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Richmond Parents Protest SOL Tests

This week, Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a bill allowing elementary and middle school kids to re-take Standards of Learning tests if they score a few points below what’s needed to pass.  McAuliffe has already signed legislation to eliminate five of the tests kids might have taken during their years in public school, and he says he’d like to cut more of them, while getting creativity back into the classroom.

Meanwhile, parents in Richmond have begun a protest of their own - asking that their kids be excused from SOL tests. 

Gabriel Reich  is an associate professor of education at Virginia Commonwealth and the father of a rising 7th grader.

“She’s actually very good at multiple choice tests, but what I saw here in her elementary school and other schools in the area was how the test has distorted what goes on in schools.”

He estimates a third of the school year is devoted to test preparation and notes that recess for first graders was cut by 15 minutes a day so students could get ready for their first test in the third grade.  Reich says this obsession detracts from real learning and good teaching.

“I can’t tell you how many times I talk to teachers, and they share really interesting, creative ideas with me, and I’m like, ‘Wow, do you do that?’ And they say, ‘No, I can’t because we don’t have time.  We’ve got to stop in April to start reviewing for SOLs.’”

He says multiple choice tests are a poor ways to measure learning in many subjects - rewarding the ability to memorize but not the ability to think critically.  His daughter had already qualified for placement in a good middle school program, so skipping the test did not create problems for her, and opting out of the SOLs was one way to lobby for changes in state law.

“Y’know the fact that kids will get a zero and that can affect a school’s performance rating is a way to get notice.  Many parents, myself included, tried to have a conversation about this in more constructive, mutually beneficial ways and were rebuffed.”

Last year, about a million Virginia public school students took the SOLs, but 680 parents opted out. A grass roots group has formed in Richmond - RVA Opt Out - to raise awareness among parents and to support those who object to high-stakes standardized tests.

Sandy Hausman is Radio IQ's Charlottesville Bureau Chief