The Virginia Department of Education released new Standards of Learning data today.
The SOL tests measure student math, science, reading, and writing performance.
Prince William County
The results are an improvement for Prince William County Public Schools, the state’s second-largest public schools division. The overall writing score dropped by nine points over the past year, with 70% of students showing mastery of the skill. Reading scores improved by two points, history, and social sciences increased 11 points, and math was up 12 points to 67%.
Economically disadvantaged students showed improvement across the board in all subjects. Those students posted the highest achievement in reading, with 64% of the population showing mastery of the skill.
The scores continue to trail 2019 numbers that showed more than 80% of students in the school division were proficient in science and math, and 79% did well in reading.
The school division has about 90,000 children.
Stafford County
Stafford County Public Schools students are showing a mixed bag for SOL scores. Overall, reading scores are up five points in reading to 73%, writing is down two points to 54%, math up by 11 points to 61%, and science up seven points to 65%.
For economically disadvantaged students, scores for reading were up nine points to 59%, but reading fell from 41% to 39%.
Math scores jumped 14 points to 46%, and science nine points to 46%.
In 2019, Stafford scored 79% in reading, 84% in math, and 82% in science.
The school division has just over 30,000 children.
Manassas
Scores for Manassas City Public Schools students are up. Reading scores improved by 10 points to 57%, history, and social science by 22 points to 56%, math by 22 points to 49%, and science by eight points to 45%.
For economically disadvantaged students, scores were up 10 points to 49% in reading, 25 points to 50% in history, and 23 points to 44% in math.
Writing scores dropped four points to 61%.
The school division has about 7,200 children.
Manassas Park
In Manassas Park, math scores jumped by 13 points to 51%, reading by a point to 60%, and history by nine points to 59%.
Economically disadvantaged students showed gains in math, up 13 points to 45%, in history, up 11 points to 52%, and reading, up by a point to 55%.
The school division has about 3,000 children.
Last year, Virginia’s 132 public school systems returned to in-person learning following a year of government-mandated building closures and online learning. Students across the state continue to struggle with learning following the closures.
“The bottom line is that in-person instruction matters. When we compare the 2021-2022 data with achievement in 2020-2021 — when the majority of our students were learning remotely or on hybrid schedules — we can see the difference our teachers made once they were reunited with their students in their classrooms,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow.
It will take multiple years to help students return to the scores seen before the pandemic, added Balow.
