Standards of Learning: Third Grade Reading
Like the rest of Virginia, students in the Hampton Roads region take the Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments for the first time in the third grade. Third grade SOL assessments are taken by all students and the scores are reported for all school divisions. They provide the first universal child assessment.
Why is This Important?
Students in the first few years of school must learn the basic skills that will allow higher levels of learning in subsequent years. Emphasis in third grade English is on learning about words, reading age-appropriate text with fluency and expression, learning comprehension strategies, and writing stories and reports. From fourth grade on, students increasingly rely on their reading skills to learn other subjects. Achievement scores at the end of the third grade are good predictors of later school success.
How is Hampton Roads Doing?
Between 2001-02 and 2004-05, third grade reading scores generally improved, with the average pass rate for the Hampton Roads region increasing from 69.8 to 76.8 percent. In 2005-06 Virginia's Department of Education implemented a new test that eliminated the writing component and placed a greater emphasis on reading comprehension. Under the new exam, the pass rate in the Hampton Roads region increased from 83.2 percent in 2005-06 to 86.1 in 2008-09. For Virginia as a whole, the average passage rate increased from 83.9 percent in 2005-06 to 86.8 percent in 2008-09.
In the three years since the exam revisions, the advanced pass rate, which means the students passed 31 of 35 items, dropped from 39.1 percent in 2005-06 to 37.2 percent in 2008-09 for Virginia, and from 37.6 percent to 31.3 percent in the Hampton Roads region.
What Influences SOL Third Grade Reading Assessment Scores?
Third grade SOL assessments are one measure of a child's academic progress at the end of the first four years of school. Quality instruction and remediation of any skill problems detected in the early years will affect a child's performance on the assessment. A child's school readiness for kindergarten and the quality of the child's experiences in kindergarten through grade three will also impact assessment outcomes.
Data Definitions and Sources
Virginia Department of Education
A number of factors limit the comparability of scores across years:
- The test did not change substantially between 1992 and 2004-05, during which time the test consisted of both reading and writing. Beginning in 2005-06, the test consisted only of reading and new standards were created.
- The scores through 2005-06 included students who were permitted to retake the exam while in 4th grade under the program's recovery and remediation program.
- Beginning in 2006-07, many students with disabilities were no longer allowed read-aloud assistance on assessments. (Eligibility for this service dropped from 8,500 to 2,500.)
- In 2006-2007, test administration conditions changed for students who were English language learners.
See the Data Sources and Updates Calendar for a detailed list of the data resources used for indicator measures on Hampton Roads Performs.
