According to data released Tuesday by the Virginia Department of Education.
Large gains in the 2023-2024 Standards of Learning assessments were also seen across the state in pass rates on the written assessment.
At Hampton, the division’s science pass rate increased by 7 percentage points. Newport News had a 4 percentage point increase and Norfolk saw a 3 percentage point improvement. Some divisions last year attributed gains in science scores to more hands-on classroom activities.
Poquoson, York County, and Virginia Beach continue to have the highest science pass rates in the area, at 84%, 80%, and 78%, respectively.
Some divisions also saw major science gains at the individual school level. In Portsmouth, IC Norcom High School had a 20 percentage point increase in science pass rates, Churchland Academy Elementary had a 14 percentage point increase and Cradock Middle School had a 13 percentage point increase.
Maths scores also improved across the board. Norfolk saw a 4 percentage point increase in math scores, and Newport News, Portsmouth and Williamsburg-James City County increased their pass rates by 3 percentage points each.
Divisions across the state and in Hampton Roads also saw big jumps in writing test scores this year. Norfolk and Portsmouth each had a gain of 16 percentage points.
Reading pass rates improved modestly across the board.
Statewide, more than 70% of school divisions showed improvements in reading in grades 3 through 8, and more than 75% made gains in grades 3 through 8 in math.
Passage rates are still lower, in some cases notably so, than before the pandemic. The disruption to schooling caused by the shutdowns and other precautionary measures led to widespread learning loss. Pass rates in reading, math, and science across all area divisions have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Rates began to improve last year. This year, state officials credit some of the gains to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s $418 million “All in VA” plan. The plan focused on addressing learning loss, student achievement and chronic absenteeism using several strategies, including “high-dose learning.”
The state’s chronic shortage, which had increased after the pandemic, saw a 16% decrease, according to the VDOE, with more than four out of five divisions showing improvement in participation. Participation is closely related to achievement. In grades 3 through 8 this year, chronically absent students — defined as those who missed 10% or more of the school year — performed 19 percentage points lower than their peers in reading and 26 percentage points lower in math.
The state is in the final stages of adopting a new school accountability system that will include a school report card aimed at making it easier for parents to understand school performance. The new report cards are expected to factor students’ ability or mastery into 50% to 65% of a school’s overall score, varying by school level. The increase would be 20% to 25%. The first statements are expected to be released next summer.
Below are the pass rates by subject area for the Hampton Roads divisions. Numbers in parentheses are last year’s pass rates for comparison.
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Chesapeake
- Reading: 79% (78%)
- Writing: 78% (72%)
- Mathematics: 78% (77%)
- Science: 74% (74%)
- History: 72% (74%)
Hampton
- Reading: 71% (70%)
- Writing: 75% (62%)
- Mathematics: 74% (72%)
- Science: 74% (67%)
- History: 67% (65%)
Newport News
- Reading: 60% (59%)
- Writing: 56% (53%)
- Mathematics: 59% (56%)
- Science: 57% (53%)
- History: 47% (45%)
Norfolk
- Reading: 61% (61%)
- Writing: 65% (49%)
- Mathematics: 54% (50%)
- Science: 58% (55%)
- History: 50% (50%)
Portsmouth
- Reading: 61% (60%)
- Writing: 61% (45%)
- Mathematics: 56% (53%)
- Science: 54% (52%)
- History: 55% (54%)
Virginia Beach
- Reading: 82% (82%)
- Writing: 81% (73%)
- Mathematics: 78% (77%)
- Science: 78% (77%)
- History: 73% (73%)
Isle of Wight
- Reading: 79% (78%)
- Writing: 82% (70%)
- Mathematics: 80% (77%)
- Science: 71% (67%)
- History: 73% (71%)
Poquoson
- Reading: 85% (87%)
- Writing: 83% (79%)
- Mathematics: 83% (85%)
- Science: 84% (86%)
- History: 83% (81%)
Suffolk
- Reading: 72% (72%)
- Writing: 68% (65%)
- Mathematics: 72% (69%)
- Science: 64% (63%)
- History: 61% (60%)
Williamsburg-James City County
- Reading: 78% (77%)
- Writing: 80% (70%)
- Mathematics: 76% (75%)
- Science: 75% (72%)
- History: 71% (70%)
County of York
- Reading: 87% (87%)
- Writing 87% (77%)
- math 86% (86%)
- Science 80% (81%)
- History 80% (80%)
State
- Reading: 73% (73%)
- Writing: 76% (65%)
- Mathematics: 71% (69%)
- Science: 68% (67%)
- History: 65% (65%)
Nour Habib, nour.habib@virginiamedia.com
Eliza Noe, eliza.noe@virginiamedia.com
Originally published: