Falls Church City Public Schools
Data Synopsis to the School Board
SOL and SAT Assessment Results
October 2006

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Introduction

Several changes were enacted during the 2005-06 school year which impacted testing outcomes for the FCCPS school system. As noted below, the changes in school configuration, as well as the additional grades tested, greatly impacted the subgroup populations in the middle and high schools.

Reconfiguration of Schools

Students in grade 5 were elevated to middle school status and grade 8 students became a part of the high school program.  This means that the Thomas Jefferson ES now has grades 2-4, Mary Ellen Henderson MS works with students in grades 5-7 and George Mason HS encompasses students from grades 8-12.

Change in History Curriculum

There was a change in the focus of the elementary history curriculum, such that Virginia Studies, formerly taught across two years (grades 4 and 5), was condensed into one year for the 2005-06 school year (grade 4). Notwithstanding, students in grade 5 were obliged to complete the 2 year curriculum. Consequently, students in both grades 4 and 5 were tested in Standards of Learning (SOL) Virginia Studies in Spring 2006. Grade 5 students will not be assessed in Virginia Studies in subsequent years.

Changes in SOL Assessments

Owing to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act, Spring 2006 SOL reading and mathematics assessments included students in grades 3 through 8 for the first time.  Previous assessments had been limited to grades 3, 5 and 8, except where content for the relevant test (such as history) was covered at another grade.

Further changes generated at the VDOE included the removal of the writing portion from the grade 3 English assessment, so that only reading was assessed at that grade.  The grade 3 writing objectives were subsumed under the grade 5 writing test.

Assessment of mathematics was also affected.  Prior to 2006, double testing of advanced/ accelerated mathematics students was prevalent throughout the State.  Thus, for example, as obtained in FCCPS, grade 8 students took the grade 8 mathematics assessment as well as any other mathematics assessment for which they had received instruction – such as Algebra 1.  In such cases, mathematics passing percentages were inflated by double portions of advanced/accelerated mathematics students. 

For Spring 2006, the State strongly recommended that students be tested only in the grade content at which they received instruction, because NCLB computations would only accommodate one student record per content area.  Thus, a sixth grader who received instruction at the pre-Algebra level, was assessed in grade 8 mathematics, rather than grade 6 content, and no other mathematics level.

Changes in SOL Assessments

Owing to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act, Spring 2006 SOL reading and mathematics assessments included students in grades 3 through 8 for the first time.  Previous assessments had been limited to grades 3, 5 and 8, except where content for the relevant test (such as history) was covered at another grade.

Other SOL Issues

Owing to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act, Spring 2006 SOL reading and mathematics assessments included students in grades 3 through 8 for the first time.  Previous assessments had been limited to grades 3, 5 and 8, except where content for the relevant test (such as history) was covered at another grade.

Student Outcomes

Owing to the requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act, Spring 2006 SOL reading and mathematics assessments included students in grades 3 through 8 for the first time.  Previous assessments had been limited to grades 3, 5 and 8, except where content for the relevant test (such as history) was covered at another grade.

Elementary Grades

Middle School Grades

High School Grades

SAT Results

Discussion Points