Parent Rights
Loudoun County Public Schools is committed to providing ethical, accurate, and compliant test administration that supports learning for all students. Parents and guardians are an important part of the process and should be informed of the process and purpose.
Parents wishing to refuse one or more assessments should contact their student's school to request a link to the refusal form.
What Parents Should Know Before Refusing a Test
A parent should consider the following important points before deciding to refuse any test:
Certain tests are used to help a school identify appropriate placement for the student in advanced academic, enrichment, intervention, and other programs. If your child does not test, his or her appropriate placement could be delayed.
If a child does not test, the school will not have academic data from the assessment to inform plans for the child's classroom instruction.
When children do not test, the school does not gain a clear reflection of how it is meeting the instructional needs of its students as a whole.
If a student is enrolled in a high school level course that has an accompanying SOL test and does not test, they will not earn a verified credit which may be needed to earn a diploma. Parental concerns about this impact should be addressed to your child's School Counselor.
Students who do not take a grade level SOL test may still be promoted to the next grade, move on to the next sequential course, and will not experience an impact on their course grade.
Federal and State Mandated Assessments LCPS must annually administer:
As required in Section 1111 (b) (7) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), school divisions must annually assess the English language proficiency of all English learner (EL) students K-12. The Virginia Board of Education selected the WIDA Consortium’s Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners (ACCESS for ELLs®) test in 2007 as the state-approved English language proficiency (ELP) assessment. In Spring 2013, the Alternate ACCESS for ELLs® test became the state-approved ELP assessment for EL students who have significant cognitive disabilities.
School divisions are required to identify gifted K-12 students and provide instructional services to meet their needs. The Virginia Board of Education adopted the Regulations Governing Educational Services for Gifted Students, which outline the requirements that school divisions need to include in their local plan for gifted education. Each school board approves a comprehensive plan for the education of gifted students that includes the components identified by the regulations. In addition, school divisions are required to submit a copy of their approved plan at the time of the VDOE’s request for a technical review.
Virginia Board of Education's Regulations Establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia are designed to ensure that an effective educational program is established and maintained in Virginia's public schools.