The Virginia Department of Education is unveiling new reading, writing and science SOL tests this school year.

Among the changes in the reading and writing exams, the test components will be rearranged – with more stand-alone reading and writing items found throughout the exam as opposed to just at the end.  Additionally, there will be new technology-enhanced items (TEIs) as well as new assignments for students tasked with writing a short paper.

For the science SOLs, the new chemistry test will use the new Periodic Table of Elements.

In all three sets of tests, emphasis words, such as “most,” “best” and “main” will no longer be set apart by being italicized or capitalized in the question.

To help prepare for these changes, teachers have access to new blueprints that have been developed for use with the new SOL. To access these blueprints, visit www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/science  or www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english.