SOL Results Released For 2018-19: How Fairfax County Did

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Standards of Learning (SOL) test results released on Tuesday show Fairfax County Public Schools with high overall results but continuing achievement gaps. The SOL results were impacted by changes in standards and testing practices.

FCPS saw improvements in math results and slight declines in history, reading and writing. Science results stayed relatively unchanged. Here's the breakdown of results for 2018-2019 compared to last year's results:

Achievement gaps continue to exist between racial groups. For instance, 90.34 percent of white students and 89.42 percent of Asian students passed reading while 71.52 percent of black students and 60.50 percent of Hispanic students passed. Similarly 92.64 percent of white students and 94.77 percent of Asian students passed math, 75.51 percent of black students passed and 71.43 percent of Hispanic students passed. Based on FCPS data, 38.5 percent of the student population is white, 25.9 percent is Hispanic, 19.6 percent is Asian and 10 percent is black.

The same trend can be observed for disadvantaged students, which make up about 31 percent of the student population. Among disadvantaged students, 59.24 percent passed reading compared to 89.86 percent of non-disadvantaged students. For math, 71.07 percent of disadvantaged students and 92.19 percent of non-disadvantaged students passed.

FCPS performance overall outpaced the statewide averages by subject level. In all Virginia schools, 78 percent of students passed reading, 76 percent passed writing, 82 percent passed math, 81 percent passed science and 80 percent passed history.

"We are pleased that our students continue to perform well on the SOLs, although standardized tests are just one way we have of assessing student progress," said Fairfax County School Board Chair Karen Corbett Sanders in a statement. "We continue to be concerned about persistent achievement gaps. The School Board is focused on addressing these issues through increased supports and interventions."

The state introduced changes in testing practices and standards approved by the Virginia Board of Education for the 2018-2019 school year. The revisions reduced the number of SOL tests high school students must pass to graduate. Students who met the testing requirement in a subject area do not need to take the subject test again unless the school needs extra testing to meet federal requirements. Students also took new math SOL tests with revisions to state math standards.

To see full results by district or school level, visit the Virginia Department of Education website and click on SOL Test Results.