Virginia Senate Votes To Scale Back 3rd-Grade SOL Tests

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Senate has passed legislation to scale back Standards of Learning testing for third-graders. Democratic Sen. John Miller's bill would require testing only for math and English SOLs in the third grade. Miller said Tuesday that the change is intended to allow educators to focus on improving third-grade reading scores. Republican Sen. Mark Obenshain of Harrisonburg said something should be done to improve reading performance, but ending the science and history testing is the wrong approach. The Senate voted 33-7 to pass the bill, which now goes to the House of Delegates.