A friend shared an op-ed from one of the local papers that argues Virginia does a disservice to its students by requiring them to remain in school even after the Standard of Learning (SOL) tests are over in early June. The op-ed says the testing must be completed by then because of Federal rules. I don't know if that is true, but I do know that testing always takes place in late May. Here in Virginia students are required to be in school for 180 days, but they cannot begin school before Labor Day in order to supposedly protect our tourism industry. Thus this creates a situation where teachers have two to three weeks of time left to fill and the actual amount of time to prepare for the SOLs is around 170 days. The easy solution to this is to adjust one of the two dates, either the Labor Day law or the SOL testing window. So far neither of those has happened. If my memory serves me correctly, a bill to remove the Labor Day barrier was defeated in our General Assembly.
This issue creates an awkward period of time for teachers. Students are bright enough to know that they aren't really responsible for what is being taught in the same way they are before the SOL tests. Some teachers use this time to try and do creative lessons that don't fit with the SOLs. Some try to get students to explore areas they are curious about. Other teachers don't do much of anything, showing a lot of videos so they can catch up on grading. To me it is wasted time. We are not being efficient. Why keep the students at this point?
So what should give? The post Labor Day start time or the SOL testing window? What do you think?
Why can't the 180 rule change? If the two dates that are set in stone make 170 days of school, then that is the number of days the kids should be in school. Now, I believe that this can be difficult for parents who work that now have to find child care for 10 extra days. Students are also being cheated out of 10 days of structured education. It seems as though schools are being used as day cares after the SOLs.
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