Virginia students’ recovery from the nadir of the pandemic is ongoing and progress continues to be plodding. Results from last year’s Standards of Learning (SOL) tests, released last month, showed modest improvement — and plenty more left to do.
In revealing the latest results, Gov. Glenn Youngkin celebrated students’ gains and said the numbers are “a testament to the capabilities of Virginia students.” While true, it also shows how much work remains — a challenge that must be a point of emphasis for the next governor and an incoming General Assembly.
Public education is arguably the most important function of local and state government. Providing children with an exceptional education readies them for a lifetime of success, and strong public schools help Virginia develop the talented, skills-ready workforce that makes the commonwealth an attractive place for business.
While Virginia is still fortunate that its education system is viewed as one of the nation’s best, test scores suggest achievement has slipped in recent years. Like other states, the commonwealth has wrestled with the effects of pandemic-related school closures, which moved students to virtual learning for months, and faces ample competition for talented educators to work in commonwealth classrooms.
Learning loss from the pandemic had a clear and obvious effect when it comes to standardized testing. The results of the statewide SOL testing in 2021-22 showed a sharp decline in the percentage of Virginia students who could demonstrate aptitude in math and reading. Similarly, results in the National Assessment of Educational Progress plunged, with Virginia students regressing to the national average for the first time since 1994, per the governor’s office.
Those results, released in 2023, prompted Youngkin to launch his “All In VA” initiative, an intensive effort intended to provide additional help to struggling students and reverse declines in standardized testing. The program, backed with $418 million from the legislature, was designed to address persistent learning loss through high-impact tutoring programs and a reduction of chronic absenteeism.
Nearly two years since that effort began, however, results remain elusive.
In SOL testing conducted during the 2024-25 academic year, the percentage of Virginia students who passed reading increased to 71.9% from 71.1%; math rates went to 68.3% from 66.4%; history achievement ticked upward to about 66% from about 65%; and science increased to 71% from 68%. That’s across-the-board improvement, but not by the leaps and bounds officials and the public alike hoped to see.
Locally, results were similarly mixed, with a few bright spots standing out. History proficiency in Portsmouth jumped from 55% to 66%. Science scores in Newport News increased from 57% to 61%. Norfolk students’ math scores increased from 54% to 57%. And Suffolk students improved 4% on the science SOL.
Overall, however, most school districts saw scores remain steady or improve by a point or two. Nearly all continue to lag behind their pre-pandemic achievement rates, though Younkgin noted at his news conference that the SOL tests have been made more difficult to better challenge Virginia students.
The tests are set to change again for the 2026-27 academic year following passage in this year’s legislative session of a bill that will make SOL results 10% of a student’s grade, change the scoring measure to make results easier to understand, and provide additional tests used in previous years for use as study guides.
Given all of this work, it’s disappointing that scores continue to remain flat. But it speaks to the enormity of the challenge Virginia has to extricate itself from the hole created by the pandemic. No one program, even one as ambitious as “All In VA,” was likely going to deliver substantial improvement overnight.
So it will fall to the next governor (and perhaps the next several) to ensure schools have the resources they need and that students falling behind are afforded the extra attention they deserve. Only a sustained commitment to delivering improvement will do, and Virginia cannot afford to stand pat.
