Rewan Farag#

 May 6, 2021 #

As we are getting closer to the end of the year, SOLs are approaching extremely quickly. However, because of COVID, SOLs might look a lot more different than they normally do.  What are some major changes happening this year? 

For starters, more people have refused to take SOLs this year more than any other year due to COVID and other issues. For 8th graders, two of their biggest SOLs, civics, and writing, were canceled. 

Here are the dates for the SOLs for both in-person and virtual students: 

• Reading: Monday, May 10 (virtual students) and Tuesday, May 11 (in-person students)
• Math: Monday, May 17 (virtual students) and Wednesday, May 19 (in-person students)
• Science 8: Monday, May 24 (virtual students) and Tuesday, May 25 (in-person students)

Students who refuse to participate in the SOLs will be scored based on their reason for refusing to participate. This year, if you are not participating due to COVID related concerns, you will receive a “no score.” If you are not participating due to any other concerns, you will receive a “0” for each test you refused to take. The school’s delivery of content and instruction will not change due to SOL refusal. Academic expectations will remain the same. In addition, refusal means schools will not have the benefit of analyzing student performance on the SOL test. Students attending school online whose parents refuse the reading or mathematics SOL will have the opportunity to take an alternative, non-SOL test at home. This new Virginia Remote Student Progress Monitoring Test will only be available for fully virtual students this spring.

268 Glasgow students took a recent survey on their intentions for this year’s SOLs. Here are the results: 

They were also asked if their parents played a big part in their decision. 

FCPS is also providing the same services they would usually provide on a regular school day. There will be Grab and Go lunches provided for every student. Students also have the option to bring their own meals. Buses will pick students up and drop them off at school. Student drop off is between 7:30-7:45. Buses will be picking students up from school at 12:30. Students can also come to school and ride home with a parent if that’s preferred. To be inclusive, there will also be morning sessions to support students celebrating Ramadan. Another change is that some testing will now take place in classrooms. Teachers will post asynchronous work on testing days. 

Judging from all of these changes and with COVID-19, it’s safe to say that the SOLs this year will definitely be much different from previous years. Many students have still not shared their intent on whether or not they want to participate in the SOLs, so if you haven’t yet, make sure to fill out the SOL Intent Form. If you have any questions or concerns about the SOLs, make sure to follow along with the Panther Time slides and ask questions, or you can email [email protected]. Good luck!