As the school year winds down, state testing has circulated back once again, sparking controversy about whether the state of Virginia should mandate state testing for students. Although state testing has its disadvantages and isn’t the most ideal way of collecting data, it’s essential that the state of Virginia maintains the requirement for students to take the Virginia SOL test. 

The Standards of Learning test (SOLs) are a set of assessments for the subjects English, history, math, and science that test your knowledge of the course you took that school year. The end-of-the-year SOL test is given to students 3-11, with different grades being tested on different subjects each year. When students reach high school, they must pass all four subject SOL tests in order to graduate. Although the SOL tests do not impact students’ grades, they are still required to pass the test and get a good score.

State testing has sparked concerns among students, teachers, and parents who feel that students should not be required to take standardized tests, as they are unnecessary. Standardized tests show limited information on a student’s abilities and don’t define a student’s “intelligence.” Junior Alaina Pham also feels that standardized tests don’t provide the best amount of information about a student’s abilities. “Standardized tests don’t define a person’s smartness because it depends on what set of questions you get, or if you’re better on one topic or another- so it’s based mainly on luck,” Pham said.

While state testing is often considered redundant and excessive, it serves as a reliable indicator to measure how well teachers are teaching their students and how each school does in terms of standardized testing. SOLs can allow teachers to change up their curriculum based on test results in a subject, give teachers more training on a specific topic, and compare districts in a state to show how different one school’s test scores are from another. All of these changes can further help students grow their test scores and absorb more information.

Even though standardized tests don’t define a student’s brilliance, they can help school districts understand what needs to be changed in the curriculum and make sure teachers are instructing proficiently so that students can progress effectively. Junior Soliyana Ashenafi strongly believes that standardized testing can help identify learning difficulties among students. “The SOLs that we take each year allow schools to identify school districts, schools, and students who require more attention to be able to alter their curriculum to match their students’ academic needs,” Ashenafi said.

The SOL test continues to be a controversy amongst many, sparking conversation that state testing should not continue to be a thing or a requirement for students. Standardized testing should continue to be given to our students to help them succeed and show more growth in and out of the classroom. The SOL test isn’t intimidating or unnecessary, it’s beneficial.

While state testing might appear to be an inconvenience and stressful on students, it is very important for the future of student education and learning, so that they can learn in the best ways possible.