SOL testing is an easy target in Virginia's educational reform. Everyone can relate to a test. We've all had them for something, in school or out of school. The issue seems to be the reluctance to accept the fact that a test can be developed for the purpose of judging student performance and then whether those results should be used for anything meaningful. Students are faced with one point make it or break it situations every day in school.
Students miss passing the weekly spelling test or the English exam by one point.
There may be a student who must retake the driver's test because they miss passing by one point. Many a student in Virginia in grade 12 or trying to graduate from college don't do so on time because they fail a final exam, maybe by even one point. More educators and experts touch a Virginia SOL test than any classroom test in the state. SOL tests are rigorously developed and meet the technical requirements for high stakes testing programs. For the first time in Virginia, student performance is quantified and the results used for something.