-->

As a parent I am very pleased to hear that our state government is taking a serious interest into the education of my daughter. The new SOL's appear to be a step in the right direction or atleast the concept, as I understand it by reading the numerous posts here. They definitely require more involvement by us parents into the education of our children and I as many others are up for the challenge. In order to meet this challenge I would like to enlist the help of the Department of Education by making available to us parents a complete explanation of the SOL's and a list of specific materials and resources for us to collect for the use of preparing our children. I have looked at the lesson plans available online and honestly I found very little help. Also could it be possible for us to receive or procure an example or practice test for the different grades. What types of test are they? How are they structured? With the additional pressure of these tests are the children taught test taking techniques? Can parents get a list of what standards their children will be held to at the beginning of the school year with a comprehensive source of information for them to supplement the instruction they receive in school?
Thanks

Dear Mr. Ortiz:

Thank you for your encouraging words about the SOLs. For an excellent summary of the SOL test development process, you may want to look at the series of articles that appeared in yesterday’s Richmond Times Dispatch. I think their reporters did a great job of summarizing the process. Go to www.gatewayva.com/rtd/special/sol/ and access the March 14 articles.

A bill that passed the General Assembly this session appears to address some of the concerns you have raised, although no funding was appropriated this year to provide these resources. You can read a summary of the bill (HB 2480) at:
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?991+sum+HB2480

I have notified the Department of Education about your specific requests, and someone will post an answer soon. In the meantime, if your school cannot provide a copy of the SOLs you can call Patricia Hicks at the Department of Education and she will send a copy: (804) 225-2400.

Thank you for your interest, and for having such a pro-active stance on your children’s education.

Cheri Pierson Yecke
Deputy Secretary of Education

I saw early in these messages that a question was raised about the effectiveness of the SOL tests [do the "...tests actually test what they're supposed to test, or just whether a student is good at taking tests..."]. The question was never answered and I too am curious about it. Are there available to the public examples of the SOL tests, and where on this website could I find such examples?

Dear Bruce:

You can access SOL test information on the Department of Education web site. Go to this site’s home page and click on Resource Links. Scroll down and click on Virginia Department of Education (or go to www.pen.state.va.us), and on the DOE home page click on “SOL Test Information” on the right side of your screen. You will be able to access test scores, test blueprints, sample test items and more.

Information on the validity and reliability of the tests is available there, as well. This will answer your question about "the effectiveness of the tests."

I hope this is helpful.

Cheri Pierson Yecke
Deputy Secretary of Education

I've looked at some of the sample tests, and I wasn't very impressed by them. I was wondering if any other posters have looked at them and what their opinions of them are? I'm also wondering if the multiple choice method of testing students is an adequate way to find anything out?

Bruce,

I am still in the process of reviewing data and interviewing teachers for an article I'm writing on the SOLs, but the preliminary findings are not too good. Teachers in Virginia seem to dislike the SOLs but are not comfortable speaking out against them in fear of recrimination. Also, the tests themselves are flawed in some crucial ways. One, for example, is that the tests test a student's ability to take tests, as opposed to the knowledge they were designed to test (a common problem with multiple choice tests in particular). There are also several political aspects of the SOLs that concern parents and teachers alike, but now is not the time for that discussion.

I'll post more when I get it, or direct you to the information.

Dear Ms. Breslin:

We both welcome and appreciate the opportunity to communicate with educators about SOL concerns.

The first issue you describe relates to the availability of professional development activities in your area. The Virginia General Assembly has allocated funds for professional development through the Standards of Learning Training Initiative. Although this initiative does not address your concern for training prior to the initial SOL testing, it does allow for current and future training by providing funding for local school divisions to develop specific training plans for teachers in the four core content areas. Teachers like yourself with access to electronic newsgroups, VaPEN, and the First Lady's Web page, may wish to share successful instructional strategies and techniques as another means of professional development. Also, I would encourage you to discuss your concern with your local school administrators and principal. There may be upcoming activities of which you are unaware.

Your second issue addresses diploma types. Diploma requirements are enumerated in Regulations Establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia which may be found on the Department of Education's Web page under the heading "Popular." This document also contains information related to students with disabilities and students deemed as limited English proficient. As you know, students with disabilities are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and their individual status used to determine if SOL testing is appropriate and what accommodations the student may need. If a student completes all of the requirements for a specific diploma and does not pass the required number of SOL tests, the student might be eligible for an IEP diploma or a Certificate of Program Completion that could later be upgraded if the student returns to take SOL tests and passes them. Please remember that the course content at the high school level is based on the Standards of Learning, and the SOL test directly assesses these standards. Unless the grades for the course are grossly inflated, it is unlikely that a student will pass the course but fail the test.

Should you have further concerns, please feel free to call Cameron Harris, Assistant Superintendent for Assessment and Reporting, at the Virginia Department of Education. She can be reached at (804) 225-2102.

Thank you for sharing your concerns and for your dedication to the education of the children of the Commonwealth.

Dear Lamont, Bruce, and others:

There is some information that I believe you will find interesting and informative on the use of standardized assessments. So much of what is being passed off as “fact” in the debate is not based upon documented, empirical research.

An article by Sanders and Horn (University of Tennessee) sets the record straight. It can be accessed at http://olam.ed.asu.edu/epaa/v3n6.html. The article is posted on the Education Policy Analysis Archives web site, an on-line, peer-reviewed journal.

The article makes it clear that alternative assessments are not as fair or as comprehensive as standardized multiple choice exams.

Some quotes:

“The notion that multiple choice tests can tap only recall is a myth. In fact, the best multiple choice times can – and do – measure students’ ability to analyze, synthesize information, make comparisons, draw inferences, and evaluate ideas, products or performance” (Worthen and Spandel, 1991, p. 67, cited in Sanders and Horn, 1995, p. 12).

“In England in the late 1980s, when the assessments that make up the General Certificate of Secondary Education were changed to put more emphasis on performance tasks (which are assessed by classroom teachers) and less on written answers, the gaps between the average scores of various ethnic groups increased rather than narrowed” (Maeroff, 1991, p. 281, cited in Sanders and Horn, 1995, p. 11).

“Bias in standardized testing can be detected and, when it cannot be eliminated, its effects can be measured so that scores can be fairly interpreted. Bias in alternative assessments is much more difficult to articulate. Because this is the case, the effects of biased non-standardized assessments may not be recognized as such and may, therefore, be attributed to the subject rather than to the assessment” (Sanders and Horn, 1995, p. 11).

I would strongly caution anyone from labeling tests as "flawed" unless they have hard empirical data to back up their claims.

Cheri Pierson Yecke
Deputy Secretary of Education

Dear Mr. Ortiz:

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts regarding educational reform in Virginia. It is so important to have parents such as you involved in their children's educational programs. At the beginning of each school year, you will receive a copy of the Standards of Learning relevant to your child's grade level. Since school divisions have the flexibility to move the content standards to other grade levels as long as the content is taught before the test, you will receive information relative to several grade levels in one package. I encourage you to visit the Web site of the Department of Education (www.pen.k12.va.us). You will find information about the SOL tests, sample test items, and the SOL test blueprints. You will also find information about resources and strategies for teachers. If you have further questions, please contact Jo Lynne DeMary in the Department of Education at (804) 225-3252.

Two points regarding the validity of tests:
1) Why should we take Sanders and Horn's study as the Last Word instead of some other paper on the same topic that comes to a different conclusion?
2) Instead of just a few sample questions that, to me, appear more like a bad game of trivial pursuit than a meaningful test of information, is it possible to get an entire test in several subjects?

As a citizen of the Commonwealth, I feel my opinion is valid whether I've personally run an experiment on the subject matter or not. If this isn't true, then this discussion forum is a waste of time, as few members of the public have such empirical data at their easy disposal.

To Cheri

You said>
There is some information that I believe you will find interesting and
informative on the use of standardized assessments. So much of what is being
passed off as “fact” in the debate is not based upon documented, empirical
research.

There is so much contradictory documentation and empirical research, that it is very hard to get your hands around what is really "fact."

You said>
An article by Sanders and Horn (University of Tennessee) sets the record
straight. It can be accessed at http://olam.ed.asu.edu/epaa/v3n6.html. The
article is posted on the Education Policy Analysis Archives web site, an
on-line, peer-reviewed journal.

Well, no, it doesn't really "set the record straight" any more than one vote elects the Governor. It's a much more complex issue than can be tabled by a single research article. We've been slamming this topic around for 50 years, and the Sanders and Horn article will certainly not be the last to address it. And, as Artemus Ward once said, "It ain't so much the things we don't know that get us into trouble. It's the things we know that just ain't so."


You said>
The article makes it clear that alternative assessments are not as fair or
as comprehensive as standardized multiple choice exams.

That's not quite what it says. It says both standardized and alternative testing can be appropriate. To quote the paper, "...this paper strongly advocates the use of multiple indicators of student learning, including those provided by standardized tests." "Alternative forms of assessment are also viable tools for the assessment of student progress and attainment..." "The issue is not whether one form of assessment is intrinsically better than another." And again, "Standardized tests, whether the ubiquitous multiple choice test or other forms of standardized assessment, vary in their ability to fairly assess student knowledge..."

But it is not so much multiple choice tests in general that are suspect, so much as it is the specific SOL tests (from what I've gathered from other posts and what teachers have been telling me). The questions are often vague and trivial, which measures only how well the student can guess what the test designer expects as an answer (i.e. how well a student takes tests).

You said>
I would strongly caution anyone from labeling tests as "flawed" unless they
have hard empirical data to back up their claims.

There is so much empirical data on both sides of the argument that it boggles the mind and often requires faith in one or the other. And, as the saying goes, articles of faith are characteristically immune to both the challenges of logic and the intrusion of empirical data.

I think there can be little doubt that there are problems with standardized tests, of which I can go into in more detail if that is the line that you are interested in. But if some degree of progress is needed to be measured to judge the effectiveness of schools, than possibly a better issue than the type of test used is HOW it's used (and why it's used, but that can also wait). If the SOL tests are not backed by sufficient incentive for the students, they will blow them off and you will end up measuring nothing. If too much incentive is put behind them, true learning will be sacrificed in exchange for "teaching the test", as well as increasing the negative effects of various biases in the system. And again you measure nothing.

But - as I don't trust others to do my thinking for me - I would also like to see some complete sample tests, if they can be made available.

To Bruce, Lamont, and others:

The Department of Education has taken care to develop the SOL testing program with the utmost attention to technical requirements that are necessary in the establishment of a high-stakes testing program. To be considered legally defensible, tests must have the following characteristics:

1. Validity: The test assesses what it is supposed to, such as a math test that assesses math skills and not reading skills.
2. Reliability. The test measurements are consistent, that is, a student will earn a similar score if given two different forms of the same test.
3. Free of bias. The test does not have questions which discriminate against any one particular gender, race, or ethnic group.

Three assessment experts external to DOE have certified that the SOL tests meet the challenging levels of technical demand that are required. Here are some quotes from the report:

Bias Review

The procedures used to ensure that the items were not biased or unfair were extensive and appropriate.
Dr. James McMillan, Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University

Judgmental, statistical, and item option reviews provide comprehensive scrutiny of all items for potentially unfair performance effects for African-Americans and Hispanics. Dr. S.E. Phillips, Professor
Michigan State University


Test Development Process

The item and test development procedures follow best measurement practice for establishing content validity…Only items that have passed rigorous professional and statistical scrutiny are retained for use on actual test forms. Continuous pretesting of new items under live administration conditions provides ideal data for constructing new test forms. Construction of test forms to match the Virginia SOL blueprints ensures that the specified skills are tested according to the intended plan of skill emphases.
Dr. S.E. Phillips, Professor
Michigan State University

Evidence for validity based on the content of the tests has been carefully gathered and clearly supports the inference that the test scores indicate student knowledge and skill as defined by the SOLs. An appropriate review process by content experts of individual items, as well as the tests as a whole, has been accomplished for each of the tests…The procedures used to ensure that the items were not biased or unfair were extensive and appropriate.
Dr. James McMillan, Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University

The test development process that the Virginia Department of Education followed to ensure the technical adequacy of the Virginia SOL assessment program mimics that of other high-stakes testing programs across the country and reflects the Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education (Code) as endorsed by AERA, APA, and NCME.
Dr. Tonya Moon
University of Virginia

Validity

The substantial correlations with other measures provide supporting validity evidence for the Virginia SOL tests.
Dr. S.E. Phillips, Professor
Michigan State University

Evidence for validity based on relations to other measures has been provided and is more than adequate for this type of test.
Dr. James McMillan, Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University

Reliability

All the reliability estimates were high and were consistent with those typically obtained in their first year of a new testing program. The general rule of thumb for high-stakes decisions about individuals is a minimum of .85. Nearly all of the values presented met this criterion and those that did not were very close.
Dr. S.E. Phillips, Professor
Michigan State University

The internal consistency evidence of reliability of total test scores is very strong.
Dr. James McMillan, Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University

For a first-time test administration in a new testing program, a commonly accepted, professional criterion aims for reliability coefficients in the mid-80’s. Most of the KR-20 reliability coefficients for each of the four grade levels assessed exceed this criterion and those that do not, approach it. It should be expected that these coefficients would increase with each additional test administration.
Dr. Tonya Moon
University of Virginia


Conclusion

Virginia has provided substantial evidence that its SOL tests are both valid and reliable. These data indicate that the Virginia SOL test scores accurately reflect the performance of students and school on Virginia’s new standards. The relatively low performance for the first administration is a reflection of the difficulty of the standards and the multiyear time frame needed for full implementation of the new standards in school curricula. If Virginia follows the pattern in other states, scores will increase substantially in the next few years as schools and students become better prepared for the tested content.
Dr. S.E. Phillips, Professor
Michigan State University

You can access the entire report at
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Assessment/validity.PDF

Cheri Pierson Yecke
Deputy Secretary of Education

So, by not answering any of our questions and instead quoting a Department of Education Report as if that answers everything, should I take it that the tests will not be made available? It could be very easily put online. There are many teachers who are very concerned about these issues.

To Cheri:

I agree with Bruce that it looks like you're saying we don't get to see complete sample tests. Are we understanding correctly?

You Said>
The Department of Education has taken care to develop the SOL testing program with the utmost attention to technical requirements that are necessary in the establishment of a high-stakes testing program. To be considered legally defensible, tests must have the following characteristics:

1. Validity: The test assesses what it is supposed to, such as a math test that assesses math skills and not reading skills.
2. Reliability. The test measurements are consistent, that is, a student will earn a similar score if given two different forms of the same test.
3. Free of bias. The test does not have questions which discriminate against any one particular gender, race, or ethnic group.


Judging from your response I must assume you don't have a background in experimental science. A few points:

1) The report you quoted is not a scientific document, and should not be confused with one. It's the sort of paper that you release to the media or give to the Governor. It includes only a description of what you have decided is significant and only that which is relative to your position.

2) There is much about testing, statistics, and experimental methods that you don't seem to be aware of that you should, especially before taking the position that the information you are being given is the last word in What's What. Some examples:

Reliability and validity are two concepts critical to test constructors. Reliability is about the test, not the assessment. So all it means is that the test is consistent. It could be just as consistently bad as good. If students miss all the questions every time, it's still a reliable test.

As to validity, the history of achievement testing represents an enormous confusion of theory with practice. Test designers often assert that their assumptions about a true score implies that such a score refers to some attribute or measurable property of a person. The person can then be classified. But what do we know empirically? That under certain conditions it is possible to increase the stability of the rank order of merit of people on "test" results in "test" situations. But there is every reason to believe that the actual performances of particular students would vary when assessed over time, given their forgetting curves are non linear and of different shapes.

Empirically the true score is not known, and can never be known.

It requires an enormous suspension of rational thinking to believe that the best way to describe the complexity of any human achievement, any person's skill in a complex field, is with a number that is determined by the number of test items they get correct.

The validity is related to the test items, which are the big hole in the process. They are designed to fit what the test-makers have decided is an appropriate construct, what can be easily described in a way that is free of bias, what can be easily and cheaply graded en masse, and with what the test-makers believe is the best answer (although not always the only answer).

The criteria by which assessment is determined are chosen so that they are easily adaptable to the construction of tests and to the statistical manipulation of test data. The validity of the test is prejudged by labeling it to describe what it is supposed to measure.

And, finally, the data is often presented in misleading ways. It's often called "massaging the data" to get the results desired (especially when the test-makers are getting paid for certain results).

All of this must be taken on faith, as the public is not involved in the details. And, as the saying goes, the devil is in the details.


But, as both informative and boring as all that was, there's something far more important at stake. Even if the tests are a work of telepathic genius and are perfect in every way, the USE of these tests is a problem. When a student is told that, despite having an "A" average for his entire high school career, he won't graduate if he doesn't pass a certain number of State Tests, he's going to be a bit stressed. And it has been shown that stress can dramatically affect test results. If this student ends up not passing the specified number of tests, he won't graduate. Whether this is a true reflection of the SOL plan, it is definitely what students and teachers are being told.

There is also the question of politicians in charge of these things. Politicians have agendas, and they rarely are aligned with the best ideals of education.

And what of real learning? When teachers are trying to "teach the test" what sort of education will our kids be getting?

I suppose my big question is: Teachers, students, and many parents are scared of the SOLs. And from what teachers are being told, they have good reason to be. What is being done to address these problems (and telling them not to worry is not a solution, it is merely wishful thinking)?

To Lamont and Bruce:

Good grief! Why the hostility? I have contacted the Department of Education for answers to your questions. Please try to be patient.

Cheri Yecke
Deputy Secretary of Education

To Cheri:

Although I can't speak for anyone else, I was unaware I was being hostile and apologize if I came across that way. I sometimes lecture to the point of inducing narcolepsy and often engage in pursuits as useful as two bald men fighting over a comb, but I try never to be hostile prematurely. I just feel the need to make sure important issues are not being politically danced around. I await your responses with interest.

I also am concerned with the new SOL’s. The time I have spent reading these posts, I can see many points on either side of the spectrum that are valid and merit lot’s of consideration. I as a concern parent am trying to evaluate all this information and decide how I should direct my feelings in the issue. Because of this I am wondering if there are any other alternatives to this problem. I firmly believe that the system as it stands before the SOL’s needed improvement and something needed to be done, do I feel the SOL’s are the absolute answer? Probably not, but it is a step taken towards the eternal quest of better education for our children. I can see that many individuals have done much research and are giving this issue their full attention, I would like to hear what their suggestions are and how they believe they should be implemented?

To Walter;

Standards are probably a good idea overall. It gives students a goal to shoot for. But the implementation of the SOLs is mired in political issues and motivational problems. I think too MUCH importance is being placed on them so that schools are motivated to "teach the test" or otherwise compromise education in order to keep afloat. Students also face additional stress and worry that their academic performance will mean nothing if the SOL tests say they are below the standards.

It may be a situation where something halfway would work better. Make the SOLs count for a percentage of a student's grade, or allow students with a high GPA to place out of certain tests. Something along those lines. But those ideas, too, would require much thought.

I am a private tutor and mostly tutor in Algebra II and will restrict my comments to the fairness/unfairness of the math SOLs. I have classroom experience in New York and Virginia teaching math. My first experience was in a New York school (‘66-‘68”) where students were required to take the state regents tests every year in most of the major subjects including math. The teacher had to “teach the test” starting about April in a very intense rigorous fashion. We used practice tests which were previous regents test. Each student purchased a “Review Guide” from the local bookstore which had 6-8 regents tests in the back. By the end of the year, some of the students were making 100 on the practice tests. Overall, 52% of my algebra I students passed the regents test; not good, but typical. Not all students took algebra I. Many took general math, and there was not a regents test for that. But in Virginia, all students are going to be required to take algebra I and II. It is going to be tough, but probably worth it.
In Virginia, there have been standards for years but I believe they were basically ignored. I have always felt that schools were not held to them. Now, Virginia is serious about it, and we can see results both good and bad; but in the long run mostly good. I have examined the data released regarding student pass rates and student pass rates for algebra II students vary from about 1% to 100%. The SOLs are going to change this. Schools are going to be highly embarrassed if their pass rates stay down below the state average of approximately 30%. The 100% grades were mostly in middle schools where only the brightest students take algebra or in magnet schools– so I tend to discount these in my assessment. My worry is with the schools in Virginia that have these very low pass rates and there are many of them. One of the counties not too far from my residence, has a pass rate of around 1.85 % in algebra II while another county near here (rural) has above 60% pass rate in algebra II. However, there are about 120 high schools in Virginia with less than a 20% pass rates in algebra II (not counting schools listed with pass rates of 0.00001%).
The bad news may be that many students will not be able to graduate. In time, we will have to have an alternate degree something like a General Education Development (GED) certificate or diploma. I have taught all GED subjects but mostly math to adults. I was amazed at the lack of knowledge that students had in math when they entered. Most of them had been through the eighth to eleventh grade. Almost all of them did not know the simplest of geometry but most could grasp the concepts when they were taught to them. Before the standards of learning were implemented, geometry in the lower grades was a “back of the book” subject that was taught if the teacher had the time.
The SOLs should change things. The elementary students should be much better prepared when they get to high school. Some will not make it, but many did not make it in the past even though they got their high school diploma. Even those who don’t make it through the SOL world, may learn enough to help them pass their GED test. The GED test is harder to pass than most people think. I have a lot respect for those adults who were inspired to get their GED. Businesses have this respect also. If an alternate degree is ever devised, I believe it should remain in the high school and not transferred to the adult GED classes. The content of the GED math is good, students often take the test before they complete the full range of the content. If high schools begin teaching GED they should teach the full range.

Overall the SOLs are fair and they are necessary. (e-mail loydlin@aol.com)

To Loyd:

Unfortunately, you seem to consider "alternate degrees" higher than most people. It is my experience that any degree other than a standard degree just says, "I didn't do as well as I should have" to colleges and employers. Whether this is fair or not is irrelevant; it's what people think. Parents will most likely raise a sizable stink if *their* child gets an "alternate degree" upon graduation, merely because they performed poorly on a SOL. And with the current design, a student with a 4.0 GPA throughout high school would get one of these "alternate degrees" (or not graduate at all) and lose out on many benefits that would normally be associated with such good grades, like going to a good college.

An 18 year old kid with a GED doesn't get into Harvard as readily as that same kid with a standard diploma.

To Lamont:

Did you know that we already have two type of diplomas inVirginia? During the ‘97-’98 school year 43.93% received the “Standard” and 48.64 % received the “Advanced Studies Diploma” in the state of Virginia. The colleges know who the performers are and I doubt that a student with a 4.0 GPA will be kept from getting into a notable college. In addition, I strongly doubt that a person with a GPA of 4.0 will fail the SOLs. Maybe they should give the same diplomas now that they have been giving but give them with an SOL endorsement. It would look pretty good to receive a “Standard” diploma with an SOL endorsement. Whatever they do, I still believe some type of standard is necessary. I believe through an evolutionary process, the tests will get better (by 2007) and there will eventually be good review material available to students for the SOLs such as there are for the New York State Regents. An example is: Barron’s Review Course Series. Let’s review: Sequential Mathematics, Course I, II, III by Lawrence S. Laff. You can find these books in the dot.com type bookstores for all major subjects. I am hoping that in the future someone such as Barron’s will create a series of SOL review books with past Virginia SOL tests in the back for student practice.
The students now receiving the “Advanced Studies Diploma” will, I am sure, be able to pass the SOL tests at least by 2004. Not many who receive the “Standard” diploma will get into Harvard or for that matter, The University of Virginia.
About the GED. It is not advanced, but contains much essential material that is useful on the job. A student who makes a good score (not just the minimum), can get accepted in the two year schools and from then on it is performance that counts. My respect for the GED stems from experience with the drive that some of these students have had. Most of them were highly deficient when they entered the GED course but through hard work passed the test. I suspect that most of all the students who received the “Advanced Studies Diploma” would think the GED test easy. However, I suspect that many who received the “Standard Diploma” would fail the GED math test. It should be easy for any one who successfully passed algebra I and geometry.

TO: Cheri Pierson Yecke
Deputy Secretary of Education

I am a single parent of three children. Each of my children is enrolled at a different level (the youngest is in elementary, the middle child is in middle school, and the oldest child is in high school). I have carefully watched the effect of the Standards of Learning upon a small but (personally) significant cross section of the student population.

My early observations and conclusions are simple:

The SOL effort is a work in progress that has already resulted in a substantial improvement in the quality of instruction provided to our students. My children have learned at an accelerated rate as a direct result of higher expectation, more focused instruction, and increased accountability at all levels.

Clearly, refinements are in order, however major change is always an evolutionary process. Please do not allow critics to persuade you or the Department of Education to water down the most positive contribution to public education in recent history. Refine, yes. Water down, no.

Thank you and the Department for your contributions to our children. Please contact me if more specific information would be of value.

MY NAME IS MRS. MALDONADO.

I AM CONCERNED ABOUT THE SOL TEST. WHY? BECAUSE THEIR ARE MANY CHILDREN OUT THERE WHO ARE IN LOWER LEVELS OF MATH AND READING WHO ARE NOT REALLY BEING PREPARED ADDECUATELY FOR THIS TEST. ANY HOW, WHY ARE ALL GIVING IT SUCH A GREAT DEAL OF IMPORTANCE TO A TEST THAT REALLY ISN'T DONE AT THE LEVEL OR THAT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO REALITY IN THE CLASSROOM?
IT'S NOT NECESSARY TO PUT SO MANY KIDS UNDER SO MUCH STRESS. IT'S NOT NECESSARY TO LABEL CHILDREN FOR THE MISTAKES OF THE PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM.

I was interested in an earlier post which stated that the Social Studies SOL's are vague and unclear. I have found the same to be true of the Physical Science SOL's. For example, PS.11 states that "The student will investigate and understand basic principles of electricity and magnetism. Key concepts include static, current, circuits; and magnetic fields and electromagnets.
The textbook from which I teach includes an entire chapter on electricity and one on magnetism. That SOL does not tell me what parts of that chapter I should teach. How much do I teach about voltage? amperage? Dry and wet cells and how they work? The difference in alternating and direct current? Ohm's Law . . .do I teach them to do the math involved? How about drawing circuit diagrams? The same types of questions apply to the chapter on magnetism.

I can make an educated guess as to what is important based on my experience as a teacher and the abilities of my students, but my opinions will not be the same as those of thousands of other teachers throughout the state of Virginia. Isn't this just the type of inconsistencies in curriculum that the SOL's are designed to avoid? It seems to be coming down to "I don't remember anything about . . . on last year's test, so we can skip that." Isn't that teaching to the test?

Is anything being done to clarify and make the science SOL's more specific?

Dear Ms. Mulkearns:

Thank you for your recent comments concerning the Physical Science standards. As you may be aware, the 1995 Standards of Learning were the result of a statewide development process that began in April 1994. The SOL committee was charged with revising and refining the 1988 Standards of Learning, focusing on academic content and skills.

The committee utilized external sources such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science Benchmarks, the draft National Science Education Standards, and considerable "front-end" comment from science educators statewide. Each committee was comprised predominantly of classroom teachers and division science specialists.

Each grade and subject area committee examined the 1988 standards for clarity, rigor, academic content, measurability, and appropriateness. Committee members conducted lengthy discussions about the meaning of each standard and what should be included. Most assuredly, each grade and subject committee gave extensive consideration to how descriptive the standards should be. The revisions reflected the committee's best thinking in terms of specificity, depth, and clarity.

In your comments you did not reference your school division's science curriculum. Each school division should have an aligned science curriculum. I assume that this document is available to you and that it defines the specific student learning expectations that teachers in your division consider important. In most local divisions, curriculum teams have defined the fundamental concepts; detailed student outcomes; and suggested teaching strategies, activities, and resources. These should direct the depth and focus of your instruction. The content questions you pose should be answered by your local curriculum personnel.

The Standards of Learning do not include everything that you will find in a Physical Science text. The standards establish a set of basics. Undoubtedly, many teachers will choose to go beyond the SOL and their local curriculum. Refining and aligning that curriculum should be an ongoing and systematic process. New resources, strategies, and learning objectives need to be considered periodically, especially if student achievement indicates a potential problem.

In a nutshell, I would suggest that you should follow your local curriculum, enrich the curriculum where you think appropriate, and use several different kinds of classroom assessments to monitor student achievement. If students are meeting the division expectations, their SOL test performance should reflect this.

I hope these comments are helpful. Please contact me if you would like to discuss this further.

Sincerely,

Jim Firebaugh
Science Specialist, Elementary and Middle Instruction
804 225-2651

I am finding that the very common question "Isn't this teaching the test?" and variations of it, are not being addressed very well. The answer is pretty obvious: Yes, it IS teaching the test. It is unfortunate that this is the case, but the realities of being a teacher in Virginia do not allow such leeway as doing anything BUT "teaching the test."

Dear Mr. Cranston:

Thank you for your comments. My advice is, "Teach to the local curriculum."

Your division's curriculum should be aligned with the state standards. If so, your students will be focused on achieving the skills and knowledge established in the standards. The organization, pacing, degree of integration, strategies and activities, use of technology, choice of textbooks or other classroom materials, and virtually all instructional decisions are local.

"Teaching to the test?" I'm not sure that means the same thing as using your division's aligned curriculum for planning instruction. My best judgment tells me that teachers should focus on the specific expectations and the teaching strategies defined in their local curricula.

Jim Firebaugh
Science Specialist, Elementary and Middle Instruction
(804 ) 225-2651