by Madison White Franks
KILMARNOCK—Lancaster Middle School eighth-grade students took their first round of Standards of Learning tests for the 2016-17 school year in January and had much to celebrate, according to middle school principal Jessica Davis.
The Standards of Learning (SOL) is a public school standardized testing program in Virginia that sets expectations for learning and achievement for core subjects.
“We had multiple kids who passed an SOL test for the very first time ever and many who had achieved their highest score ever. These moments can change a kid’s entire outlook on their education,” said Davis.
The eighth-graders achieved a pass rate in both civics and economics, and science, showing much improvement from last year.
The overall pass rate for civics and economics is 91%, up 44% from this time last year and the overall pass rate for science is 75%, up 21% from this time last year, she said.
Davis indicated the pass rate for the state for both subjects is 70%.
“These kids really motivated each other, cheered each other on and worked hard for these results. Seeing how excited and emotional some of them were over their success was by far one of the most memorable moments of all the years I have been in education,” said Davis.
“They proved to themselves that they can reach any goal by putting forth their best effort and believing in themselves. We have such amazing kids at this school; we are so proud of each and every one of them,” she said.
“We are very excited about the preliminary results of the fall testing, especially at LMS. This is a testament to the hard work by our students, parents, community volunteers and staff, and we are confident that these successes will continue, said school superintendent Steve Parker.
“It is really rewarding to see students not only celebrating their own achievements, but encouraging one another to do their best. This is truly a team effort,”said Parker. “This also helps us to validate the corrective action plan that we’ve developed and implemented as part of the school improvement process.”
Davis will report on the SOL scores at the February 9 and February 14 school board meetings.
