Reports designed to help parents better understand child’s progress this school year
RICHMOND – To help give parents a more complete picture of their student’s progress this school year, the Virginia Department of Education has developed a new Spring Standards of Learning (SOL) Parent Report designed to provide parents additional information about their child's performance this year in a clear and accessible format.
The Parent Reports are available to parents whose students have already completed the spring SOL assessments in school divisions around the Commonwealth and can be obtained directly from their child's school. For students who have not yet taken their SOL assessments, parent reports will be available after those students have completed their tests.
“An involved and informed parent is critical to a student’s success,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons. “We want to empower parents with clear and useful information about their child’s performance this year and equip them with tools to help their child catch up or get ahead over the summer.”
“The new Spring SOL Parent Report provides a helpful year-long overview of student academic performance by including the fall and winter Virginia Growth Assessment score alongside the final spring Standards of Learning score,” said Virginia PTA President Jenna Alexander. “The inclusion of easy-to-read bar graphs and simple performance descriptions for each question type transforms the SOL Parent Report into a helpful tool that can be used by students, parents, and teachers to target areas for new instruction.”
The reports are designed to give parents greater insight into their student’s progress and more opportunities to participate with the child’s teacher. “Parents are active, impassioned participants in the quest for educational excellence,” said Ms. Tonia Emanuel, a parent of a Richmond City student. “These SOL parent reports are more than just data. It's our translator. It transforms complex information into meaningful dialogue and opportunities for advocacy, ensuring no child’s potential is left unexplored and no opportunity for growth goes unnoticed.”
The Spring SOL Parent Report informs parents if their child’s test scores show that the child needs additional support, is considered at-risk of falling behind, or if the child is performing on grade level or above. Designed to provide a year-long look at a student’s academic progress, the Parent Reports tie together the Virginia Growth Assessment scores previously taken and the current spring SOL results to show the current trend in the student’s academic progress. These results help show in which content areas and skills a student may need additional support and where more time with a teacher or tutor could be beneficial to the student’s academic success.
Sample parent reports are available for Grades 3-8 reading and math, and all other SOL tests (except writing). Additional resources for parents, including a video explaining the Spring Parent Reports and a tool for parents to help facilitate conversations with their child’s teacher regarding their child’s performance can be found on the Parent Resources page of the VDOE website under the Assessment tab.