Feature Focus
Will This Be on the
Test?
One Parent Studies the History of Virginia’s SOLs
By MERIWETHER DELANO GILMORE
We started to hear rumblings about the Standards of Learning when our
first daughter started preschool. Friends with older children warned us
that our precious, only-one-in-the-world baby would go off to
kindergarten, become a percentage point and learn to fill in an oval
with a #2 pencil.
As a parent, it became my job to figure it all out, or at least figure
it out enough so that I was satisfied with the answers.
My love of history has always taught me that if I want to understand
something, I need to go back to the beginning. What tests did I remember
taking in elementary school in Warsaw, Virginia, in the ’70s? I remember
worn, wooden floors and the tall, tall windows that sometimes birds
would fly through. But I do not remember bubble sheets and the stress of
an assessment. So when did they appear in schools?
In my search, I was fortunate to be able to speak with Dr. Jo Lynne
DeMary, who supervised the development of the Standards of Learning
after becoming the Virginia assistant superintendent for instruction in
1994. She was appointed superintendent in 2000 and served until her
retirement in 2006.
Standards in the 1980s
Virginia’s public school system evolved from early schools in Jamestown
through Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, and, following a national
trend, implemented standards for instruction in 1981.
Two years later, President Ronald Reagan called for a report on the
nation’s schools. The study, called “A Nation at Risk,” described
American students who were falling behind the rest of the world in
academics, a growing need for mathematics remediation, falling college
admissions, and a steady decline in achievement scores.
Educational researcher Paul Hurd concluded in the 1983 report, “We are
raising a new generation of Americans that is scientifically and
technologically illiterate.”
That report gave many states the wake-up call they needed to improve
school systems that had grown complacent. The report recommended that
states implement standardized assessments to track the progress of their
students.
By the time the report came out, Virginia’s state standards for
instruction were several years old, but Dr. DeMary remembers them as
being “loose standards not tightly connected to the curriculum.” At the
time, she was an elementary teacher in Virginia’s public school
system.
In spite of “A Nation at Risk,” Virginia seemed confident with its
standards and issued no calls for reform.
Virginia's Scores Drop
That all changed in 1994 when the results from the National Assessment
of Public Education were released. Virginia’s scores had fallen more
that any other state in the country.
The alarm triggered an intensive examination of the state standards that
led to new standards being implemented in 1995. From there, it took
three years to write the Standards of Learning tests that would plot the
progress of the schools and make sure that Virginia produced educated
citizens. The first SOL test was given in 1998.
What’s at Stake?
When our oldest child reached the third grade, I sat with the teacher as
she explained Susannah’s report card. The teacher began to talk about
how the class would soon be preparing for the SOL tests, and I laughed
and said something about how I wasn’t worried about Susannah’s scores
because they weren’t going to count towards her grades.
The teacher half-smiled, shuffled her papers and moved the conference
along. Her look said, “There is so much that you don’t understand,
lady.”
Our public schools have the task of educating thousands of children, all
while making sure that the strengths and weaknesses of each child are
accounted for. While the teachers and principals are responsible for the
individual attention that each child should receive, the school system
as a whole has to look at the data from assessments in terms of cold
numbers and percentages.
The reality of the SOL tests and newer tests like those mandated by the
federal No Child Left Behind Act is that they are high-stakes ventures.
The accreditation of an individual school is tied to the progress that
the students make with their SOL scores. The scores should be going up
every year. If a public school in Virginia is denied accreditation, the
Department of Education will require reforms of that school. It will
have to make a public plan for turning things around and will come under
closer scrutiny by the DOE. Currently five public schools in Virginia
have been denied accreditation, all in the Petersburg school district.
Evaluation at Private Schools
I went to public school until ninth grade and then to a private,
all-girls boarding school for high school. Being a product of both sides
made me curious to see how private schools in Virginia now track their
students and measure their achievements.
Chesapeake Academy in Irvington, like other private schools, has
developed its own curriculum and identified the standards that each
student must achieve to be promoted to the next grade, said Deborah
Cook, head of school.
It also uses a standardized test to measure progress and compare the
scores from the school with others across the country. The Educational
Records Bureau (ERB) is a test widely used by private schools, and one
that Cook has used as an educator since 1975.
“All schools—independent, parochial, public and home schools—need an
evaluation tool,” said Cook. “It’s how we use that tool that sets us
apart.” Teachers at her school use the ERB tests to make sure students
are on track, she said.
“Our school gets evaluated every 10 months by the parents re-enrolling
their children.” noted Cook. High stakes indeed.
Parents Voice Objections
It doesn’t take long to find hundreds of on-line articles and websites
devoted to explaining the problems with Virginia’s standardized testing.
For example, one information-filled site I found is
www.solreform.org, created by
the group Parents Across Virginia United to Reform SOLs.
Opponents of the tests encourage parents to speak out and ask questions
about the testing schedules, the level of importance placed on the
scores, and the possibility of discrimination within the test itself
against minorities, low-income and disabled children.
A common complaint I heard about the SOLs is that teachers are “teaching
to the tests.”
Many parents are vocal about their concern that there is so much
pressure put on teachers by the administration to have their students
perform well that they don’t teach anything that is not on the SOLs.
Tests are given in the exact same format as the SOL tests so that
children will become accustomed to the multiple-choice format.
If the teachers feel limited and confined by the boundaries of the state
assessments, can they still be expected to be as creative and inspiring
as we want them to be with our kids?
“You want a teacher to teach the content [of the Standards of Learning]
because the kids are responsible for that information, but if that is
all they are being taught without any other content, then you should
complain,” DeMary said.
All students in Virginia must pass the SOL tests in order to graduate,
but DeMary believes the tests should be the floor, not the ceiling of
the curriculum.
Change Should Be Natural
Towards the end of our conversation, DeMary stressed that the SOLs
should be in a constant state of change. The first SOL test was given
just 10 years ago, which is not a long time to measure scores across
grade levels and to track graduation rates and the SAT scores of those
children from 1998.
“What we have now won’t work for the future. We can’t stay stagnant.”
said Dr. DeMary, “I want parents to understand why the SOLs started, but
know that they won’t stay the same." She stressed that parents, teachers
and school administrators should be thinking about what the next
generation of accountability should look like.
Standards of Involvement
A good friend with children in Richmond City Public Schools said,
“Education is what you make of it, and whether your child goes to a
private or public school, your involvement as a parent makes the biggest
difference.”
As a rule, I try to get to know each teacher on a first name basis
through the year. I’m not a stay-at-home mom. I don’t volunteer for
everything, but I still try to be a familiar face. All of our schools
have after-hours activities (Reading Night, Math Night, etc.), and your
presence at those events gives everyone the chance to get to know you
and your child better.
My excursion into the world of SOLs, curriculum and policy showed me how
little I really knew about the complicated world of education.
As I had expected, the SOLs grew out of concerned educators who wanted
the best education possible for all of Virginia’s children. These were
dedicated people who spent years working towards an education system
where all the children were educated, all were taught to read and given
the glimpse of how much brighter a future could be with a diploma in
hand.
But I learned something else important.
Whenever I said to someone, “I don’t understand this. Please explain it
to me,” that person welcomed the chance to answer my question.
That might have been the most valuable lesson of all.
Raise Your Hand
Searching for answers to questions about the Standards of Learning and
the SOL tests? As a general rule, start small: Ask your child’s teacher
first, and then go to the principal if you need more information. After
the principal, try the school board.
Also, the Virginia Department of Education’s website has a “For Parents”
page with information and resources devoted to the Standards of
Learning, as well as other topics.
www.doe.virginia.gov
Chesterfield Co. Public Schools (804) 748-1405
www.chesterfield.k12.va.us
Goochland Co. Public Schools (804) 556-5316
www.glnd.k12.va.us
Hanover County Public Schools (804) 365-4500
www.hcps.us
Henrico County Public Schools (804) 652-3600
www.henrico.k12.va.us
Richmond Public Schools (804) 780-7710
www.richmond.k12.va.us
Help Your Child Do His Best
-During the week of testing, keep your child’s afternoons and evenings
calm and relaxing.
-Make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep and breakfast in the
morning.
-Ask questions about his or her day, but don’t focus on the test. Show
your child that you value the other things he did that day as well.
-Ask your child’s teacher if there’s anything you can do to help. Some
will appreciate a snack brought in for the class or a story read by a
parent to break up the testing schedule.
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