Youngkin and Virginia Department of Education Release Report on Virginia’s Achievement Gaps

Governor Glenn Youngkin’s education administration released a report on the heading of Virginia’s education. The release of the report is a major moment for Youngkin, who came to power riding a wave of parental frustration with education.

“Today is a moment in time for all of us to recognize we must change direction,” Youngkin said at the press conference. “We are not serving all of Virginia’s children and we must. We want to be the best in education. We should be the best in education. And the data that was compiled and shared with you today suggests that we have a lot of work to do to be the best.”

The Thursday release included a virtual briefing session between reporters and Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera and the Superintendent of Public Information Jillian Balow, a formal press conference with Youngkin and administration members, and press releases including a lengthy list of statements from various officials supporting the report.

The report highlights the “Honesty Gap” – the difference between performance assessments in state Standards of Learning (SOL) and performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). States often have discrepancies in the two scores and mislead the public about students’ proficiency, according to the report.

The report lists four points illustrating the problem:

According to the 2019 NAEP, only 38 percent of Virginia fourth-grade students were proficient or above in reading, while SOL reading data indicate 75 percent are proficient or advanced.62 percent of Black fourth graders demonstrated proficiency on their SOL reading tests in 2019, while only 19 percent were proficient according to NAEP. 64 percent of Hispanic students demonstrated proficiency on state reading tests, compared to 26 percent on NAEP. 3. 2019 NAEP data also indicate that only 48 percent of Virginia fourth-grade students are proficient or above in math, while 83 percent of Virginia fourth-grade students scored proficient or advanced on SOL math assessments. 4. 71 percent of Black fourth graders scored proficient on their SOL math tests in 2019, while only 26 percent were proficient according to NAEP. 77 percent of Hispanic students demonstrated proficiency on state math tests, compared to 36 percent on NAEP.

The report says that’s part of a lack of transparency driving inflated parental perceptions of student performance…. (Excerpt from the Virginia Star)