In Wednesday’s posting, I included the language below from
HB 930, Tag Greason’s SOL reform bill.
The Standards of Learning assessments
administered to students in grades three through eight shall not exceed (a)
reading and mathematics in grades three and four; (b) reading, mathematics, and
science in grade five; (c) reading and mathematics in grades six and seven; (d)
reading, writing, mathematics, and science in grade eight; and (e) Virginia
Studies and Civics and Economics once each at the grade levels deemed
appropriate by each local school board.
Each school board shall annually certify that
it has provided instruction and administered an alternative assessment,
consistent with Board guidelines, to students in grades three through eight in
each Standards of Learning subject area in which a Standards of Learning
assessment was not administered during the school year. Such guidelines shall
(1) incorporate options for age-appropriate, authentic performance assessments
and portfolios with rubrics and other methodologies designed to ensure that
students are making adequate academic progress in the subject area and that the
Standards of Learning content is being taught; (2) permit and encourage
integrated assessments that include multiple subject areas; and (3) emphasize
collaboration between teachers to administer and substantiate the assessments
and the professional development of teachers to enable them to make the best
use of alternative assessments.
This language has given rise to messages regarding the
degree to which alternative assessments will affect the burden on
teachers. One person fears that, “requiring
VGLA-style assessments for all students in an SOL class in which an SOL test
will not be administered will create an insurmountable bureaucratic burden on
already overtaxed teachers.”
This is a very legitimate concern, and we hear you.
The “alternative assessment” language was added in response
to the concerns raised by science and social studies teachers who expressed the
fear that if their subjects were not assessed that they would be deemphasized.
The beauty of the bill is that it does permit school boards
to allow classroom teacher designed assessment to take place of the SOL test.
We will need to be engaged in the Board of Education’s
guideline development, and we will need to use our place at the table on the
Standards of Learning Innovation Committee to work to ensure that the new
assessments are not more burdensome and time consuming than the tests that they
replace. This may be a battle. President Gruber and Dr. Rogers have already
engaged the help of NEA in developing appropriate options for alternative
assessments.
This could be a battle, and we may need to call on members
to stack some meetings and raise a little hell.I do hope, though, that we’ll not ignore the other side of this coin. We have an opportunity to move away from teaching to the test and toward greater professional autonomy for teachers.
