Schools Reach SOL Benchmarks, Fall Short On No Child Left Behind

Though more than 90 percent of Fairfax County Public Schools students passed Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) test last school year, about half of all schools in the county did not meet testing goals laid out by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Ninety-two percent students in the county earned a passing SOL score for mathematics, while 93 percent passed the reading test, according to the school system.

But 94 of the 190 schools in the county did not meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals set by the No Child Left Behind Act, according to data recently released by the Virginia Department of Education – a 22 percent increase from the 52 schools that did not meet their progress goal last year.

On Thursday, officials praised the school system’s performance on the SOL tests, while warning federal yearly progress goals for schools are not an adequate measure of success.

In Virginia, only 697 – 38 percent – of the 1,839 schools in the state made AYP based on last school year’s test results, while 61 percent made AYP during the previous ratings cycle.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires that states set annual student achievement goals in reading and math, aiming to reach 100 percent proficiency by 2014.

In Vienna, Cunningham Park Elementary, Flint Hill Elementary, Freedom Hill Elementary, Kilmer Middle School and Marshall Road Elementary School fell short of the act's AYP benchmarks.