Virginia schools post SOL improvements, but most results still lag pre-pandemic levels

Standardized testing data for Virginia’s public school students released Tuesday shows modest improvements over last year’s results. But performance has not returned to pre-pandemic levels for most subjects that the state tests.

The statewide pass rate for reading Standards of Learning, often referred to as SOLs, was 73%, while math had a pass rate of 71% — both showing slight increases over last year’s pass rates. History and social science held steady this year with a pass rate of 65%, and science saw an increase of nearly 3 percentage points.

[SOL data for 2023-2024 is available on the Virginia Department of Education website.]

“These results show that Virginia students are beginning to recover from the post-pandemic learning loss they suffered after 2020 and 2021,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons said in a statement Tuesday. “But the results also show that we must continue to focus every day on helping them catch up to pre-pandemic levels and move ahead.”

Among Virginia’s 131 public school divisions, 70% saw improvement in reading scores for grades three through eight, and nearly 11% maintained their reading scores. For math SOL scores in grades three through eight, 75% of school divisions saw their students’ scores increase, and about 5% of divisions maintained their math SOL scores.

But in both reading and math, about 20% of divisions saw their scores decrease.

The tests are administered at various points in grades three through eight and during high school to evaluate whether students are meeting the state’s instruction requirements. There’s a statewide focus on improving scores in the younger grades because high school students’ scores have mostly returned to pre-pandemic levels. The pass rate for high school students was 84% for both math and reading for 2023-2024.

Coons and Gov. Glenn Youngkin spoke about the test results Tuesday morning in front of banners emblazoned with “All In VA,” the program launched on the heels of last year’s test results to speed the state’s recovery from pandemic learning loss. That program dedicated $418 million across the state’s school divisions to improve academic achievement in grades three through eight, implement the Virginia Literacy Act and reduce chronic absenteeism.

“Students didn't have the foundation that they needed going into the pandemic,” Youngkin said, blaming the two previous governors — both Democrats — for reducing proficiency standards on state tests . “And sadly, schools were closed for an extended unnecessary period of time. We were 47th in the nation getting our schools back open.”

Those factors combined exacerbated learning loss in the state’s students, he said.

“The ship is turning, and it's exciting to see it happen,” Youngkin said. “What that means is that all of us need to continue to lock arms and support the efforts of intensive tutoring and support the efforts of battling chronic absenteeism.”

In Southwest Virginia, Pulaski County’s SOL performance hasn’t yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, but the school division is celebrating significant progress over last year’s results. Last year, four out of five test subjects had pass rates in the 50% range (out of a possible 100%).

The pass rate for math increased by 11% over last year, and reading increased by nearly 8%. Pass rates increased in all five test subjects.

The division has about 4,300 students.

The 2022-2023 test results arrived shortly after Robert Graham started as superintendent in Pulaski County, after eight years in the top role in neighboring Radford.The results meant that Pulaski County ranked 95 out of 131 school divisions in the commonwealth.

"As a competitive person, that didn't sit very well with me,” Graham said in an interview last week.

Early data from this year’s tests, which students took in the spring, showed improvements strong enough to push Pulaski County into a ranking close to No. 50.

The division spent much of its All In funding on tutoring during the school day, including Stride, a virtual small-group tutoring platform for math and reading. Graham said the schools also instituted quarterly benchmarks to track student performance throughout the year and determine who needed additional support.

Part of the challenge of raising test scores for many school divisions is making sure students are attending school consistently.

In Buena Vista City Public Schools, more than 26% of students were chronically absent in 2022-2023, meaning they missed more than about 18 days of school. The division has about 850 students.

Superintendent Tony Francis said Tuesday that the chronic absenteeism rate has dropped to below 10%. “If we get students to school and we can work with them, and we can progress them and build some of those skills they may be lacking,” Francis said.

Statewide, chronic absenteeism dropped from 19% in 2022-2023 to 16% in 2023-2024. In her remarks Tuesday, Coons pointed out that students who attend at least 90% of school days have significantly higher SOL scores than their peers who are absent more often.

Buena Vista’s All In funding to improve attendance has gone toward hiring two attendance coordinators, one each at the elementary and secondary levels. Along with tutoring during the school day, the division has also offered before- and after-school tutoring, which has allowed students to make up some instructional time they might have missed due to being absent.

This year’s reading pass rate for Buena Vista surpassed its 2018-2019 level. The only subject that saw a drop from last year’s results was the writing test, which saw a 5% decrease in its pass rate.

“We’re happy we’ve seen some growth,” Francis said. “It’s due to the hard work of our students and our staff and administrators. The funding certainly has helped, and we hope to continue to see those gains this year.”

Pulaski County is also working to reduce its chronic absenteeism, which was at 26% in 2022-2023. Along with employing a chronic attendance specialist to focus on family engagement and promoting the importance of attending school each day, the division is offering a new incentive: Students who maintain certain attendance and grade levels can receive a free or discounted membership to the YMCA of Pulaski County, starting after the first-quarter grading period. “We’re very excited about that, and seeing how it’s going to work,” Graham said.

Graham called his first year at Pulaski schools “wonderful,” but said, “It wasn’t because we were lucky.” He said the dedication of both the students and staff, along with support from throughout the county, all play a part in the schools’ success.

The start of the new school year this month included giving new “Cougar Pride” T-shirts to staff. On the back, a paw print is lifted by a bunch of balloons. “95 no more!” is written below it, along with the hashtag “PCPSontherise.”

His next goal, Graham said, is for Pulaski County’s SOL performance to be in the top 25 in Virginia.

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