Guest Blog: Breaking Down RPS’s SOL Scores

by Thad Williamson

Understanding 2021-22 RPS SOL Results in Context

The 2021-22 SOL results were released by the Virginia Department of Education on Thursday. 

Not surprisingly, they showed sharp across the board declines for all students. This is a predictable result of the pandemic, including most instruction ceasing over the last three months of the 2019-20 school year and remote learning in 2020-21. Richmond City school buildings remained largely closed between March 2020 and September 2021, open only for exceptional education in Spring 21 and summer school in Summer 21. Remote learning tended to exacerbate existing inequities as some Richmond students lacked reliable internet access, desks, and quiet working space. It is not surprising that there was a large learning loss during the pandemic and that this loss is correlated with race, English learner status, and economic disadvantage.

The SOL results for 2021-22 show steep declines for RPS students relative to 2018-19. These are obviously concerning. At a surface level, it also seems that RPS student performance declined even faster than the statewide average. For instance, for all RPS students, the pass rate on reading declined 9% between 2018-19 and 2021-22 (56% to 47%), compared to 5% for all students statewide over the same time period (78% to 73%). 

A closer look shows that this aggregate result is mostly a byproduct of the fact that Richmond city schools have a majority of students in one or more groups disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. In fact, within two major categories of students—Black and Economically Disadvantaged students—declines in SOL performance were smaller for RPS students than they were statewide.

For instance, for Black students statewide, pass rates on the Writing test fell from 61% to 47%, a 14% drop; for Black students in RPS, the pass rates fell from 42% to 33%, a 9% drop. For Black students, in 3 of 5 subject areas (writing, math, and social science), test results declined less between 2018-19 and 2021-22 than they did for Black students statewide. The decline was the same for reading, and larger for science.

For economically disadvantaged students, similar results obtain. In reading, writing and math, pass rates for economically disadvantaged students in RPS declined less between 2018-19 and 2021-22 than they did for economically disadvantaged students statewide. The rate of decline for RPS economically disadvantaged students was slightly higher (1%) on social science and significantly higher on science (8%). 

English Learner students show a mixed picture. In three of five subject areas (reading, social science and science), RPS EL performance declined faster between 2018-19 and 2021-22 students than for EL students statewide, although the differences are small. The decline in writing for RPS EL students matched EL students statewide, and was slightly smaller for math.

The most discouraging set of results are for RPS Latino students. Test results declined significantly faster between 2018-19 and 2021-22 for Latino students in RPS than for Latino students statewide in four of five subjects (all but math), with gaps ranging from 7% to 12%. Those results lend further support to the recent community demand for a Commission on the Status of Latino Students in RPS.

Clearly, there are major challenges for RPS and its students in returning academic performance to pre-pandemic levels (and beyond). The results announced Thursday highlight the need for a citywide and statewide “Marshall Plan” to meet the needs of kids and families in the wake of pandemic. It is also clear that RPS has specific additional work to do to address the needs of Latino students.

The results also make clear, however, that the rate of RPS decline in performance is largely tied to the demographics of RPS.  RPS in fact staved off declines in most academic subjects for Black and economically disadvantaged students, relative to statewide results for those groups. This is not cause for celebration, because performance still did decline and the equity gap in education looms larger than ever post-pandemic. 

But this observation also shows that systemwide decline in test scores, understood in context, is not clear and compelling evidence of systemic educational failure in RPS.  Rather, the decline in test scores speaks to the earthquake that shook the entire educational landscape, an earthquake that will take years of focused effort to recover from. 

Further, the herculean effort of RPS teachers, administration, and students need to be recognized. 2021-22 was an incredibly difficult year to navigate between COVID protocols, masking, rising mental health needs, and addressing academic issues. The SOL results by themselves do not recognize the growth in RPS students over the course of the school year or the enormous effort expended in unprecedented circumstances both to educate children and to keep them safe and healthy.  While it is reasonable to expect that 2022-23 will be a more “normal” year and that most academic indicators will recover, this is best achieved with continuity of leadership building on existing efforts.

Our hope is that these results reset the conversation about RPS to underscore the urgency of more resources, more focused attention on the needs of specific groups, and specific investments to help students most impacted by the pandemic. We urge the School Board to focus on the needs of children in schools and not ancillary issues, and to avoid initiating disruptive changes. 

Dr. Thad Williamson is an Associate Professor of Leadership Studies and Philosophy, Politics, Economics and Law at the University of Richmond and a founding member of the local advocacy organization Richmond Together. His work with the City of Richmond led to the launch of the Office of Community Wealth Building (which he served as its first director) and to several related reforms, initiatives, and programs in Richmond touching education, housing, and workforce development. In his free time, Thad likes to spend time with his family, play basketball, walk his dog, and help to make Richmond a more equitable city for all.