WJCC Voice

• Legislation Overview: Virginia enacts bipartisan changes to K-12 Standards of Learning (SOL) testing, effective 2026-27 school year, to improve student outcomes and test relevance.
• Grade Impact: SOL scores will count as 10% of a student’s final grade, a shift from not contributing to grades, to incentivize serious effort.
• Test Timing: Tests will be administered in the final two weeks of the school year, not 5–6 weeks earlier, allowing more instructional time and retake opportunities.
• Transparency and Grading: Scoring shifts from a 600-point to a 100-point scale for clearer parent understanding (e.g., 87 vs. 487 on a biology test).
• Exam Access: More past exams will be released for better preparation, though not all tests as initially proposed, to aid teachers and parents.
• Test Quality: Legislation aims to improve test rigor and quality, addressing past issues of low-quality tests due to underfunding.
• Educator Benefits: Teachers scoring assessments earn professional development points for license renewal.
• Stakeholder Views: Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg calls it a “gigantic step” for fairer, rigorous evaluations; Superintendent Emily Anne Gullickson sees it as modernizing assessment.
• Context: Post-COVID test score stagnation prompted the overhaul, with bipartisan support from Gov. Glenn Youngkin and lawmakers like Del. Dan Helmer.

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