Va. Department of Education to Release SOL Scores Thursday

The Virginia Department of Education is slated to release preliminary Standards of Learning (SOL) results Thursday.

 School administrators say the scores are an indication of how schools measure up to the federal benchmarks of the No Child Left Behind law and determine what schools have failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP.)

 The federal government’s assessment of each school is based on reading and math scores from SOL tests, which were taken by students this spring.

SOL scores are also evaulated at the state level. While the federal government considers just reading and math, Virginia officials look at how students faired on all the subjects on the SOL test. This is why it's possible for schools to meet Virginia Standards of Learning, but not the federal government's standards, Manassas Park City Schools Superintendent Dr. Bruce McDade said. 

Under the No Child Left Behind law, the federal government uses a graduated scale that requires all students to be 100 percent proficient in math and reading by the year 2014.   Schools that don’t meet this goal face federal sanctions, which is why Adequate Yearly Progress is important.

School administrators in many states are bucking against the nearly decade-old No Child Left Behind law, saying that its standards are unfair and difficult to meet.

Officials from President Obama’s administration told the Washington Post and other media outlets this month that they will grant waivers to states that adopt certain standards that, in addition to other things, hold teachers accountable and prepare students for work and college.