Roanoke SOL Pass Rates drop in some areas, increase in others

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ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - Roanoke City Schools made changes for the upcoming school year after receiving the SOL test results. Roanoke City Schools saw SOL pass rates drop in Writing, History and Social Sciences and Science. Meanwhile, scores increased by one point in Reading and Math.

Superintendent Dr. Rita Bishop says the scores are not a surprise.  She said there were not effective teaching coaches at a couple of schools, so they have since made changes.  New this school year, the middle schools have now have one reading and one writing coach.  Elementary schools now have three reading coaches, up from just one in the 2015-2016 school year. The coaches are central office staff who will coach teachers and other reading and writing specialists at each school.

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"We always know why and then the question is what can we do better, what kind of support can we give a school or a group of teachers and it's that knowing why," said Dr. Bishop.

Also new this year, a pacing guide for 6-8 grades.  This school year all 8th to 10th graders will have laptops after Roanoke City started a laptop program two years ago. They plan to expand the program again in 2017-2018 so all 8-11th graders will have a laptop.

Data from the Virginia Department of Education:

Division NameTest2013-142014-152015-162013-14 Adv2014-15 Adv2015-16 Adv
Roanoke CityGr 3 English Reading677473152016
Roanoke CityGr 4 English Reading657074151415
Roanoke CityGr 5 English Reading697675152218
Roanoke CityGr 6 English Reading666971171315
Roanoke CityGr 7 English Reading657073111512
Roanoke CityGr 8 English Reading6264658710
Roanoke CityEOC English Reading798176565
Roanoke CityGr 5 Writing6618
Roanoke CityGr 8 Writing556560151614
Roanoke CityEOC Writing697973112120

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You can see Jenna weekday mornings at the anchor desk on WSLS 10 Today from 5-7 a.m. She also leads our monthly Solutionaries Series, where we highlight the creative thinkers and doers working to make the world a better place.