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Preliminary SOL numbers show local improvement

    (Richmond) — Danville schools are reporting across-the-board improvements in the latest Standards of Learning tests, but the numbers remain below the state average.  

    The Virginia Department of Education Tuesday released preliminary 23-24 SOL scores from Virginia school districts. School Superintendent Doctor Angela Hairston says their pass rates increased on all five of the SOL tests. Writing and math pass rates were up double-digits over a year ago.

    “While we still have work to do, we are proud of the gains we have been able to make, especially because we are seeing numbers we haven’t seen in several years,” Hairston said.

    Among individual schools, Galileo Magnet High School scored above the state average on all five tests. Forest Hills topped the state in three of their four tests. Some individual schools had sharp increases on tests.  GW’s reading pass rates went up nearly ten percent—their math pass rates doubled from 34% from 68%. Bonner Middle School had a ten-percent rise in reading pass rate to 58% from 48% and they were up 20% in their math pass rate. Westwood students’ science scores are also up 20% over last year.

    Hairston also reports students in the new Activ8 STEM Academy had a 90-plus percent pass rate. 

    “Our schools have been working incredibly hard in previous years to increase student achievement,” School Board Chair Ty’Quan Graves said. “We are excited to see that our schools are improving and excelling.”

Meantime, in Pittsylvania County, the latest SOL scores were mostly on par with a year ago, but all of them remain well above the state average. Pass rates on all five tests were within a percentage point of the prior year.  The one exception is an 11% increase on the writing test. 

Gretna, Union Hall and Southside Elementary each had an 80% pass rate on all four tests. Stony Mill barely missed that threshold with a 79% pass rate on one test. Hurt Elementary almost had a 90%-plus pass rate on all four tests—they had 89% on one of them. Tunstall had the best scores among the county’s four high schools, eclipsing 80% on all five tests. 

    The Virginia Department of Education is expected to update division School Quality Profiles, including accreditation ratings and on-time graduation rates by the end of September.

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