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Mrs. Gilmore:

I have been reading about the new SOL standards in the Virginia Gazette, our local Williamsburg area paper. I am very pleased with this approach to education. We can measure our progress in teaching and see how we compare with other school systems and all schools in the state. This is very helpful and beneficial. I also thank you for using the Internet to help teachers and parents share success, methods and difficulties. Asking for help can be a wonderful thing.

One problem with the opening frame of the website. My first instinct was to click on the torch. When I do that I get a message that the site cannot be found. I think the pake should make it very clear where to click to reach the body of the website.

Again, thank you,
Dan McCormick

You should not receive this error message. I will alert the design team of the problem and we will get it fixed.

Mrs Gilmore:

While the SOLs are a good thing to measure the schools success and the progress of the children; there has been little mentioned about remediation for those unfortunate enough to fail. Nor has there been any discussion about what is to happen if a child, who has been passing all year, fails the SOLs.

These are serious questions and require some thought and answers. As a parent and an educator, I know the frustration of children facing uncertain taskings. I also empathize with the parents who are waiting for answers to questions and to see results.

We as the educators are under the microscope and our school systems and schools are being looked at very closely. Many of the teachers are feeling frustrated trying to cover all the materials necessary for the children to do well on SOL tests. We are adding materials in an already crowded schedule that now includes more in the form of testing for SOLs. There are only so many hours in a day, a school year, yet we seem to be adding more and more materials and criteria.

If the school fails because the children are failing, is it really the teacher or is it a combination of the environment, the population, the school, the teacher, and apathy on the part of the students and parents?

We as teachers, I feel safe generalizing for all teachers, are doing a good job. We became teachers for the love of education and the children. To do less than our best would be to undermine the principles we studied and strove to achieve.

While the SOLs are a necessary item, the real problem is the apathy of the students and the public toward education. We as educators are not well esteemed. There is not any prestige in being an educator and the public does not place any emphasise on education. These attitudes lead our children to similar feeling. Until the public changes its attitude about education and gives it the prestige it so well deserves SOL testing will not reach the desired outcome, raising the standard. There will be successes but I do not feel the total success will be fully realized until the public changes its attitude and returns the emphasise to education.

R. D. Young

Dear Mr. Young:

Thank you for your letter. Mrs. Gilmore asked me to address two of your concerns.

The first is your statement that "…there had been little mentioned about remediation for those [students] unfortunate enough to fail." This simply isn't true. In July, Governor Gilmore made a speech at the annual Governor's Conference on Education, and he addressed this issue. A portion of his speech is listed below in bold:

When the first test results come back for this spring's administration of the SOL tests, we know that some schools are going to do better than others. No one is denying that. Students and educators in poor, rural areas, as well as crowded urban areas, have greater challenges than others.

Some people have said that the test results are going to be used to punish low-performing schools. This is nonsense.

We cannot help anyone unless we know what the problems are. A doctor cannot treat his patient unless he has first diagnosed the problem.

The SOL tests are the instrument whereby schools can diagnose their problems. Only then can they target their efforts and resources to improve student achievement.

To deal with this challenge, I have directed Superintendent of Schools Paul Stapleton to establish Best Practice Centers to serve those areas of the state that may need a helping hand. This is not only the fair thing to do – we have a responsibility to do so.

These centers will be located across the state and will provide teacher training, resource materials, and diagnostic assistance to local school divisions who request such help.

The SOL cut scores will be set in October. Armed with this information, local schools will be able to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Our goal is to open three Best Practice Centers this fall. In that way we will waste no time in helping schools diagnose their weaknesses, target their resources, and set higher, and yet reasonable, goals.

This is why we are extending a helping hand: We want no child to be left behind.

As you can see, the issue of remediation has been discussed and acted upon for some time now.

You expressed your other issue as follows: "…The real problem is the apathy of the students and the public toward education." I disagree with your assessment.

The real issue, in my opinion, is a lack of trust between the public and their schools. For too many years, many educators have jumped on bandwagons and put fads into the classrooms – and then ignored the public when they protested the changes. We can see this in the switch from phonics to whole language. And it is notable that experts are now advocating a return to a more phonics-based approach. We can see this in the embracing of outcome-based education (OBE) – another fad that had now been discredited.

This belief has been borne out by surveys performed by well-respected organizations, such as Public Agenda. In one study, First Things First: What Americans expect From Public Schools, it states:

"The leadership agenda for education reform faces an additional stumbling block – widespread discomfort with new teaching methods that often accompany reforms…Overall, the public seems to have a more traditional view of what should be happening in the classroom" (p. 17).

We have confidence in the educators in Virginia. With the SOLs as their guide, they will be able to rebuild the trust between the public and the public schools by establishing a rigorous, challenging, and yet attainable program of studies.

Thank you for expressing your views.

Cheri Yecke, Deputy Secretary Education (K-12)

Are Division scores pubic information and if so are they on the DOE website or any other website?

According to DOE, the division scores have not been set yet. Your district should have them after the first of December.

I was wondering if you or anyone could assitance me in a class research project.
I am looking for information on if students who fail the SOL will receive remedial
help? I know that they will most likely but my project is focusing on what types of
remedial help and will they be able to retest? For I know that all students must pass the
SOLs inorder to graduste. IF you could please send me any information and an
answer to my question, I would appreciate it greatly. Thank you.
bharris@ferrum.edu

I have searched the Commonwealth of Knowledge web site as well as reviewed the discussion forum topics but I am unable to find a resource directly related to my needs.

Have I missed something?

I would assume that ways to engage and involve families in supporting the SOL's objectives would be of primary importance. Children are best educated when families and teachers work in partnership.

Specifically, I would like to see more resources on ways that families, especially those with limited education backgrounds, can assist their children with the SOL guidelines. Perhaps successful programs, lists of common SOL terminology used on the tests, ways that parents can prepare their children for the test taking environments at home, home activities geared to SOL guidelines.

I work with families at an elementary school in a low income rural part of Virginia. I have extensive resources and ideas about working with families in our community and general home learning materials that I know will be helfpu..

However, I have not found resources specifically geared towards ways that families can help their children be successful with the SOL materials, curriculum and tests.
Thank you, Miriam Rushfinn

Dear Mrs. Rushfinn:

Thank you for your insights. One of the reasons Mrs. Gilmore worked to develop this website was to gather good ideas from across the state that all of us might use. Your emphasis on the importance of families is well stated, and I am certain that others appreciate the many ideas you have already brainstormed in your letter.

I know that many others would appreciate the knowledge and experience you have on this topic. You mentioned that you have extensive resources and ideas about working with families. Could you please put some of those together and share them with this discussion group?

Thank you for the care and dedication that you so obviously have for the children with which you work.

Cheri Yecke
Deputy Secretary of Education

I noticed that the Teach Live and Globe Theatre links on the main page don't take me anywhere. Is this a problem with my computer or is it something that is being built? I also wondered if the link to see classes on the internet was correct since it looks like the address of the current page?

Dear Bruce-
The welcome page announcing Mrs. Gilmore's WEBCAST Live on January 29th at 10:00 a.m. E.S.T. is a new addition to the site. You will be able to "attend" Mrs. Gilmore's class from the following URL: http://www.knowledge.state.va.us. To view the class, you will need to download the Real Player G2. A link to the Real Player G2 will be added shortly. The Teach Live will go to a page with more instructions about the event, and I have been looking for the official Globe Theatre link.
I love the participation!
ali
Web Developer

The SOL test that I administered to my earth science students last spring was terribly imbalanced in my opinion. There were 2 questions on the phases of the moon, and then one on the phases of Venus. 3 out of 50 questions on that subject when one would have been more than sufficent.

There were 4 questions on earth history as read by rock layers... superposition, unconformities, etc.

What does the number of axes that a certain mineral crystal has relate to a competency in earth science? That was another question out of the 50.

Who are you kidding here?

Glad to see you get excited so easily. Is participation that unusual, or is this just your first day on the job? I was also wondering why the strange font you used for the glowing words appeared messed up on my screen? I sometimes see that type of error on internet pages i visit, but I don't know if it's the fault of my low-end computer or aol. As a web designer maybe you can shed some light on my tech problem?

Neither, she's always that excited. Makes it fun to come into the office.

--
-billy- warnold@vipnet.org
Senior Systems Administrator

Dear Bruce-
Thank you for your feedback regarding the AOL browser compatibility problem. The AOL browser is based on the Internet 3.0 browser with some alterations. My suggestion to you is to download the free versions of Netscape 4.5 and/or Explorer 4.0 to enhance your browsing experience. Know that the development team runs these pages through a browser compatibilty check system; however, we have been unable to remedy the AOL error. We are hoping that AOL will offer an updated browser thanks to their recent aquisition of Netscape.

http://www.vipnet.org/vipnet/customer/download.html

Bruce-

A link to detailed AOL user help is posted on the Virginia Information Providers Network homepage.

http://www.vipnet.org

Hi!
I have a question for anyone at the Governors office or the First Ladys office.First of all I would like to know how the S.O.L. tests are going to improve when the educators cannot address the problem we have in this part of the state with not making provisions for LD-Gifted children.It seems the best that can be offered is some classroom adjustments that are nothing.First of all the "educators" must be trained to recognize LD-Gifted children.I have been fighting this NIGHTMARE since kindergarten,and I finally got the school to understand what I am talking about,my child is now in the 5th grade.The problem is now they do not have facilities to address the problem.There are a lot of students with this problem and it seems as if the educators could care less,this lets a lot of students fall thru the cracks and also causes low SOL scores.When is Virginia going to wake up to the real problems with the schools?G.H. Webber

Dear Mrs. Webber,

The contact person for LD/gifted issues at the Department of Education is Harley Tomey. He can be reached at (804) 371-8283.

Additionally, there are other resources that you may find helpful. This list is not presented as an endorsement, but merely for your convenience:

Virginia Association for the Gifted

Email jdbooth@erols.com

National Assoc. for Gifted Children


National Research Center G&T


Council for Exceptional Children


LD OnLine


International Dyslexia Association

Local affiliate email ssherron@pen.k12.va.us


I hope this information is helpful.

Sincerely,

Cheri Pierson Yecke
Deputy Secretary of Education

Upon checking this site I discovered that my message did not post properly. All of the web site addresses were omitted. Maybe it will work this time.

Virginia Association for the Gifted www.vagifted.org
Email jdbooth@erols.com

National Assoc. for Gifted Children www.nagc.org

National Research Center G&T www.gifted.uconn.edu

Council for Exceptional Children www.cec.sped.org

LD OnLine www.ldonline.org

International Dyslexia Association www.interdys.org
Local affiliate email ssherron@pen.k12.va.us)

Dear Cheri,
Thanks for the information. I will let you know if I have sucess.So far I get referrals to Gifted programs OR LD programs and nothing for LD and gifted.The gifted are not intersted if the child is LD and the LD are not interested if the child is gifted,there is no in between that I can find.I am very flustrated by the lack of information for LD-gifted children in the school system.My child is not alone in this as I have found many parents that have the same problem.The internet is full of information on this in other parts of the country,but not in Va..In Vancouver,B.C. there are classrooms just for LD and gifted,here your child either goes into a gifted program OR an LD class.Thanks,G.H.Webber

Dear Cheri,
I just wanted to let you know,my son is being tutored at the present and is studying for SOL's and is doing great,if he were in a regular classroom I am quite sure he would fail.The teacher he has now is wonderful,she knows what his weaknesses are and what his strenghts are and she gets the best out of him.By the way he is making A's and in the regular classroom he was getting F's.He is a prime example of LD-gifted getting the right kind of education for his needs and so many more just like him.I know if others like him could get the same chance the SOL scores would SOAR!
Sincerely,
G.H.Webber

Dear Ms. Yecke:

I agree with what you have said about the teaching fads that have engulfed our schools. You are 100% correct. One caveat, however: I am a graduate education student a Virginia Tech and all these fads are still being taught to young aspiring teachers as if they were the Gospel! Worse still, 90%+ of the students do not question methods like whole word instruction or out-come based education. I have to do extra reading just to get some balance: For instance I have been reading Rudolph Flesch's classic "Why Johnny can't read." But if I brought this up in my class, I would laughed right out of school. Furthermore,the SOL's are simply scorned here! Seems to me that Gov. Gilmore has to do something about the dismal education that the education schools are giving future teachers.It is no wonder that polls show teachers feeling inadequately prepared to teach! The methods we are taught will lead our children to fail! I hope you and Gov. Gilmore can help somehow, or we will be fighting an uphill battle forever. If I can help in some way, please tell me how!!!!!

Keep up the great work!

Mark L. Ingerson

Dear Mark L. Ingerson,
You have a right to your own professional autonomy, don’t give it up. In my own opinion, and my own experiences teachers assess what students need and then give them just that... Phonics, Whole Language, Outcome Based Education, what ever will work for that child and that class. Administrators don’t complain if students get results, parents don’t complain if students get results. And you shouldn’t complain if your student’s get results. Do what works! Lets face it if education where an exact science NASA would be writing lesson plans. Don’t say that you will never teach Whole Language because you don’t like the theory. Johnny might need whole language. Johnny Might need Phonics. Have you ever tested the theories you hold on to so strongly with students? They don’t all fit into nice little boxes like that.
I disagree with your opinion about Virignia’s “dismal education” I’ve been teaching for five years in Virginia’s public schools and have seen a tremendous amount of dedication from students,teachers, administrators, and parents. We are not dismal, we are proud, we turn out a high number of college bound students, we work hard, and we love being teachers.
“Why Johnny Can’t Read” is decades old. I would like a doctor to be up to date before he operates on me, I would like to fly in a blimp filled with helium not hydrogen, and I would like my children taught with up to date educational theories. I’m not saying that theories in the past don’t have merit, they do. But why in the world would teachers be using things that don’t work? The answer is they wouldn’t, and they don’t.

Sincerely,
Steve Craig

Dear Ms. Rader:

Thank you for your comments concerning your observations about the 1998 earth science Standards of Learning test. I have been asked to respond to your statements, and I will try to address your concerns.

The test developers construct the earth science test strictly applying the reporting categories found in the testing blueprints. As you may be aware, the blueprints were developed and refined by the earth science committee (in-state earth science teachers, university professors, and local school division science supervisors) as part of the SOL test development process. Only items that have gone through systematic trial testing, statistical analysis, and final teacher review are part of the pool to be included as "live" items on the test. If there proves to be anything technically wrong with an item after trial testing, it will not be used.

There may be a few different explanations for the apparent redundancy of items you observed. There are two basic responses to the examples you listed. The first deals with "live" versus "trial" test items. The second concerns the items that measure the skill standards versus those that focus on content-related earth science concepts.

Each test form has 50 common "live" items and 10 different "trial test" items. The "trial test" items do not count on the student's score, but serve to generate information about the validity of the new items for possible inclusion on future versions of the test. There are perhaps a hundred or so different "trial test" items in the pool being tested during each administration. The "trial test" items are not factored into the blueprint distribution, so it may happen that a "live" item and "trial test" items on a form of the test may cover similar content. The testing staff at the Department of Education reviews the test forms to make sure that "trial" items do not interact with or influence student responses on "live" items.

Something else to consider is that several of the items are designed to measure the ES.1 and ES.2 standards. These are skill standards, and earth science teachers on the committee were unanimous in their view that the skills should be embedded within appropriate earth science content, but measured separately. So, an item that is measuring a student's ability to "evaluate evidence" (ES.2, bullet 2, for example) may be placed within some body of earth science content. The content is not specifically required to answer the question, but using some evidence presented about this content, it measures the student's ability to use the specific skill. The "Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic" reporting category is weighted heavily, so these kinds of skill-related test items show up several times.

As you may be aware, each succeeding year's test will have about a 30 percent item overlap with the previous year's test. Thus, many new (validated) items will be included on next spring's test, as well as 10 new "trial" items on each form. As the pool of validated items increases, it will be much easier for the test developers to avoid the appearance of redundancy. The test developers, the testing staff at the Department of Education, and the professional educators on the review committee has tried diligently to eliminate human error in the selection of items and the organization of the SOL tests. Your comments have been passed along to the testing staff and will be shared with the review committee when it meets this summer.

I hope this provides an explanation for your observations. I can assure you that everyone involved wants the very best possible SOL assessment. Thanks for your inquiry. If additional information is needed, please get in touch with Mr. Jim Firebaugh, science specialist, elementary and middle school instruction, at (804)

Thank you.

Dear Ms. Hight,
You wrote, "The real issue, in my opinion, is a lack of trust between the public and their schools. For too many years, many educators have jumped on bandwagons and put fads into the
classrooms – and then ignored the public when they protested the changes. We can see this in the switch from phonics to whole language. And it is notable that experts are now advocating a return to a more phonics-based approach. We can see this in the embracing of outcome-based education (OBE) – another fad that had now been discredited."

This describes the state DOE approach to high-stakes SOL testing exactly! This approach to accountability (and the now-fashionable public-school bashing) is sweeping the country...Once again the educators are jumping on the bandwagon and ignoring the public when we protest the changes! You even ignored the recommendations of your own panels in deciding some of the cut scores. Let's not confuse having Standards - and the public's support of common cirricula - with winner-take-all high-stakes testing. Superintendents all over the state will be uncorking champagne when they meet accreditation standards and "only" 30% of their students are denied diplomas. This fad will also be discredited.