The Virginia Department of Education has revised its standards for SOL testing to include free response questions.
According to the Virginia Department of Education website, the new questions require critical thinking designed to prepare students for the challenges they will face in the next grade.
The new questions will make up about 15 percent of the modified SOLs.
“I think it’s a good idea,” math department co-chair Judy Greenblum said. “It’s important for students to know how to problem-solve and to think critically, rather than just … drill and practice kinds of questions.”
The revised SOL standards will be introduced into the curricula and implemented over the next two school years.
Math will be the only subject to have the revised questions as a part of the regular exam this year.
English and science will not have separate sections within their tests for the new questions until 2013.
According to the VDOE website, Virginia teachers played a “critical” role in developing all modified SOL tests.
The SOL changes also coincide with the alterations to the FCPS class curriculum.
According to chemistry teacher Matthew Kirk, the new FCPS curriculum will be more “hands-on” in order to give the material more “application” to student’s lives.
Course changes include a stronger focus on organic chemistry and experimentation in science and a reintroduction of statistics in Algebra 1 and 2.
“There will be some growing pains … [and] some stress in the first couple years,” Kirk said.
According to VDOE, these new benchmarks are designed to meet national and international college- and career-readiness benchmarks.
In a statement issued by Patricia I. Wright, Superintendent of Public Instruction, the new SOL expectations are an “essential component of Virginia’s plan to ensure that graduates of the commonwealth’s public schools are college and career ready.”
Edison High School was one of the first schools to take the modified SOLs, due to its four-by-four class scheduling which allows classes to cover a year’s worth of material in a semester.
According to multiple sources, Edison’s test scores and pass rates were lower than in years past.