ROANOKE, Va. – Virginia students are showing improvement in key subject areas, according to the latest Standards of Learning (SOL) results released Wednesday by the Virginia Department of Education.
Statewide, pass rates went up in reading, math, and science, while writing held steady at 76%, the same as last year. Education leaders say the results show schools continue to recover from pandemic learning loss, with some districts posting their best scores in years.
Danville Public Schools recorded some of the strongest gains.
“In math, our district pass rates increased to 54% from 36% in 2021, 22,” said Olivia McCraw, Director of Assessment and State Reporting for Danville Public Schools. “That’s a nearly 50% growth in four years. And notably, if you compare science to last school year, our science scores improved 15 percentage points just in one year.”
Other local districts also made notable progress. Patrick County ranked among the top ten in Virginia in both reading and science, with 84% pass rates in each subject. Roanoke County landed in the top ten in both reading and math, posting scores of 84% and 85%. Roanoke City did not make the top ten, but the division saw progress across nearly every subject area, particularly in math.
“We always have work to do, but we are proud of the fact that we are moving in the right direction,” Roanoke City Schools Superintendent, Verletta White, told 10 News.
Botetourt County Public Schools also placed in the top ten statewide for both reading and math, with pass rates of 86% and 87%.
In a statement to 10 News, the division said in-part, “We strive for continuous improvement across all content areas through ongoing professional development, teacher collaboration, rigorous daily instruction, and by hiring highly qualified educators. We also celebrate the hard work of our students and their families.”
State leaders say they are continuing efforts to make SOL data more transparent so parents can better understand how their children and schools are performing.
More details on how each district scored can be found here.