Governor Glenn Youngkin, Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera, and State Superintendent Emily Anne Gullickson announced improvements in Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) test results for math and reading during the 2024-2025 school year. The announcement was made alongside members of the Virginia Board of Education and the Virginia Department of Education.
This year’s SOL tests required students to demonstrate knowledge retention and application on 30 to 40 percent more content than last year’s assessments. According to officials, this increase in rigor was part of an effort to raise educational standards across the state.
“For the last three and a half years, we have undertaken an effort to transform education in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and to end the era of lowered expectations. This year, we significantly increased the rigor of our tests and expanded the content that students are expected to master. We challenged our students, and they answered the call. Scores in reading and math improved, particularly in the grades we have been targeting as part of our ALL In Virginia campaign,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.
Youngkin added: “Virginia’s students are excellent, and they deserve an education system that meets their excellence and helps them succeed. Today’s results are encouraging. While there remains much work ahead to fully close our ‘honesty gap,’ we see that as we continue on our great path of raising expectations and strengthening standards, Virginia’s amazing kids will continue to grow.”
The administration highlighted its ALL In VA initiative as contributing to these results by focusing on attendance improvement, literacy acceleration, and prioritizing learning for grades 3-8.
“Today’s test results, along with the best-in-nation reduction in chronic absenteeism, are a testament to the power of high expectations,” said Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera. “Virginia now has more rigorous standards, a stronger assessment system that provides more useful information, and a more effective system to support student improvement based on what the data tells us. When we use data as a flashlight to guide improvement, we can help every Virginia student navigate the path towards success.”
State Superintendent Emily Anne Gullickson stated: “The encouraging results we are releasing today are brought to you by Virginia’s dedicated teachers, instructional coaches, school leaders, engaged parents and family members, and, most of all, her outstanding students. From Virginia’s comprehensive policy levers enabling innovation and seat time flexibility, to expanding use of high-quality instructional materials and rethinking use of space and time to work for students, Virginia is moving forward together to get the job done on behalf of these kids.”
During its monthly meeting coinciding with this announcement, the Board received further analysis about efforts aimed at closing what officials refer to as an “honesty gap”—the difference between student scores on national assessments from the National Center for Education Statistics compared with those from state testing.
Officials also discussed tools intended for schools seeking academic improvements or aiming for higher achievement among top-performing students.
Since taking office in early 2022 following COVID-19-related school disruptions across Virginia,the Youngkin Administration has prioritized restoring learning loss through higher standards; parental engagement; transparency around performance; investment in chronic absenteeism reduction; expansion under new frameworks such as Bell-to-Bell Cell Phone-Free Education; support for students with disabilities; increased presence of School Resource Officers; and other safety measures.
More than $418 million was invested statewide through All In VA funding streams supporting attendance initiatives like intensive tutoring programs targeted at pandemic-era learning gaps.A new School Performance and Support Framework is being implemented with aims at providing greater detail about individual school outcomes across various metrics.
Full details about recent SOL performance can be accessed via the Department’s website. Slides from today’s presentation are available here.
