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RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) on Thursday announced steps — including an “intensive” tutoring program — to help improve academic performance as newly released test scores showed students are still struggling to recover in reading and math after pandemic school closures.
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The plan also includes expanding the Virginia Literacy Act to hire and train reading specialists for grades four through eight, and launching a task force focused on reducing chronic absenteeism.
Results from the state’s Standards of Learning, or SOLs, released Thursday showed that about 73 percent of students statewide passed the reading exam and 69 percent of students statewide passed the math exam. This year’s scores remain consistent with last year’s performance where 73 percent of students passed the reading SOLs and 66 percent passed the math tests.
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“That learning loss is incredibly hard to recover,” Youngkin said at a news conference in Richmond. “Our youngest students, the third-through-eighth-graders, who never had the opportunity to truly learn the foundations, those building blocks for the rest of life — they do not rebound at the flip of a switch.”
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The yearly examinations assess students in subjects like reading, math, history, writing and science. Local school districts and state officials use the tests to determine school accreditation, gauge teachers’ effectiveness and assess students’ academic progress.
In the announcement on Thursday, education officials also focused on chronic absenteeism, which is defined as missing at least 18 days in a school year. The data showed that students who were chronically absent scored 18 percent lower in reading and 25 percent lower in math than students with regular attendance. The Virginia Department of Education said the number of chronically absent students doubled in 2022-2023 compared to the 2018-2019 school year.
“The impact of that on a student’s ability to achieve is not too hard to understand. You’re not in the classroom. You’re not going to learn it,” Youngkin said.
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Education officials again blamed the stagnant results on previous administrations and school closures during the pandemic. Youngkin made a similar argument last year when test scores began to show signs of recovery but were still far from pre-pandemic levels. At the time, he pledged to address disparities in performance, but this year’s results show little progress.
“For the second year in a row, rather than take accountability for his administration’s failures, Governor Youngkin continues to blame languishing SOL scores on anyone but himself,” Virginia Education Association President James J. Fedderman said in a statement. “The governor came into office promising to transform public education, but after two years all he has to show is a string of bungled proposals, administrative scandals, a proposed budget with cuts to K-12 spending in the second year, and stagnating test results.”
The governor’s approach, coined the “ALL IN VA” plan, outlined a three-step approach that will use $418 million for learning loss recovery approved in the budget by the Virginia General Assembly this week. The plan recommends school districts allocate 70 percent of the funding for “high-dose” tutoring, 20 percent to expand the Virginia Literacy Act and 10 percent for chronic absenteeism response.
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In the “high-dosage” tutoring plan, students who failed or received low scores will receive three to five hours of aid per week, according to a press release about the plan. Students who achieved a “low proficient” score on their 2023 SOL should receive that tutoring for 18 weeks. And students who were not proficient will receive tutoring for up to 36 weeks. Youngkin challenged school districts to launch their tutoring programs by Oct. 16.
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Many school districts around the country have invested in opt-in online tutoring programs for pandemic recovery, but experts say the “high-impact” form, while more difficult to organize and fund, has a much higher impact on students who need the most help.
VEA, the state’s teacher union, further criticized the governor’s plan for recovery, saying it is exceptionally difficult to find staff for intensive tutoring and reading instruction.
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The release of the test results 0n Thursday comes after a weeks-long delay. It marks the first time the results, which were initially scheduled to be released in mid-August, have been announced in September since the early 2000s.
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In a memo sent to school districts in May, Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons had targeted Aug. 17 to release the results. Then, in a newsletter sent on Aug. 17, the department said that it would not yet share the annual pass rates. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on preliminary data that was posted and then taken down by Richmond Public Schools.
Virginia Department of Education Chief of Staff Jeremy Raley said in an email Thursday evening that the department released the scores after all school divisions had a chance to review their data, ensure its accuracy and complete all appeals.
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When asked at the news conference why the governor waited to launch his “playbook” for recovery until this year, Youngkin said he didn’t know the pandemic would have this lasting effect.
“Now we’re seeing that, in fact, the impact of schools being shut is far, far more persistent than we could have imagined,” he said.
“We’re two years into his term; the buck stops with the governor, right?” said Del. Schuyler T. VanValkenburg (D-Henrico), a public school teacher. VanValkenburg noted that Youngkin’s budget proposal funded reading specialists only through elementary school — something the House and Senate extended through middle school in the budget adopted Wednesday.
“If they weren’t so busy tilting at culture war windmills all the time and they were focused on actual governance, we would have made some progress on this issue,” he said. “They spent a year of Department of Education manpower trying to write right-wing, ideological history standards and dropping the ball on a lot of other things.”
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The results this year continue to show socio-economic performance gaps. Black and Hispanic students showed slight growth but continued to pass their tests at lower rates than their White peers. About 53 percent of Black students and 56 percent of Hispanic students passed the math assessment, while 59 percent of Black students and 58 percent of Hispanic students passed reading.
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In Northern Virginia, Fairfax County Public Schools put out a news release stating that scores had remained steady from the year before and would be used as a baseline to measure growth over the next seven years.
Alexandria City Public Schools said in a news release that the school district saw slight increases in mathematics, science, writing and history and a consistent pass rate in reading, compared with last year.
“We are pleased to see that our SOL pass rates are moving in the right direction in ACPS, especially with increases in Math and Science, two areas that were highly impacted by the pandemic and have been a priority in our learning recovery initiatives,” said Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt. “We know there is still much work to be done as we continue to implement best instructional practices as we accelerate learning and focus on our students’ social, emotional and academic learning.”
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Loudoun County Public Schools had among the highest pass rates in Northern Virginia, with 80 percent of students passing the reading tests and 76 percent passing math. Arlington County similarly had 78 percent of students pass both math and reading.
“While we still have work to do on behalf of our students and families, we have a lot to be proud of in LCPS,” Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Aaron Spence said in a release.
Laura Vozzella contributed to this report.
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