Fairfax County Public School officials want to unwind selective data reporting the Aug. 20 Virginia Department of Education press event, “The Release of Virginia’s Annual Assessment of Student Performance, with a review of the 2024 Annual Standards of Learning Assessment Rates. 

After the event, headlines such as these appeared online: Fairfax Co. Students See Major Drop in Test Scores, Fairfax School system saw declines in history and English writing, Fairfax County’s public schools are failing their most vulnerable students, and others. 

On Aug. 23, Dr. Michelle C. Reid, division superintendent of FCPS, wrote a letter to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera and Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Lisa Coons. Reid said, “Early this week, the VDOE released this state-wide data [Annual Assessment of Student Performance] to schools after hosting a press event where the achievements of large school systems like Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) were not recognized.” 

“This selective data reporting by Virginia’s leadership is a disservice to students, teachers, and taxpayers.”

– Melanie Meren

On Aug. 30, Fairfax County School Board member Melanie Meren wrote in her weekly online newsletter, “Governor Youngkin and his education administration of the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) were silent about the achievements of the majority of FCPS students … during a media conference … . [This led to some] media misrepresent[ing] FCPS students' achievement on outdated SOLs in writing (110 students) and history/social sciences (474 students) – while tens of thousands of students took VDOE-approved alternative assessments and continued to perform extraordinarily well … . This selective data reporting by Virginia’s leadership is a disservice to students, teachers, and taxpayers.”

According to FCPS online, the Virginia Assessment Program is commonly known as the SOLs or Standards of Learning. The tests measure student learning and achievement in math, reading, science, writing, and history/social science. Under Virginia law, the tests are administered to students in grades 3-8 and 9-12 for state and federal accountability. All students in grades 3-8 are expected to participate in SOL tests, and all schools must offer SOL tests to all students who need to fulfill federal or graduation requirements. 

That is unless the students meet specific state criteria, such as students with disabilities eligible to participate in the Virginia Alternate Assessment Program (VAAP).

Reid noted in her letter that in 2021, VDOE granted FCPS a School Division of Innovation (SDI). Students can demonstrate mastery using a variety of state-approved alternative assessments, including Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams. The flexibility ensures FCPS students engage in rigorous assessments with higher performance standards than the SOLs. 

Reid countered that VDOE’s writing SOL assesses the outdated 2010 writing standards. “FCPS has also elected to embrace VDOE flexibility in history/social sciences to offer more authentic assessment experiences for our students, aligned with their classroom learning,” Reid said. She added that more than 18,000 FCPS students took VDOE-approved alternative assessments and continued to perform extraordinarily well, as indicated in the chart she provided within the letter. 

”By omitting the tens of thousands of students who performed exceedingly well on VDOE-approved alternative assessments and publishing only the fraction of students who took SOLs, the hard work of our students and staff is not recognized,” Reid said. “To be clear, FCPS, which is Virginia's largest school division, continues to outperform state averages in all state-mandated SOL subjects.” Reid included a table that details FCPS results in reading, math, and science.

THE VDOE PRESS event featured three speakers. The first was Emily Ann Gullickson, the Deputy Secretary of Education. She recognized key education champions. 

Gov. Youngkin followed, and he described public education in Virginia. He reviewed that over the last eight years, there has been a systemic reduction in the number of questions required to get right to determine proficiency on the standard tests, leading to an “honesty gap.” That is where students performed better on Virginia tests than on national assessments. 

According to Youngkin, Virginia has experienced 40 percent increases in K-12 budgets since 2021, a 12 percent increase in teacher pay over the first two years with two subsequent 3 percent increases, the launch of the $418 million "ALL In Virginia" initiative in response to learning loss from the pandemic, a 16 percent reduction in chronic absenteeism and improvements in reading and math scores. 

Coons spoke next and provided data analysis of the assessment. She showcased very small school districts that experienced educational and school attendance gains, explained how Virginia's student learning loss persisted last September, and the need for intensive tutoring. 

”We know that our smaller divisions are showing improvements faster,” Coons said, calling attention to economically disadvantaged students. “We are seeing double rates of growth.” 

Coons highlighted a handful of small school divisions, such as Bath County, [student population 504] “that leaned into the work … creating intervention with tiered supports that supported their most vulnerable learners … and used their ‘All In’ funds to expand the tutors.” Brunswick County [student population 1,419] hired instructional coaches to train teachers and hired more tutors. The Colonial Beach district [student population 580] provided early intervention for students who were off track, did home visits to create attendance plans and redesigned transportation to provide double bus routes. 

“These case studies show the effort and hard work of our leading school divisions,” said Coons. None of the smaller divisions Coons discussed come close to the 181,000+ students Fairfax County Public Schools serves as the largest division in the Commonwealth.

Youngkin closed the event, saying, “We are making progress… The reality is that when the foundations aren't in place, recovery is hard … Sometimes, the smaller school divisions are more nimble and can move more quickly.”

A VDOE spokesperson stated, “School divisions may offer students the opportunity to complete Board-approved substitute tests rather than the SOL Writing test to meet this state testing requirement. This is a local decision left up to each school division. However, per U.S. Department of Education requirements, the substitute test results are not reflected in the SOL results that were released. Most Board-approved substitute test results are included in the state’s Accreditation results, which will be released in September.”

There are likely more opportunities for selective data reporting ahead. Meren brought forward a second concern in her newsletter: “The Governor’s appointed State Board of Education voted Wednesday (8/28) to change the established standards that measure school and student performance at unprecedented rapid speed and without dedicated funding resources for this major transition. The changes reposition how local schools will educate students, reverting instruction back to the defunct practice of using high-stakes, standardized testing as the measure of student learning.” 

Meren said options are limited in counteracting the change and urged the public to contact their elected officials.