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- Jan 8, 2002
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Ahhhhhhhhhhh...they're starting! Just like Florida with the FCAT. All I can say is...a radio station in Florida sent samples of the FCAT to various people in Florida Government, etc. And a good number of them DID NOT pass the FCAT! Now Virginia is starting with the SOLs.
Students now must pass SOLs to graduate
Danny R. Ward Jr., an Oscar F. Smith High School senior, will not be graduating with his class because he didn't pass the state SOL.
Danny R. Ward Jr., an Oscar F. Smith High School senior, will not be graduating with his class because he didn't pass the state SOL. STEPHEN M. KATZ/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
By MATTHEW BOWERS, The Virginian-Pilot
© June 8, 2004 | Last updated 9:26 AM Jun. 8
Danny R. Ward Jr. will still march in Thursdays graduation ceremony. The relatives are still coming to town, and there will still be a party.
But its not going to feel the same, he said. Ill get a certificate of attendance, which is like, 'Thank you for coming you just wasted the last 13 years of your life.
The graduation of the class of 2004 marks a new era in Virginia: For the first time, passing high-school courses isnt enough.
Graduates also must pass at least six Standards of Learning tests two in English and four in any other academic subjects.
As many as 450 local seniors may not make the grade. Until now, higher standards for the states high-school graduates were an abstraction. This spring, they are a harsh reality for Danny and students like him.
He has taken the SOL English writing test four times. He narrowly failed each time, once by 17 points out of the 400 needed. That means he wont receive his diploma Thursday with the rest of his Oscar F. Smith High School class. Hell have to return to school for a one-week tutoring session and take the test for a fifth time in early July.
His situation was anticipated long ago by state education leaders . They knew that when you draw a line, someone is likely to fall just short of it. Twelve months ago, such students would ha ve been bona fide graduates. This year, theyre not.
Some 450 local would-be graduates still needed to pass SOL exams as schools entered the years final testing period, according to the latest projections available. The number was expected to drop to a little more than 300 after a final round of testing. One division, Chesapeake, estimated that more than 130 more seniors would pass the tests in time to graduate.
In Suffolk, 13 seniors recently got good news about the English writing tests they took in March, dropping the number not expected to graduate next week because of the SOL requirement from 22 students to nine.
That wont help Danny: The test he needs wont be offered again before graduation. Largely, students cleared the new bar.
According to local school divisions, the percentage of seniors not mastering the new test requirement ranges from 1.5 percent in Suffolk to 8.1 percent in Portsmouth. The statewide estimate from mid-May was 5.8 percent. Still, thats 3,984 students statewide, enough to fill two good-sized high schools.
Ultimately, the totals could be much lower. Students can take remediation classes and tests over and over again for up to three years in Chesapeake to conceivably forever in Suffolk.
The extra help comes with a price to school divisions. Virginia Beach budgeted more than $362,000 for tutoring in its 11 high schools. Chesapeake allocated a little more than $50,000.
Danny, 18, still plans to attend Tidewater Community College in the fall to study communications technology. The school doesnt require a high-school diploma, but does administer entrance exams .
Ridiculous, he summed up his situation.
His father agreed.
He passed English 11 with a B average, but this test he has to struggle through, Danny R. Ward Sr. said. To have something like this thrown on him, I think it is ridiculous.
Malia L. Huddle, a vocational guidance counselor at Oscar Smith High, sympathized with the Wards frustration, calling Danny an all-around good kid.
Danny bagged groceries and filled warehouse orders after school and on weekends for two years to help support his family when his father became disabled. He plays guitar and participated in a school marketing club.
In Dannys case, youve got your average kid who comes to school, who has support at home, has passed the classes, and one test is keeping him from a diploma, Huddle said.
There are many reasons why students might pass a class but fail the state test.
Some students are lousy test-takers. Some state and federal officials blame teachers and grade inflation. And some critics fault the tests themselves as imperfect instruments. The writing test, with its open-ended essay question, is more subjective than the standard multiple-choice state test.
Figures werent available for how many test credits local school divisions have awarded high-school students who almost passed science and social studies exams.
The state allows that flexibility on case-by-case bases for the next three years.
English and math tests arent eligible.
English has been the biggest stumbling block for struggling seniors, said James D. Rayfield, director of secondary curriculum and instruction in Chesapeake.
Assistant principals at each Chesapeake high school have lists of endangered seniors on their desks, and try to make daily contact office, cafeteria, hall to goad them into attending tutoring sessions and to encourage them on their tests.
In Suffolk, Schools Superintendent Milton R. Liverman told his School Board that the SOL tests havent posed a barrier to graduation in that city, since the overall percentage not graduating about 15 percent mirrors past years.
An April national study similarly concluded that requiring high-school students to pass tests to graduate as 24 states do doesnt hurt graduation rates.
But for hundreds of seniors, a season of celebration has become a time of frustration and still more tests.
When we retake it, its the same people, Danny said. You see the same people, over and over again.
Students now must pass SOLs to graduate
Danny R. Ward Jr., an Oscar F. Smith High School senior, will not be graduating with his class because he didn't pass the state SOL.
Danny R. Ward Jr., an Oscar F. Smith High School senior, will not be graduating with his class because he didn't pass the state SOL. STEPHEN M. KATZ/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
By MATTHEW BOWERS, The Virginian-Pilot
© June 8, 2004 | Last updated 9:26 AM Jun. 8
Danny R. Ward Jr. will still march in Thursdays graduation ceremony. The relatives are still coming to town, and there will still be a party.
But its not going to feel the same, he said. Ill get a certificate of attendance, which is like, 'Thank you for coming you just wasted the last 13 years of your life.
The graduation of the class of 2004 marks a new era in Virginia: For the first time, passing high-school courses isnt enough.
Graduates also must pass at least six Standards of Learning tests two in English and four in any other academic subjects.
As many as 450 local seniors may not make the grade. Until now, higher standards for the states high-school graduates were an abstraction. This spring, they are a harsh reality for Danny and students like him.
He has taken the SOL English writing test four times. He narrowly failed each time, once by 17 points out of the 400 needed. That means he wont receive his diploma Thursday with the rest of his Oscar F. Smith High School class. Hell have to return to school for a one-week tutoring session and take the test for a fifth time in early July.
His situation was anticipated long ago by state education leaders . They knew that when you draw a line, someone is likely to fall just short of it. Twelve months ago, such students would ha ve been bona fide graduates. This year, theyre not.
Some 450 local would-be graduates still needed to pass SOL exams as schools entered the years final testing period, according to the latest projections available. The number was expected to drop to a little more than 300 after a final round of testing. One division, Chesapeake, estimated that more than 130 more seniors would pass the tests in time to graduate.
In Suffolk, 13 seniors recently got good news about the English writing tests they took in March, dropping the number not expected to graduate next week because of the SOL requirement from 22 students to nine.
That wont help Danny: The test he needs wont be offered again before graduation. Largely, students cleared the new bar.
According to local school divisions, the percentage of seniors not mastering the new test requirement ranges from 1.5 percent in Suffolk to 8.1 percent in Portsmouth. The statewide estimate from mid-May was 5.8 percent. Still, thats 3,984 students statewide, enough to fill two good-sized high schools.
Ultimately, the totals could be much lower. Students can take remediation classes and tests over and over again for up to three years in Chesapeake to conceivably forever in Suffolk.
The extra help comes with a price to school divisions. Virginia Beach budgeted more than $362,000 for tutoring in its 11 high schools. Chesapeake allocated a little more than $50,000.
Danny, 18, still plans to attend Tidewater Community College in the fall to study communications technology. The school doesnt require a high-school diploma, but does administer entrance exams .
Ridiculous, he summed up his situation.
His father agreed.
He passed English 11 with a B average, but this test he has to struggle through, Danny R. Ward Sr. said. To have something like this thrown on him, I think it is ridiculous.
Malia L. Huddle, a vocational guidance counselor at Oscar Smith High, sympathized with the Wards frustration, calling Danny an all-around good kid.
Danny bagged groceries and filled warehouse orders after school and on weekends for two years to help support his family when his father became disabled. He plays guitar and participated in a school marketing club.
In Dannys case, youve got your average kid who comes to school, who has support at home, has passed the classes, and one test is keeping him from a diploma, Huddle said.
There are many reasons why students might pass a class but fail the state test.
Some students are lousy test-takers. Some state and federal officials blame teachers and grade inflation. And some critics fault the tests themselves as imperfect instruments. The writing test, with its open-ended essay question, is more subjective than the standard multiple-choice state test.
Figures werent available for how many test credits local school divisions have awarded high-school students who almost passed science and social studies exams.
The state allows that flexibility on case-by-case bases for the next three years.
English and math tests arent eligible.
English has been the biggest stumbling block for struggling seniors, said James D. Rayfield, director of secondary curriculum and instruction in Chesapeake.
Assistant principals at each Chesapeake high school have lists of endangered seniors on their desks, and try to make daily contact office, cafeteria, hall to goad them into attending tutoring sessions and to encourage them on their tests.
In Suffolk, Schools Superintendent Milton R. Liverman told his School Board that the SOL tests havent posed a barrier to graduation in that city, since the overall percentage not graduating about 15 percent mirrors past years.
An April national study similarly concluded that requiring high-school students to pass tests to graduate as 24 states do doesnt hurt graduation rates.
But for hundreds of seniors, a season of celebration has become a time of frustration and still more tests.
When we retake it, its the same people, Danny said. You see the same people, over and over again.
