Va. to keep third-grade history SOL
Bowing to pressure, the state superintendent of public instruction has abandoned her proposal to end the third-grade history and social studies Standards of Learning test.
The proposal drew a bipartisan outcry from legislators and objections from parents, educational groups and textbook publishers.
Superintendent Patricia I. Wright said she made the proposal to save about $380,000 a year and because she thought third-graders were being tested too much.
But she said yesterday that she will recommend, at the State Board of Education meeting next Saturday, proceeding with the test and that the board approve a timeline for weaving history-related passages into the elementary reading tests next year after revisions of the reading standards.
"I understand the concerns of the educators, legislators and others who disagreed," she said.
Lynda Tran, a spokeswoman for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, described the discussion about the SOLs as "healthy."
The discussion sends a signal that "we can expect as a state to continue to lead the way on education achievement," Tran said.
Wright's action was praised by Del. H. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, the House of Delegates majority leader, who joined many of his colleagues in opposition to Wright's proposal.
"The bottom line is the history tests are a building block to understand how the government and our society works," he said. "The children need to start at an early age."
Griffith also said taking the history and social studies test demonstrates how well a third-grader can read.
The questions on the test range from geography to architecture to history.
African-American legislators noted that the third-grade test emphasizes African-American heroes, such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jackie Robinson. If the test were eliminated, the first exposure students would have to African-American history would be slavery in the fourth-grade curriculum, they said.
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or
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Staff writer Jim Nolan contributed to this report.
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Reader Reactions
Third grade social studies is ridiculous… I’ve taught it for years now. We expect 8 year olds to learn about the physical and human characteristics of Ancient Greece, Rome and Mali as well as how the people of those ancient civilizations adapted to their environment by farming on hillsides or mining for salt in the desert, economic interdependence and specialization (as it relates specifically to Ancient Greece and Rome and Virginia), European explorers Columbus, Cartier, Ponce de Leon and Newport along with the difference between a direct democracy and a representative democracy. I’m in my thirties and I have not yet needed any of this knowledge in my life. These kids think that New York is a country (even the smartest ones don’t still understand the differences between continent, country, state and city). They have no concept of time past what happened last week. If you want to continue testing third graders in Social Studies, fine, but revamp the curriculum to something that is actually relevant and age appropriate.
RTD, you might want to redo that headline. Most people don’t know “SOL” as Standards of Learning, but as “S*** Outta Luck.“ I don’t think that’s what you’re trying to say.
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