Virginia's K-12 SOL test score improve, but still not back to pre-pandemic marks

Virginia's public school students showed marginal improvement on their annual Standards of Learning test scores , but made huge strides in lowering chronic absenteeism, a key factor in school performance.

Why it matters: SOL test scores still lag behind pre-pandemic levels but they've improved every year for the last four years.

The big picture: Virginia students saw some of the steepest drops in the nation on reading and math test scores post-pandemic.

• In fourth grade math, for instance, the state went from having the second-highest average scores in the country in 2019 to being tied for 20th for the 2021-22 school year.
• In fourth grade reading, the state dropped from 7th highest to 33rd in 2021-22.
• Scores have ticked up slightly since then, including for the 2023-24 school year, but the results show Virginia students still have more work to do, Gov. Youngkin said when announcing the scores this week .

By the numbers: For the last school year, 75% of the state's 129 school divisions showed improvement in grades 3-8 math scores.

• 70% of divisions improved in grades 3-8 reading scores.
• Across the board, all grade levels saw pass rate improvements, with 72.9% of students passing the reading SOLs, up from 72.5% the previous year, and 70.9% passing the math test, up from 69.1%, per the Washington Post .

Yes, but: Those scores are still down from the 2018-2019 school year when 77% of Virginia SOL takers passed the reading test and 82% passed math.

Zoom in: Locally, Richmond public school students were better in every subject — including reaching a 50% reading pass rate and 47% pass rate for math — but the division continues to lag behind its suburban neighbors, the Times-Dispatch reports .

• Henrico students had a 69% pass rate in reading and 66% for math for the last school year.
• Chesterfield posted a 71% reading pass rate and 68% for math.
• And Hanover kids blew everyone out of the regional water with an 80% reading pass rate and 83% for math.

Youngkin credited state educators for their work on his " All in VA " pandemic learning loss recovery initiative, which included a "high-intensity tutoring program for the performance improvements.

Zoom out: Virginia's biggest turnaround in school performance may well be its reduction in chronic absenteeism , which fell to 16.1% for the 2023-24 year, down from 19.3% the year before.

• Chronic absenteeism is when students miss 10% or more of the school year, and in Virginia that 16.1% translated into 40,974 fewer students skipping out of school on the regular.
• Virginia's rate was 10.6% before COVID.
• Students who show up to school 90% of the time or less typically score 19 percentage points lower on tests than their peers, per the Virginia Department of Education .

What we're watching: Whether the coming-soon school day cell phone restrictions can help Virginia's students on their continued improvement.

Go deeper and explore all the test scores