Dear LCS community,
The goal for Lynchburg City Schools (LCS) is to provide each child a plan to help them grow and recover from any unfinished learning. SOL results are one of many data points that teachers and school leaders will use to support students' academic needs this year.
This past school year LCS students faced unprecedented conditions and how the pandemic impacted student performance and participation in the state assessment program is evident from the score results. Statewide, participation in SOL testing during 2020-21 was down significantly in all subject areas compared with pre-pandemic participation in 2018-19. For example, only 75.5% of students in tested grades took reading tests in 2020-21, and only 78.7% took math tests, compared with 99% in both subjects in 2018-19.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. James Lane stated, “The major takeaway is that we should not be using this year's SOL results to compare to any of the previous years. The way that our student population attended school this year is vastly different than we've ever seen.”
LCS commends our teachers, school leaders and staff who delivered Virginia’s SOL testing this year in creative ways despite challenging circumstances. They got it done, and this data will inform efforts to recover learning at both the state and local levels.