2009.06.30
Editorial: Testing the tests
Testing the tests
Third-graders still will take a history SOL test; the state will examine full testing burden.
Virginia will keep its third-grade history SOL, alas. Count us among those critics who do not want to de-emphasize the subject, merely the high-stakes test for children so young. Teach history and test it in classrooms, yes; but reserve the pressures of state Standards of Learning tests for the building-block skills of reading and math. That thinking did not prevail last week, though, when the state superintendent of public instruction bowed to an outcry from history lovers and lawmakers and dropped a plan to kill off that one SOL.
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It's important that children receive an accurate and relevant account of the history of this nation at any early age. And by that I don't mean the traditional history taught fifty years ago, that of white founding males, cowboys and Indians, and the giant industrial complex which chokes our cities. I refer to a more relevant history of the people on whose backs this country was built: the slave, the abused immigrant steel and rail workers, and the women who held everything together despite a second-class citizenship. You don't have to test for that, just make sure it is taught. Teachers have enough to do without looking over their shoulder all the time.
Comment by The Professor — June 30, 2009 @ 10:33 am
Have you seen "Jay-Walking"? Come on, this is critical and if it takes an SOL of dubious quality to insure that there is a significant emphasis on history, so be it.
Comment by Sandi Saunders — June 30, 2009 @ 10:44 am
We should leave this in the hands of such liberals as the RTEB and the Teacher's unons to decide. The decisions they have been making for decades that have continually added to lower learning and higher dropout rates are all the fault of conservatives who dare to establish some sort of criteria to objectively measure learning.
Comment by BobH — June 30, 2009 @ 11:36 am
Is no one really aware of what is going on, regarding the SOL testing system? No matter the grade-level, the SOL system is a sham! "Old" tests are on-line, allowing the viewing of the last 2-4 years of tests (allowing VERY similar/same questions/problem-solving/reading 'solutions' to be viewed and memorized, etc.) Additionally, for those that don't read (students with IEP's...Special Education education plans), their tests are read to them by a teacher, supposedly (sometimes, an 'aide'...uncertified, etc.). I cannot guarantee that some don't pass-on information, let alone, school districts have differing testing days for the same tests, allowing for more 'shamming.' Sham is the word that should become a synonym for SOL.
There's a LOT of loopholes; I'm tired of some cheaters receiving accolades (without direct conspiracy, administrators know what the 'deal' is). There should be a system of accountability for student achievement (allowing, for instance, 'help where it is needed'), but all 'old' tests should be removed from the internet, as the 1st step. If investigations were made, 'across the board'...one might find many subtle, significant problems. The first SOL results were, perhaps, more accurate. Almost everyone has improved, BEYOND reasoning, by 'teaching to the test...internet...passed-on information, etc.) It is a horrific shame, fostered by job security concerns, rewards, grants (money!)..END the sham!
Comment by other joe — June 30, 2009 @ 1:55 pm