On Sept. 25, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) voted to raise the pass rate of the Standards of Learning tests (SOLs). Virginia students take SOLs starting from 3rd grade and high school students have to take, and pass, end-of-course SOLs in major subjects such as reading, writing, and math.
Before the change, the students had to score a 400 on a scale of 0-600, but now the scores will be raised based on the grade and the subject. The VDOE plans to raise the scores to increase high expectations and put Virginia more in line with other national exams.
English teacher Ashlee Payne has been teaching at RCHS for eight years. She explains why this new change in scores is not realistic for the school.
“To do that in a time in which we do not have enough teachers, and we are chronically underfunded, we don’t have enough teachers to really properly staff a department,” Payne said.
Payne then explains what effects the students are going to feel as a result of the raised SOL
pass scores.
“It means that our pass rates aren’t going to be as good. Students are going to have to potentially take alternative tests, and it’s going to affect our graduation rates within the next few years because students are either going to need to step up and start doing more, or we will not be able to graduate as many students as we were,” Payne said.
Finally, Payne explains how she feels about the raised pass scores and how she believes that they are unrealistic for the school system at this time.
“It makes me feel like the Board of Education is very disconnected from what our students are really capable of, especially at this time. We are in a literacy crisis because of the ways that we were teaching literacy before. We weren’t using the science of reading; we were doing different things. Now we’re having to recoup that, as well as try and survive everything that is going on within our country and the division that we have,” Payne said.
Math teacher Rebekah Kingsley teaches geometry which requires a SOL at the end of the year. She explains how the new cut scores will affect her classes.
“Four out of five of my classes take an SOL test. Since three of my classes are honors classes, I don’t think the raised scores will affect them too much. I still expect them to score proficiently and hopefully above,” Kingsley said.
She explains her worries with the raised scores on some of her classes.
“For my non-honors course, I am a little worried about scores. We aren’t given practice tests, so I can’t be completely sure what will be on the test, and that makes me nervous,” Kingsley said.
She then finished by discussing how she feels and how the teachers will react to the changed test scores.
“I will continue to teach as I always have, and hopefully the students who work hard and do well in class will also do well on the SOL,” Kingsley said.
Cut scores are determined by a standard setting process and are established by subject specific committees. This change is planned to phase in over the next few years according to the VDOE’s implementation plan. The board will officially vote on this plan in a business meeting on Oct. 23.
