Abstract:
This study examined teachers' interpretations of Virginia's high school exit exam policy through the teachers' responses to a survey. The survey was administered to teachers from one school district in Northern Virginia. The teachers selected for the survey taught a subject in which students must pass a Standards of Learning (SOL) test in order to receive a high school diploma. The purpose of the study was to better understand how teachers interpret their students' performance on SOL tests related to college readiness, as well as to better understand how teachers thought their students interpret their own performance on SOL tests related to their college readiness. The study findings show that only 34% of survey respondents said they interpret an advanced score on the SOL test in the subject they teach to mean a student is prepared for college. However, 52% of the responding teachers said that they think their students interpret an advanced SOL test score to mean they are prepared for college. Implications of these findings for both policy and practice are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.
