Roanoke SOL retesting concerns lead to changes in policies across Virginia

New retesting rules underway for 2018

ROANOKE – SOL testing is underway, and there are new rules about retesting students in elementary and middle schools after concerns emerged in Roanoke.

10 News told you about the issues last summer (read that story here), and we're working for you by following up on those concerns.

The Virginia Department of Education was made aware of Roanoke City's unusual practice of re-testing students after the school year ends, last summer and started looking into policies across Virginia.

If enough students at the same school fail, that school isn't accredited, which is why there is an incentive for schools to retest.

We talked to Roanoke City Schools Superintendent Dr. Rita Bishop last July, and she told us, "You want as many schools to be accredited as possible. That's a good thing for the community. That's an economic driver."

"We surveyed school divisions and we found there wasn't a lot of consistency across the state in how divisions were defining an extenuating circumstance," said Charles Pyle, a Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) spokesperson. 

The VDOE now says that in order to retest a student, the student must have an extenuating circumstance --- it can't just be because the school needs more students to pass for accreditation.

But some school districts admitted to the department they retested kids because a school was on the bubble, when the VDOE started looking into policies around Virginia. Roanoke did not admit to that on the survey.

Now, to retest, students must have:

-Passed the course that goes with the test and failed within a small window (375-399) when passing is 400
-Or failed the test and have an extenuating circumstance. A student can also retest if there was a discrepancy between the SOL score and the student's typical academic performance.

The state's new guidelines now define what an extenuating circumstance is. Before, one district may have said a student forgetting their glasses could trigger a retest, while another district would cite a death in the family.

Now, there is a clearer definition that reads as follows:

"An extenuating circumstance is defined as an unusual and uncontrollable event that negatively impacted a student's test performance. Examples of extenuating circumstances may include, but are not limited to, the recent death of a family member, friend, or pet; a traumatic home situation, or other significant personal distress or disruption that does not qualify for irregularity retesting. Generally, school staff identify such situations before the student begins testing so that the testing session may be rescheduled.  However, there are incidences where the circumstances affecting the student are not known until after testing has begun."

School districts must now also document why the student was retested and provide evidence of their typical academic achievement. Those documents can be spot-checked by the Department of Education.

Virginia also has to pay for each student to be retested, so there's a cost involved too.

We reached out to Roanoke City Schools, who sent us a statement saying:

"Roanoke City Public Schools welcomes the changes regarding re-testing of students.  The school system already adopted these practices years ago.  As a result, we will continue to re-test students the same way as in previous years.  Roanoke City Public Schools believes strongly that retesting helps students succeed now and in the future.  In fact, many parents are grateful once their child takes a test again and passes."

 


About the Author:

You can see Jenna weekday mornings at the anchor desk on WSLS 10 Today from 5-7 a.m. She also leads our monthly Solutionaries Series, where we highlight the creative thinkers and doers working to make the world a better place.