41. Mrs. Wilborne's Third Grade completely on the Virginia standards of learning ((sols)). The (sols) are the curriculum.Please make yourself familiar with them and work to master each. http://web.dps.k12.va.us/ParkAve/wilborne.htm

Closings and Delays Danville Public Schools Mrs. Wilborne's Third Grade Electronic Classroom A Place for Learning I'm looking for a 4-leaf Clover! Spring is Just Around the Corner! Happy St. Patrick's Day Schedule for Specials Monday Guidance Tuesday Phys. Ed. Wednesday Art Thursday Music Friday Library Mon- Fri Lunch This Week's Homework Assignments Panther Paw Cafe Menu Park Avenue is in Danville. Where in the World is Danville? Review for the SOL Tests Online ... Science Fair Monitoring Sheet Our third grade curriculum is based completely on the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs). The SOLs are the curriculum. Please make yourself familiar with them and work to master each. Language Arts Standards of Learning for Third Grade Mathematics Standards of Learning for Third Grade Science Standards of Learning for Third Grade Social Studies Standards of Learning for Third Grade ... Practice the SOL Testing Online A Sample Science Unit With Lesson Plans by Mrs. Wilborne: CLASSIFYING ANIMALS: WHICH GROUP? How Can You as a Parent Get Involved with the SOLs? CIRC Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition Park Avenue's Reform Model ... SOL Reading Also included in our schedule of studies are Health and Physical Education, Library Media, Music, Guidance, and

42. PTA Opposes SOL As Primary Test of Education's regular review and revision of the standards of learning, but do students'achievement, will be determined primarily using tests based on http://www.veaweteach.org/pta2.html

1. The VA PTA/PTSA opposes legislation, or regulation, which would exempt anyone from existing teacher licensure requirements. Rationale: 2. The VA PTA/PTSA supports legislative and adequate funding for the review and revision of the Standards of Learning (SOL) by a broad-based group of professional educators (including classroom teachers), curriculum experts and community members. Such review shall occur at least every 5 years, beginning July 1, 2000. Rationale: Current statutory requirements provide for the Board of Education's "regular review and revision" of the Standards of Learning, but do not specify any time frame. Given that schools' accreditation, and students' achievement, will be determined primarily using tests based on SOLs, a specific timeline for their review seems necessary. Such a process is necessary to ensure that the Standards of Learning reflect a balance between content knowledge and the application of knowledge and are developmentally appropriate. 3. The VA PTA/PTSA supports legislation and/or regulations allowing school boards to grant waivers to transfer students from SOL testing requirements and verified-unit-of credit requirements.

43. New Page 1 schools on the bases of SOL tests scores alone all children receive the same opportunitiesfor learning and achievement by holding him or her to lower standards. http://davealbo.bigstep.com/generic.jhtml?pid=41

44. Fairfax County (VA) Council Of PTAs Further, standards for learning and performance and their experiences, interests,gifts, abilities, and learning styles. pass one of many tests and therefore http://www.fccpta.org/speeches/sp_sol.htm

Speeches Forum on Standards of Learning/Assessment April 20, 1999 Remarks of Rosemary Lynch President, Fairfax County Council of PTAs Good Evening. I am Rosemary Lynch, President of Fairfax County Council of PTAs (FCCPTA). Tonight our guests are Kirk Schroder, President of the State BOE, Suzy Noble and Sen. John Russell, members of the BOE. In the audience are Linda McGinn and Dr. Margaret Roberts from the Department of Education. Mr. Schroder, Ms Noble and Ms. McGinn thank you for joining us tonight. We are pleased that you accepted our invitation to our community meeting. We are excited because we view this event as an opportunity for our community to have an open dialogue with the State Board of Education. The FCCPTA appreciates the adjustments that the State BOE made to the SOLs. Parents and education professionals presented recommendations at public hearings across the state. The Board listened to these concerns and as a result the scores of limited English proficient students will not be reported with school scores for two years. The Board changed the timing of the History SOL tests for grades 5 and 8 so that it more closely matches the time of the instruction. Finally, the Board moved the tests closer to the end of the year. Despite these adjustments, we feel there are fundamental concerns that still need to be addressed. The FCCPTA supports high academic standards and accountability, however, we believe that a solitary assessment is not the best way to get a true picture of the accomplishments of students, teacher, and schools. We advocate a balanced assessment package. With such high stakes we need more than multiple choice questions to determine a child's mastery of the curriculum or the overall quality of a school.

45. Fairfax County (VA) Council Of PTAs skills, are also required to take comprehensive Social Science and History SOL tests. passingscores last week on each of the 27 standards of learning exams http://www.fccpta.org/positions/pos_holding_state_board.htm

Position Papers Holding the Virginia State Board of Education Accountable The one thing we all share in common is that we have gone to school and had the experience of taking tests, and receiving scores such as 45 of 50, 82% or 1200. Therefore, when the Virginia Board of Education reports cut scores "proficiency" and "advanced," this method of reporting a student’s academic achievement level doesn’t conflict with our own personal experiences. However, each one of us must stop for a moment and consider our goals for our children and the quality of education we expect them to receive. In doing so, we must also think about our beliefs and theories about schooling that reflect our experiences with teachers, schools, and administrators; and, recall the grades, percentages and points we achieved on tests and in courses. We then must determine if we remember if those scores accurately or specifically addressed what we did and did not know – or, did they assess just what we memorized for the test? Did the scores appropriately reflect what we could or could not do; or, if we were receiving an excellent education; or, if we really understood, remembered, or could use the information or concept over time; or, if the test questions were understandable or relative to what we had learned? In a more recent context, we could consider if our current employment has specific standards, by which we are measured on a yearly basis. For example, does someone determine your performance assessment outside your office or employment? Could taking a multiple-choice assessment indisputably and appropriately assess the quality of your work or expertise? How would you feel if the performance questions were poorly stated, didn’t appropriately measure your skills or the quality of your work; and yet, the security of your employment potentially rests on this type of assessment? What if you were interested in improving your work performance, would it be useful to quickly memorize lots of facts and concepts and then have your abilities (your strengths and weaknesses) stated in a final report by combining and reporting the results in: percentages, grades or points?

46. SOL Web Links Brought to you by Poquoson Elementary School. Practice tests Raleigh Court ElementarySchool's Virginia standards of learning practice tests. http://www.cookees.vbcps.k12.va.us/TheTeacherResourcePage/sol/solWebLinks.htm

47. Our Little Quad:Polyamory For The Practical Virginia has already proven this with the standards of learning tests. They are calledSOLs in Virginia educator parlance, and I cannot think of a more apt http://www.ourlittlequad.com/homeschoolrant.html

Home Emotional Issues Practical Issues Housing ... Recommended Reading Polyamory for the Practical A Homeschooling Rant I sometimes go off. I wrote it in the winter of 2001: I homeschool. Well, sort of. I have a pre-schooler and a kindergartener. The kindergartener knows how to read. I wish I could take credit for it as a sign of my educational brilliance, but frankly, I cannot. You see, I got some videotapes on the alphabet, played Boggle Jr. with him a little bit and he started sounding out letters by himself. From there it was a quick step to curling up with Thomas the Tank Engine books. Lately, he's been reading them to his sister. I had intended to do the flash card thing for math with my son. That fell by the wayside as well. Our next door neighbor has a dog that has lost a leg. One of my husbands, who was concerned about the apparent lack of math drills, decided to use the dog's lack of a full set of legs as a way to play with addition and subtraction. Wouldn't you know it, Baby Thor (my son) and The Bird (my daughter) were able to handle this with ease. Around the dinner table last night, one of my husbands, my wife and my children were talking about our day as usual. To give some background: The Bird is three and while she can sing the ABC song (usually) she is just starting into the phonetic significance of the letters. She started calling out words and asking Baby Thor what letter each word started with.

48. NewsHour Extra: SOL Testing - September 12, 1999 many students feel about the standards of learning well teachers are teaching andstudents are learning. and almost all states are instituting similar tests. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec99/sol.html

NewsHour Links: Are you ready for 12th grade? Take the SOL test Are the tests working? Should failing students be forced to repeat a grade The Clinton administration proposes requiring schools to meet tougher standards to receive federal funds. Pass or Fail Too tough a test. That's how many students feel about the Standards of Learning (SOL) program in Virginia. SOL tests are designed to measure how well teachers are teaching and students are learning. Students who don't pass, don't graduate. For some students, the possibility of having to repeat a grade is scary. "It's a really big test because if you fail you have to repeat the third grade," says nine-year-old Genny Miller. "I want to go on to the fourth grade with my friends and I just want to pass it so it will be over with." The pressure is so intense it's giving some students headaches, stomachaches and other stress-related illnesses.

49. Paul Fleisher--standardized Testing Whatever doesn't fit within the standards gets eliminated the very activities thatexcite students about learning. to use more bubblein multiple choice tests. http://www.richmond.infi.net/~pfleishe/SOLessay.html

For those of you from outside Virginia, this articles refer to a standardized testing program our politicians have instituted to "raise educational standards". Beware. It may happen in your locality too. The Educational Assembly Line The SOLs are limiting our children's education. by Paul Fleisher What should we expect from our schools? Certainly we want children to read, write and compute. We want them to be able to think analytically and solve problems, to know basic information about our world, and become responsible citizens. They should learn to work together, and solve conflicts peacefully. We want them to develop an appreciation of the arts, and respect for cultures different from our own. We want children to learn skills that make them employable. We want to be sure they're healthy and well-fed, and want them to find life-long interests to make them happy. How do we in Virginia determine whether our schools are meeting these expectations? We give kids a multiple choice test. The Virginia Standards of Learning may be the most destructive thing politicians have done to public schools since "massive resistance." The problem is not so much the standards themselvesalthough they are written with far too much inflexible detail. (For example, one standard insists that students learn to use interactive video-discs, a technology that was obsolete five years ago.) It's the testing that is making the lives of Virginia educators and schoolchildren miserable, and robbing them of a first-rate education.

50. Untitled Document early October, and the standards of learning were making in particular, have beenambivalent about the new standards. who pass all the SOL tests, while giving http://www.broadrun.org/spartanonline/November/news-SOL.htm

SOLs Provoke Mixed Feelings by Daniel Jackson, news section editor It was early October, and the Standards of Learning were making news again. According to the October 6 edition of The Washington Post, Virginia was paying nearly $1 million to advertise the SOLs on television. Many people complained that the ads were helping the senatorial bid of George Allen. Although Allen campaign workers claimed the ads were not political, Republican Governor James Gilmore stopped airing the advertisements. Whether the ads contributed to Allen's victory is debatable. The SOLs are not universally embraced by Virginians; in fact, a survey done a few months ago found that a full quarter of Virginians thought that the SOLs should be abolished entirely, with more of the opinion that the standards needed to be revised. Loudoun County Public Schools, in particular, have been ambivalent about the new standards. According to Sharon Ackerman, Loudoun County's deputy superintendent of instruction, much of the opposition to the SOLs stems from the tests given to students at the end of selected grades, and how these tests are being used. "We were first given to believe that the [test] scores would [simply] be sent back to the schools, where they would be used to make [any necessary] changes in instruction," she said. "But [the SOL tests] have been highly publicized, and people who are not getting the real details are using them to judge schools."

51. The Green Tequila Archive - May 12, 2001 Maryland has the MSPAP; Virginia has its dear standards of learning tests. and focuson essentials the reading and math skills that the tests measure. . http://www.tjhsst.edu/~gteq/read.php?date=2001_05_12

52. MCEC: Assessment Resource Center Virginia SOL Assessments 2001 Released tests Download released test items for grades3, 5, 8, and EOC from the 2001 Virginia standards of learning tests. http://www.militarychild.org/assessment/searchresults.cfm?state=VA

53. Ms. Shaw's Favorite Websites Teaching Virginia standards of learning VDOE site with numerous SOL Release of Spring2001 tests Great place Enchanted learning Great ideas for young students. http://www.hopewell.k12.va.us/techsol/favweb.htm

Ms. Shaw's Favorite Websites Virginia SOL Related Search Engines Teacher's Treasures Science ... Resource Sites for Kids Virginia SOL Related Teaching the Virginia SOL More than different annotated links to resources suitable for use in teaching the SOLs. Practice SOL Tests Online Tests made with Hot Potato by Raleigh Court Elementary in Roanoke. Teaching Virginia Standards of Learning VDOE site with numerous related links Virginia SOL Release of Spring 2000 Tests Great place to get sample questions for practice. Virginia SOL Release of Spring 2001 Tests Great place to get sample questions for practice. SOL Units and Lesson Plans These are pages developed by James Madison University faculty and students. Return to top of page Search Engines Google This one is my favorite ! This site can be searched using different languages. Great for foreign language teachers or ESL students. Infoplease for Kids Awesome research tool for kids including an almanac, atlas dictionary and encyclopedia.

54. Sharon H of an education reform effort to increase student learning. changes to align courseswith the state standards. Moving the tests from April to May has relieved http://onlinelearning.tc.cc.va.us/faculty/tcmarim/publication/spr99_111-77-78/2s

Back to Research Essays Sharon Ms. Marits April 14, 1999 A Look at How Area Schools are Preparing for the Virginia’s New Standards of Learning Tests One strategy is that schools have implemented curriculum changes to align courses with the state standards. They have asked teachers to alter what they teach and the way they teach it. In Petersburg, a strategy under consideration is moving the best teachers into the grades and subjects where SOL tests are given. Dinwiddie County is working on a curriculum to match SOL tests. Another strategy being implemented by the state is to provide copies of public school report cards to a student’s school and parents. The report will give detailed information on the strengths and weaknesses students attend. Data will show average test scores, student enrollment, teacher qualifications, school safety as well as the school’s accreditation status and state SOL tests results. The goal is to give parents some consumer-friendly information. In addition to the state report card, many schools have an option to add information addressing their plan to raise student achievement levels. This new state report card will replace the previous report card known as the Outcome Accountability Project (OAP). The OAP did not breakdown data by individual school. The Virginia State Board of Education recently passed a resolution outlining consequences for school systems that fail to promptly submit information used as part of the State’s report cards to parents. The resolution states that if data related to the report card is not submitted by the deadline, the board president will contact the local school superintendent, school board chair and head of the city council and bring it to their attention. Also, the state may publicly release which school systems have failed to submit information on time. (Tan, B3)

55. Test Usage Information Links Research, articles, and information about high stakes tests and their misuse from group opposing Virginia Category Society Issues Standardized Testing State Testing...... HighStakes tests Ensuring Accurate Reflections of Student learning. Position Paperon the standards of learning prepared by the Faculty of the Graduate 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

56. University Of Virginia News Story investigated the schools’ early responses to the standards of learning in fourareas experience increased pressure to help students pass the SOL tests. http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases2000/solsurvey-may-25-2000.html

For Journalists Survey Reveals Some Promise, Many Problems As Virginia Schools Strive To Meet SOLS May 25, 2000 The study undertaken by the Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Design at the University of Virginia shows that schools have responded to the SOLs in diverse ways. The schools’ reactions are described in a new center publication, "Initial Responses of Virginia High Schools to the Accountability Initiative." "Our investigation detected a number of promising developments as well as some potential problems," said center director Daniel L. Duke. "It is still possible to address and correct the problems before the first students are denied a diploma and the first schools lose their accreditation." All the schools in the study had examined and revised their curricula in the SOL areas, with the subject of mathematics being changed the most. Other promising results included increased quality control and development of special programs. The study reveals numerous areas that threaten to diminish the effectiveness of the accountability initiative. Such problem areas include:

57. University Of Virginia News Story The standards of learning Project is changes needed to meet requirements of thestandards of Accreditation 70 percent of students pass the SOL tests by 2007 http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases/sol-sept-16-1999.html

For Journalists U.Va. Shifts Emphasis In Courses For Educators Sept. 16, 1999 U.Va. Continuing Education In 1998-99 more than 7,400 public school educators enrolled in Continuing Education courses to gain help in implementing the standards-based curricula. Another 2,000 since 1996 have enrolled in Standards of Learning-focused conferences, many planned collaboratively with the Virginia Department of Education. "We believe U.Va. was the first higher education institution in the state to offer courses to assist school divisions in meeting the SOLs," said associate dean Dennis "Skip" Parks. To gain an understanding of what help school districts would need, Continuing Education representatives began meeting with Virginia Department of Education officials in 1995, three years before the first SOL test results were made public. "The Standards of Learning Project is grounded in the principle that U.Va. Continuing Education must redouble its efforts to partner with school divisions to assist them in their efforts to align their curricula with the SOLs, to implement research-based instructional practices, and to make structural changes needed to meet requirements of the Standards of Accreditation," Iverson said. (Schools that do not have at least 70 percent of students pass the SOL tests by 2007 will be denied accreditation.)

58. NEA Today: Cover Story - March 1999 state says focus on these standards, but, in If these tests control curriculum,teachers are likely test undermines the achievement of highquality learning. http://www.nea.org/neatoday/9903/cover.html

QUICK CLICKS Table of Contents Archives Submit a Letter to the Editor Share a Story Idea ... Resources Cover Story High-Stakes Tests They're here, and they're not going away. Here's how two NEA members are working to help their students do well on state-mandated tests. Pencil sharpeners in schools across the nation are getting a good workout this spring as million of students get their number twos ready for statewide standardized tests. The stakes have never been higher. Based on test results, some children will be retained in their grade. Others won't graduate with their peers. Some teachers will see their evaluations tied to test scores. And some schools will be publicly tagged "low performing," ordered to improve scoresor else. Are standardized tests the best tool to judge how well a student or school performs? The debate rages on, while you're left to figure out the best way to get students ready for the testsno matter what you think. So what do you do? Drill sample test questions until students can recite answers in their sleep? Change your lesson plans to reflect test questions? Revise the curriculum to reflect new standards? There's no consensus. So NEA members who want their students to do well on the tests are trying different strategies. Here are just two.

59. Testing Tests -- The Washington Times go smoothly, because the system already has clear standards in place. They acknowledgestudents are learning more but say the pressure The tests are stressful http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20020310-14983352.htm

Front Page Nation/Politics World Commentary ... Employment Extra March 10, 2002 Testing tests By Vaishali Honawar THE WASHINGTON TIMES      Early on a Saturday morning, 65 eighth-graders trickle into Langston Hughes Middle School in Reston. For the next six hours, while their peers sleep late or watch television, these students will wrestle with math equations, parts of speech, chemical formulas, historic dates — all with a single goal in mind: passing the Standards of Learning tests. Top Stories      Maryland and Virginia were part of that wave in the early to mid-1990s. But the tests primarily used in the two states to measure performance are — like so many things about the neighbors — a study in contrasts.      The MSPAPs measure students in third, fifth and eighth grades in math, science, social studies, reading and writing. The state currently is devising assessment tests for high schoolers, which students will have to pass in order to graduate.      Maryland also administers the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) to second-, fourth- and sixth-graders, which measure skills in math, language arts and reading.      The tests have received strong reviews for encouraging creative thinking, but critics often dismiss them as being too vague. ... Back to Metro Updated at 1:00 a.m. Report Details McVeigh Case Errors 16 Die in Suspected al-Qaida Convoy Feds: Americans Overseas Face Dangers Prosecutors Call Dogs 'Time Bombs' ... States Seek More Microsoft Penalties Updated at 1:00 a.m.

60. Untitled has put into place the standards of learning test in say that they are not teachingto the tests, it is that teachers should look to the standards for guidance http://filebox.vt.edu/users/brmill10/portfolio/standardsreflection1.html

REFLECTIONS Back to Reflections Home Intro Resume ... Links STANDARDS AND THE SOCIAL STUDIES An issue that has made newspaper headlines time and time again is standards in education. The state of Virginia has put into place the Standards of Learning test in order to assess student knowledge in the core areas. Since the social studies SOL test has been a trouble area for many Virginia schools, the social studies departments are looking to find ways to better prepare their students. The High School where I completed my student teaching was no different. The social studies department had spent countless hours creating review sheets and mock tests in order to better prepare their students. Although schools say that they are not teaching to the tests, it is my belief that there is no way to prepare for this particular test without teaching to the test. This is partly because of Virginia wanting to make everyone associated with the educational system accountable for the scores, from teachers to students. The High School is really trying to help the students as much as possible. Although students are not technically accountable yet for the test, this school has made them accountable. If a student does not pass a section of the SOLs, the student must take a course over the summer. The purpose of this is so the students will take the test seriously which in turn will make the school look better.

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