Opinion

S.O.L. Cutback is Long Overdue

Reporter Kaylee Walls

Starting the 2018-2019 school year it was decided that the Virginia school system would start to cut down on required standardized testing. These SOLs serve little to no purpose for students and finally cutting down will allow more time for instruction without cramming for one test. By reducing the amount of required testing in the Virginia school system, the curriculum has more purpose and meaning, this can also reduce the amount of unnecessary stress for students. However, because these tests have been instilled in the minds of Virginia students since a young age, some could argue that it would be difficult to adjust. Personally for some classes I think it could be beneficial to take the SOL and pass to become exempt from that class’ final exam.

In the next few years I think SOLs will be virtually nonexistent in Virginia schools which for the most part is a good thing. Not only will this allow students more class time, this could provide more depth in teaching. Since SOLs have been introduced, teachers have been focused on teaching only from the standards of learning criteria, which can be dull and lack depth. In the long run, I don’t think the Standards Of Learning tests serve any benefit in college acceptance. The grades on these test not only are supposed to reflect the students knowledge of the course but the teachers skill. Therefore, when students do poorly on these tests, it doesn’t necessarily reflect the students’ knowledge. These tests are supposed to distinguish students of advanced placement or “gifted” students against the average student.

These tests are on the computer and include TEI, or Technology Enhanced Items, type questions. These TEI’s can vary from drag and drop or questions where you have to select multiple answers. Questions like this make it even more difficult for students, marking it as incorrect even if you get just one part of the question wrong. Teachers, school administrators, parents, and business and community leaders came together and decided to make a standard for what students should know for these tests. However, something that perhaps was not taken into account was that different students learn better in different ways.

In many districts, SOLs will be replaced with alternate forms of assessments. These assessments could be based on the same material, however they are project-based which provides a more hands on approach which has been proven to increase students understanding and creativity, while also promoting teamwork. For now, the number of end of year standardized testing still remains at 12 for high school students. Thomas A. “Tag” Greason and Rob Kupricka introduced the initial bill in 2014 to cut down on these tests. The new assessments being introduced in place of the SOLs are supposed to improve the quality of testing and raise student achievement. While other states don’t have the same Standardized tests that Virginia does, other states are also cutting down on the traditional standardized testing.

Personally, I think that the change of standards for education and standardized testing is beneficial to the students and to the teachers. The amount of SOLs should continue to decrease to allow more individual creativity and allow students to have an insight into life after high school.