Va. Test Scores Climb, But More Schools Miss Targets

By Nick Anderson, Emma Brown

Thursday, August 13, 2009

More Virginia schools fell short of academic benchmarks in the past school year even though passing rates on state reading and math tests continued to climb, according to results made public Thursday morning.

The data show that 525 schools, or 28 percent of the statewide total, failed to make adequate progress under federal education law in the 2008-09 school year. In the previous year, 479 schools -- or 26 percent -- fell short.

At the same time, the percentage of students who met or exceeded the state standard for proficiency in reading and math rose in the annual spring tests. Eighty-nine percent passed Virginia's Standards of Learning English reading tests, up from 87 percent the year before. And 86 percent passed the SOL math tests, up from 84 percent the year before.

In Northern Virginia's major school systems, data from the Virginia Department of Education show, pass rates this year edged upward or held steady in both subjects.

In Loudoun and Fairfax counties, 93 percent passed in reading and 90 percent in math. In Prince William and Arlington counties, 90 percent passed in reading; the rates for math were 86 percent in Arlington and 87 percent in Prince William. In Alexandria, 85 percent passed in reading and 76 percent in math.

The share of Fairfax schools making adequate progress rose to 81 percent from 74 percent. But elsewhere in the region, it fell. The drop in Arlington was notable: 70 percent of the county's schools made adequate progress in 2008 and 57 percent in 2009.

The disconnect between the rising student scores and the falling school ratings stems from a federally mandated goal that many experts call unattainable: universal student proficiency.

Under the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law, public schools must give annual reading and math tests in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. And they must show progress toward a goal of all students passing those tests by 2014, with target pass rates rising steadily over time.

As a result, schools that make the grade one year might fall short the next even if they have identical or slightly better test results.

In an effort to close achievement gaps, the law also requires progress among groups such as racial and ethnic minority students, students with disabilities and those with limited English skills.

For school officials, the stakes are high. Failing to make adequate yearly progress is a public relations blow. And schools that receive federal poverty aid and fail to make adequate progress two or more years in a row can face an escalating series of interventions, ranging from allowing student transfers from one school to another to a broader shakeup of school management.

States are allowed to design their own tests and set their own passing scores. That means standards vary widely from coast to coast.

Virginia officials say their schools on the whole are thriving and meeting tough academic standards.

"Student achievement -- especially among minority students -- increased overall and in critical areas such as early reading and middle school mathematics," Patricia I. Wright, superintendent of public instruction, said in a statement. "This continued progress reflects improvements in teaching and learning in formerly low-performing schools and a data-driven, student-by-student approach to raising achievement."

Academic gains in Virginia have not been limited to state test results.

On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federally funded test given periodically to samples of students, Virginia's public school score has risen significantly in fourth-grade reading since the late 1990s -- up from 217 on a 500-point scale in 1998 to 227 in 2007. In math, marks rose on the fourth-grade test from 230 in 2000 to 244 in 2007, and on the eighth-grade test from 275 in 2000 to 288 in 2007.

Virginia's eighth-grade reading score on the federal test, however, has stagnated: It was 266 in 1998 and 267 in 2007.

Experts often compare trends on state tests with federal test results to gauge the rigor of state standards. President Obama said last month in an interview with The Washington Post that many school districts "actually water down state standards in order to appear like they were meeting them."

Tagged: elementary schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, high schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, middle schools, schools

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