Standards of Learning Exams
When my son came home from school yesterday I asked if he had any homework. The answer – no. Then I asked him what they did in classes and the answer was review. I got the same answers from my daughter.
In our state the kids start taking standards of learning exams in 3rd grade for various subjects. In one sense I suppose SOLs are good – they make sure that a minimum level of learning happens through out the state, but on the other hand I really find them to be a giant waste of time.
The teachers no longer teach kids to think! There is so much pressure on the teachers and the kids to pass every child through the SOLs that all the teachers teach is the test and not much more. Beginning in April, daily instruction time is filled with endless review and all homework tends to come to a halt. Is this really the best thing for our students?
Personally my kids are bored. Bored to tears. They don’t buy into the hype that the school has built up about these exams and neither do I. I don’t spend hours at home making them review more, go online and take practice tests, or hold them from after school activities so they can “rest”. For the past 3 years my son has aced the exams and my daughter aced 1 of the 3 (and scored well above passing on the other) in her first year of taking them last year.
Oh, and once the exams are over the kids still have 2 weeks of school left but they do nothing – after all, the teachers have done their job for the year. It all seems like such a waste to me.
Enough of my rant! What’s your take on standards of learning tests? Vote below or in the sidebar and leave a comment!
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I’m in VA and I’ve had this discussion soooo many times. Yes…kids are doing much better…the SOLs prove it???? DUH??! They are teaching to the test now…of course they are going to do better. I’ll never forget my son’s kindergarten teacher who told me she teaches them all these history songs because they need to know the info for the 3rd grade SOLS…HUH??? Sad, but true.
My kids get sooo stressed about this and I’ve basically just said…do your best and move on. I don’t care what they get on them cuz I think it’s shows us absolutely nothing. My son is on the honor role, yet he doesn’t do well on the SOLs…does that mean the teachers are failing him? NO!!!! He just gets so stressed about the test that he can’t even focus on it when he’s taking it. That’s all!
Michele – I am in VA too – is it just our state that does this to the kids and their “education”? Luckily my son never stressed about them and so his younger sister used that as a guide.
My daughter came home all proud that her class had all passed benchmark exams, but according to my kids, they are so easy that you should be able to pass them in your sleep.
Are we really teaching these kids or just lowering the standard to the point where no child can fail or be left behind at the expense of all the other kids?
i offered my opinion and experiences over at my blog.
http://adventuresinjuggling.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/testing-stars/
We have that here but it’s called FCAT. It’s total crap. They did it about a month ago here, and for weeks after they were done, when I asked my daughter what they did in school she’d say “Nothing. FCAT is over. We just watched movies and stuff.” Then what’s the point? Why not just have school for a month each year so they can study for the FCAT and take it if that’s all they are going to do with them? I’m at least glad my daughter aces it every time, because they actually hold back kids who score badly enough in certain sections. You can be an all A student, fail a portion of the FCAT and get held back. Insane.
That scares me to death! If kids aren’t learning to think critically – what will become of them? And this country?
Indeed. Here in good ole Tennessee, we have the TCAPs. They review all year for these things. Yes, ALL YEAR. Every week they have a “review test”. ?? No child left behind, ladies. That’s what this is all about.
No child left behind is not doing 99% of the population any good! It is lowering the standards to the point where the average child is bored and does not know how to think for themselves – only memorize.
I’m in VA too- as a previous day care worker for School Age children I found many disconcerting things come about. One thing that struck me as odd was the lack of respect these children have for just about anything really. The other thing that made me look into our future with bleak hopes was the fact these children come into our center with homework and I would have to say that 75% of them had no idea what they were supposed to do with it, whether they had just had that lesson the day of or the previous day. IT really says something about the standards of learning we are placing for our children who will in turn be our future. I find that by lowering and accepting these standards we are setting ourselves up for failure. I am a mother of a four year old and she is set be registered for school in the fall after she turns five, it scares me to think that she might turn out like these children spending more time worrying what is happening in the media and hollywood than excelling in her studies. It is disheartening to see how these children lack a certain sense of self, they disrespect the teachers, they lack any sense of ethics or responsibility for their own actions. Are we showing these kids that it is okay to be mediocre at life? That it is okay to fail? That it is okay to lie, cheat and steal if it means that you wont reap the consequences of it and just in turn get where you need to be?
It feels as though we have so much pressure on us and If we fail an SOL BAM!! there goes our summer. Say hello to summer school, Ugh!!