It’s May and testing season is here. You want to go outside but you can’t because you’re trapped in the library taking a test. If you’re stressed about them, you’re not alone.
SOLs used to not matter to students; they took them because it was mandatory. Now they’re going to start being graded. Both teachers and students have something to say about this.
“It’s going to be a learning curve, students aren’t used to taking a test that matters so much, and they’re gonna have to make sure that their grades are higher before,” Carrie Kistner, a History teacher at Stafford High School, said.
Kistner has been teaching for almost 10 years now, and before she came to Stafford, she was at a school in Spotsylvania. In her previous school SOLs were graded for the students.
While I have to agree with Kistner that it will be a learning curve for students, it’s also one for teachers, staff, and the county.
“I think it’s unfair for them to do this, especially since it just measures the teacher’s ability to teach, and see how much the kids can retain,” said Rylynn Blackburn, a junior at Stafford High School.
This is a tough situation for everyone, it affects everyone involved. If you think it doesn’t affect you, it does. This is going to be a very big and popular issue among students.
“As a senior, I feel this is super unfair. I worked all these years for them to count my SOLs as a grade now. It determines if I pass or fail my senior year now,” said senior Gabby Sanchez.
As a sophomore, I feel for the upperclassmen who now have to deal with this in either their last year or last two years. Especially for juniors who have their English SOL this year.
One thing that will suck about this change is how they’re going to grade the SOL now.
“If you get one question wrong on the SOL, and its technology based then the entire question is wrong,” Kistner shared.
This is much like the grading in Canvas with the drag and drops. If you get one wrong on a drag and drop then the entire question would be wrong. That’s how it is in the SOL which is gonna hurt a lot of peoples scores and if they pass or not.
