1. VELAS April 22, 2013 Virginia English Language Arts Supervisors April 22, 2013

2. VELAS April 22, 2013 HB 2144 House Bill 2144, passed by the 2013 General Assembly, allows a public elementary school that had an adjusted pass rate of less than 75 percent on the Standards of Learning reading assessments administered during the 2011-2012 school year to apply to the Board of Education for a two-year waiver from the third grade Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment requirement in science or history and social science, or both. Elementary schools that apply for a two-year waiver must satisfy certain conditions to be granted the waiver. The waiver expires on July 1, 2015.

3. VELAS April 22, 2013 SOL Institutes Fall 2013 4 SOL Institutes4 SOL Institutes Tentative dates and locations:Tentative dates and locations: First week October – Southwest (Wytheville)First week October – Southwest (Wytheville) October 8 – TidewaterOctober 8 – Tidewater October 25 – NOVAOctober 25 – NOVA October 29 – Central VAOctober 29 – Central VA Agenda:Agenda: elementary & secondary sessionselementary & secondary sessions Reading/vocabulary workshopReading/vocabulary workshop Writing WorkshopWriting Workshop Using Primary Sources Integration of SOLUsing Primary Sources Integration of SOL 4 participants per division: (1) central office, (1) HS teacher, (1) MS teacher, (1) elementary teacher4 participants per division: (1) central office, (1) HS teacher, (1) MS teacher, (1) elementary teacher

4. VELAS April 22, 2013 SOL Credit Accommodations SOL Credit Accommodations The student must meet the following criteria to be eligible to receive credit accommodations for the Standard Diploma: The student must meet the following criteria to be eligible to receive credit accommodations for the Standard Diploma: a current IEP or 504 plana current IEP or 504 plan a disability that precludes him or her from achieving and progressing commensurate with grade level expectations, but is learning on grade level contenta disability that precludes him or her from achieving and progressing commensurate with grade level expectations, but is learning on grade level content needs significant instructional supports to access grade level Standards of Learning (SOL) content and to show progressneeds significant instructional supports to access grade level Standards of Learning (SOL) content and to show progress might not be expected to achieve required standard and verified credits in the standard timemight not be expected to achieve required standard and verified credits in the standard time Supt’s Memo 105-13Supt’s Memo 105-13

5. VELAS April 22, 2013 NCTE Convention

6. VELAS April 22, 2013 Lexiles The Lexile conversion chart has been moved to an SSWS application. New Reading tests will not have Lexile scores until Fall 2013.

7. VELAS April 22, 2013 SOL Reading Cut Scores

8. VELAS April 22, 2013 SOL Writing Cut Scores

9. VELAS April 22, 2013 SOL Instruction Resources

10. VELAS April 22, 2013 FAQ

11. VELAS April 22, 2013 Text-Dependent Questions

12. VELAS April 22, 2013 SOL Assessment Notes Spring 2013: Additional reading practice items have been released (grades 3-8)Spring 2013: Additional reading practice items have been released (grades 3-8) Spring 2015: Released English SOL testsSpring 2015: Released English SOL tests 15% of the reading/writing tests will be TEI15% of the reading/writing tests will be TEI NO FILL IN THE BLANK QUESTIONS

13. VELAS April 22, 2013 SOL Assessment Notes Stand-alone items, testing all 3 reporting categories, will remain as a block of test items but may have a different locationStand-alone items, testing all 3 reporting categories, will remain as a block of test items but may have a different location Emphasis words (most, main, best) will not be emphasized on any SOL testEmphasis words (most, main, best) will not be emphasized on any SOL test Grade 3 Reading Test will not contain items emphasizing the words NOT or EXCEPTGrade 3 Reading Test will not contain items emphasizing the words NOT or EXCEPT Supt’s Memo #214-12

14. VELAS April 22, 2013 SOL Assessment Notes All online reading and writing tests will include aAll online reading and writing tests will include a sample TEI question Reading and writing tests will contain a variety of short and long passages; paired passages in Grade 8 and EOC only this year (spring 2013)Reading and writing tests will contain a variety of short and long passages; paired passages in Grade 8 and EOC only this year (spring 2013) Grade 3 Research is tested in ReadingGrade 3 Research is tested in Reading (3.7 a-b comprehension of print and electronic resources) Grade 3-5 reading tests will assess cross-curricular words (example: sediment)Grade 3-5 reading tests will assess cross-curricular words (example: sediment)

15. VELAS April 22, 2013 SOL Assessment Notes TEI Section Review Screen FAQ: Q. If drag & drop questions do not indicate the number of responses, and only 1 answer is chosen, does it appear in the Section Review Screen as "answered?" Q. If drag & drop questions do not indicate the number of responses, and only 1 answer is chosen, does it appear in the Section Review Screen as "answered?" A. Drag and drop items generally have bays to move answers into. If there are two bays, then the item will not show as answered until both bays have been used. A. Drag and drop items generally have bays to move answers into. If there are two bays, then the item will not show as answered until both bays have been used.

16. VELAS April 22, 2013 SOL Assessment Notes TEI Section Review Screen FAQ: Q. If no specific number of answers is indicated, "Which words are synonyms for _____” Q. If no specific number of answers is indicated, "Which words are synonyms for _____” A.If a student chooses two answers and there are three, will the item show up as answered on the item review screen A.If a student chooses two answers and there are three, will the item show up as answered on the item review screen A. If hot-spot questions do not indicate the number of responses, the question will show as answered once one answer is selected

17. VELAS April 22, 2013 SOL Assessment Notes TEI Section Review Screen FAQ: A. Another example is a drag/drop punctuation question. Once one bay has been filled, the question will show as answered, so there is no clue as to how many bays need to be filled. A. If an item specifies a number of correct answers, then the question will only show as answered once a student has selected that many answers. A. If an item specifies a number of correct answers, then the question will only show as answered once a student has selected that many answers.

18. VELAS April 22, 2013 Writing Prompts Released Writing Prompts Released

19. VELAS April 22, 2013 2010 English Standards of Learning Web Page 2010 English Standards of Learning Web Page

20. VELAS April 22, 2013 Blueprints

21. VELAS April 22, 2013 English SOL Institutes Resources English SOL Institutes Resources

22. VELAS April 22, 2013 Teacher Direct Teacher Direct

23. VELAS April 22, 2013 Contact Information Virginia Department of Education Tracy Fair Robertson English Coordinator Tracy.Robertson@doe.virginia.gov 804-371-7585 Thomas Santangelo Elementary English Specialist Thomas.Santangelo@doe.virginia.gov 804-225-3203 Jackie Kelley English Specialist Jacquelyn.Kelley@doe.virginia.gov 804-786-2484 Assessment Office Student_assessment@doe.virginia.gov 804-225-2102