Virginia lawmakers made significant changes to the state’s testing system this spring aimed at reforming the Standards of Learning tests across the commonwealth. One aspect of the legislation has raised concerns among parents and educators: the requirement that the SOL tests will count as 10% of students’ final grades. WMRA’s Bridget Manley reports.
[student chatter]
At Keister Elementary in Harrisonburg, students play in the art room, while just down the hall, signs are posted requesting silence as fourth graders take their math SOLs during the final weeks of school.
Twelve-year-old Emily Woodruff, a rising seventh grader in Harrisonburg, has recently completed her SOL tests. She expressed that she feels anxious about taking tests, especially the SOLs.
EMILY WOODRUFF: I do not like doing SOLs because they take a long time, and some of the questions are harder, and some of them we haven’t learned yet.
The SOL tests were designed to assess students' proficiency in skills and content while establishing expectations for what students should know across different subjects.
But new legislation aimed at overhauling the SOL tests, which will affect the final grades for middle and high school students, has raised questions among educators and parents.
The legislation introduces comprehensive changes, including the idea that the SOL will replace other final exams. This change reduces the need for students to take multiple tests and simplifies end-of-year assessments, which will account for 10% of students’ final grades.
To further simplify the process, the tests will transition to a 100-point scale in order to streamline the grading system.
MICHAEL RICHARDS: I think SOL testing, like all standardized multiple-choice testing, takes our focus away from the higher ideal in education that we really need to be focused on with students, and that’s deeper learning and problem solving.
Michael Richards, superintendent of Harrisonburg City Public Schools, opposes the new legislation. He understands the intent behind SOL testing but believes it focuses on the wrong priorities.
RICHARDS: These standardized multiple-choice tests, they reward students for memorizing and regurgitation, and is that really what we want students to be able to do? We want students to be able to analyze and synthesize diverse information so that they can solve real-world problems.
SCHUYLER VANVALKENBURG: Testing shouldn’t be the only focus in school, but it is a focus.
Virginia State Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg, a Democrat from Henrico County, co-sponsored the bill addressing testing issues, drawing from his experience as a history and government teacher in local schools.
VANVALKENBURG: If we don’t test, we won’t know where kids are. I want to have better tests, that’s why this bill, its incentive is leading towards better testing, but we have to have a snapshot of where kids are, and testing is one of the best ways to do that. Should it be the be-all, end-all? Absolutely not.
The bill will overhaul the entire testing process. In the new contract, the test creators will be required to update questions about reading, writing, analysis, and critical thinking, and make them more rigorous. The tests will also have to be more transparent so that parents, teachers, and students know what will be on the tests to prepare effectively.
HILARY IRONS: It also seems to cater to the test sellers, not the students. I would like them to explain how this increases student achievement and outcomes.
Hilary Irons is a parent in the Rockingham County school system, PTA president at Peak View Elementary, and has filed to run for the school board for a second time. She also opposes the new legislation.
IRONS: Let’s talk about differences in students—straight A students versus students that struggle, or who have executive function difficulties or testing difficulties. We are just separating them out. The kids that are great test takers are going to have even better grades, and the kids that are not are going to have even less.
WMRA reached out to school superintendents of Rockingham and Albemarle counties, who both sent back statements saying they are awaiting implementation guidance from the state.
The new legislation requires SOL tests to be administered in the last two weeks of the school year, allowing learning to continue until the end, instead of five to six weeks earlier.
Retakes could occur in the last week of school; however, VanValkenburg acknowledged that retakes might need to take place during the summer. He believes that after full implementation, students will be happier taking one test at the end of the year, parents will appreciate the transparency in SOL scores, and teachers will be glad to only administer one test.
VANVALKENBURG: We are making sure that there is only one final, right, it’s in the last two weeks of the year, so people have the proper time to prepare for it, everybody knows what they are working towards, and the end-of-year testing process should be much smoother, much more transparent. Everybody should have the same incentive structure in it.
The requirement for the SOL to be 10% of the students' final grades will go into effect in the 2026-2027 school year.
