Change in Required Assessment Process

Under the 2017 revision to the Standards of Accreditation (SOA), students must take end-of-course (EOC) Standards of Learning (SOL) tests following course instruction if they have not earned a verified credit in the subject area. Specifically, the SOA includes the following language:

“Each student in middle and secondary schools shall take all applicable end-of-course SOL tests following course instruction…Students may earn verified units of credit in any courses for which end-of-course SOL tests are available. Students shall not be required to take an end-of-course SOL test in an academic subject after they have earned the number of verified credits required for that academic content area for graduation, unless such test is necessary in order for the school to meet federal accountability requirements.”

For example, a student who is enrolled in Earth Science and has not earned a verified credit in science must take the EOC Earth Science SOL test. This student does not have the option of “skipping” the EOC Earth Science SOL test and earning a verified credit using the EOC Biology SOL test which he/she is scheduled to take the following year.