NORFOLK, Va. — Virginia students have shown progress in SOL scores for the 2024-25 school year across multiple subjects, despite the tests being significantly more challenging.
Governor Glenn Youngkin credited his $418 million "All in Virginia" plan as a key factor in the positive results, highlighting the improvements as evidence that students are recovering from pandemic-related learning losses.
The policy focused on high-intensity tutoring in math and reading, accelerated implementation of the Virginia Literacy Act, and targeted chronic absenteeism.
The 2024-25 Standards of Learning (SOL) test results showed improvements from the previous school year in four of five subject areas:
- Science improved from 68% to 71%
- Reading improved from 73% to 74%
- Math rose from 71% to 72%
- History increased from 65% to 66%
Writing scores remained steady at 76%.
The gains are particularly notable given that Pearson, the company that creates the SOL tests, made them 30% to 40% more difficult under Youngkin's administration.
"We made the tests harder and the students' scores improved. That is a testament to the capabilities of Virginia students. When we set high expectations, the results improve," Youngkin said.
The governor has asked education leaders to evaluate what proficiency really means.
The State Board of Education has started to look at numbers and planning next steps.
This article was researched, reported, and written by a WTKR News 3 journalist. AI was used to minimize typos and ensure style continuity.
