NORFOLK, Va. — This week, the Virginia Department of Education released the statewide results for the Standards of Learning (SOL) pass rates for the last academic school year.
The data shows year-to-year improvements in pass rates for reading, writing, math, and science across the commonwealth. The average passing rates for reading, writing, and math were above 71% respectively. The subject with the lowest passing rating is history at 65%.
Some school divisions like Virginia Beach Public Schools saw improvements in multiple categories. Their superintendent, Dr. Donald Robertson, said the data shows another step in students bouncing back from COVID-19 and remote learning. With no reductions in passing rates, Robertson said the goal this year is to address each student's individual gaps.
"We had increases in three of the five areas, In the two areas where we didn't have an increase, reading we were at 82% pass rate, which was the same thing we had last year and history were 73%, same thing we were last year,” Robertson said. "If you don't close the gaps that you had from the previous year, it's going to be difficult for you to be more successful in the coming year because you missed some critical gaps in areas that don't necessarily fall into the sequential category. "
At least 70% of school divisions showed student improvement in reading and math SOL scores for 3rd through 8th graders year to year. President of the Virginia Educators Association Carol Bauer, said an increase in funding was a big reason for the uptick in scores.
"School divisions were allowed to hire people that they knew they needed. They had the resources for our students and that obviously impacted our students and their ability to do all the tests,” Bauer said.
Virginia Department of Education data shows the Tidewater Region was understaffed for most of last year. Still, school divisions like Williamsburg-James City County, Newport News, and Hampton have shown improvements in math, reading, and writing. Norfolk Public Schools saw a near 20-point increase in writing scores.
Hopeful for the future, Robertson said it’ll take a village to get students back to pre-pandemic learning levels. Bauer says having enough staff this year will likely increase scores next year.
“It's incremental growth and what we need to look at is the overall and we look at the trend is and we see lots of growth. Bauer said. "Positive growth going forward and that's what we want to continually see. You won't necessarily see this beautiful straight linear line.”