from the Tests for Higher Standards in Science All files are in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format. Grade-Level Tests Any use of the TfHS Grade-Level Tests will do at least two things: · provide students with practice for the state-mandated SOL tests, and · give teachers the chance to see SOL content embodied in actual test items. Test Coverage The Tests for Higher Standards Grade-Level Tests in the areas of Mathematics, Science, English (Reading and Writing), and History and Social Science for grades Kindergarten through eleven have been developed to help teachers focus instruction on the content and processes of the Virginia Standards of Learning. Because TfHS Grade-Level Tests closely match Virginia Standards of Learning, their value is to help teachers plan, teach, and assess, providing information about student and program strengths and weaknesses. Test Description TfHS Grade-Level Tests are criterion-referenced, four-alternative, multiple-choice tests. Each test generally contains some fifty to eighty items - three to six items per Standard - and can be administered in one or two sittings. Each test Item (question) has been designed to measure one or more aspects of a single Standard. The resulting TfHS Grade-Level Tests are content valid in that test items are clearly referenced to individual Standards and measure them directly.

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