Since I passed my earth science aka geosytems so I don't have to take that class final! I also passed my algebra so are you people pissed offf ?
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Again no consistency in FCPS. Some teachers/schools give extra credit for passing the SOL test, some use this for the final exam grade, some cannot or do not include the SOL grade as part of the class/quarter grade because some SOL's take too long to grade or some teachers rightfully understand the SOL should not be part of the curriculum. Also some years the SOL has dramatic changes and the pass percentage rates drop.

These are standardized tests, most kids should pass these without much problem, they are no great benchmark. Overall the SOL tests are not that hard, but they often have material that was not covered in the class due to 2 weeks of snow days or for other reasons.

Face it, probably less than 10% of most kids do not pass the SOL, so not sure the SOL is that great of a benchmark or achievement and it really should not be considered or factored into the classroom grades.

I think this is just the case of the teachers/schools trying to bribe the students and try to get the students to put more effort into taking the SOL tests.

Too bad these days everyone, even the teachers, want to take the easy way out.

For the teacher, someone else or a machine grades the SOL so less work for them.

So please tell me how getting 500/600 should give a student a 100% score. That is an 83%, not even remotely close to 100%. Another FCPS fail and probably reflects teachers too dang lazy to grade more final exams.

500/600 is considered Passing Advanced.

Overall I think this is a good incentive for students. I don't think this is lowering the standards; if you are a student it is a huge incentive to do well on your SOLs. I think it is good that the school is finding ways to make students interested in passing. Kudos to them.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/scoring/cut_scores.pdf

I took SOLs all thru high school, graduated in 2003. It was the same deal on SOL performance back then.
-Advanced earned a free 100% on the final.
-Passing earned a final exam grade ranging from B- to A-, along with the option to take the final to improve your overall grade.
-Fail and your only hope to pass the class was the final.


Standardized testing is incredibly dumb, but it really does separate the wheat from the chaff. If you find out a kid failed an SOL, it's probably in your best interests not to associate with that child or their family. If it's your kid, sorry.

I attend FHS and we still takes finals, we only get 5 points added to our finals, and we don't know if they really add 5 points cause we don't get gradesheets for final exams

ShitOuttaLuck Wrote:
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> I took SOLs all thru high school, graduated in
> 2003. It was the same deal on SOL performance back
> then.
> -Advanced earned a free 100% on the final.
> -Passing earned a final exam grade ranging from B-
> to A-, along with the option to take the final to
> improve your overall grade.
> -Fail and your only hope to pass the class was the
> final.
>
>
> Standardized testing is incredibly dumb, but it
> really does separate the wheat from the chaff. If
> you find out a kid failed an SOL, it's probably in
> your best interests not to associate with that
> child or their family. If it's your kid, sorry.

Wow on that scoring link above. Just skimming the list, 52-65% is passing across all SOLs...lower end for history/science, higher end for reading/writing/math. I don't know if I'd exactly call that "Proficient".

no - you have to take SOL to prove to Virginia that fairfax county isn't cheating by giving foreigners and who else free passes to grades they didn't earn

but your right in the past if you did well on your exams the teacher MIGHT exempt you from the final exam (usually only Elementary-H.S. does that)

you can't exempt yourself from Virginia Standards of Learning, though

you get your grade revoked and your teacher gets fired if no-one can answer SOL on the test (the test is usually a menu of mandatory learning items - no small details, and no trick questions)

there have been teachers who will teach nothing in the curriculum (and some who dont even require the students to work). usually teachers who are busy doing paperwork while they give students bullshit worksheets or tasks to do.

a new fear is fucking foreigners who will have many "special exception" for foreigner classes that teach jihad in in foreign language or what, and the students don't know english and never got a single damn lesson on, say, Virginia History

We still have to take Finals exam at Fairfax high

Pass/Fail Wrote:
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> Wow on that scoring link above. Just skimming the
> list, 52-65% is passing across all SOLs...lower
> end for history/science, higher end for
> reading/writing/math. I don't know if I'd exactly
> call that "Proficient".


This is the real truth about SOLs, and parents need to be educated about what their students' scores really mean. A 400 on a basic skills exam is no cause for celebration.

I'd like to see someone study and post the correlation between passing SOL scores and students' final grades in Fairfax County. I predict that most students who fail the SOL test will have "earned" a B or higher in their coursework -- all due to grade inflation under the guise of a "Fair Grade" and other school reform measures such as "RTI" and "no zero" policies. Report cards are the biggest lie in Fairfax County!

As much as we complain about standardized testing, I believe they are an important objective measure of student learning and should not be discounted.