68% of Virginians either do not believe or are not sure that the SOLs have improved the quality of public education. 

This comes from a recent Mason-Dixon poll.  See the whole story at http://www.mason-dixon.com/news_text.cfm?news_id=241

"However, The Times-Dispatch Poll reveals that a plurality -- 44 percent -- do not believe the Standards of Learning, the state's education-accountability program for elementary and secondary school students, have improved the quality of public education.

Thirty-two percent say the SOL tests, established during the Allen governorship from 1994 to 1998, have boosted schools. Twenty-four percent are not sure. "