As communicated in Superintendent’s Memo #135-22, beginning in spring 2023, the grades 3-8 reading and mathematics computer adaptive Standards of Learning (SOL) tests may also include off-grade-level content to meet the requirements of 2021 legislation (HB2027 and SB1357). Each test will primarily include test items that assess content at the student’s grade level; however, based on the student’s responses to the on-grade-level items during the test, the student may also be administered some items that assess content that is one grade level below or above the student’s grade level. A student’s proficiency level, and thus the pass/fail status, on the SOL tests will be determined by their responses to on-grade-level items only. However, if off-grade items are administered, the student’s responses to those items will be reflected in the vertical scaled score that is used in determining the student’s growth. 

The grade 8 reading and mathematics computer adaptive SOL tests will only deliver items at or below grade level, and students who meet the criteria for a paper test will only be administered test items that assess SOL content aligned with the grade level of the test. Items measuring grade 2 SOL content were field tested, or tried out with students, for the first time in fall 2023; therefore, these items will not be available for administration to students as items that contribute to the student’s score until the 2023-2024 school year.