RICHMOND, Va. -- The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) was supposed to have already released its annual report card, according to an internal memo, but has delayed publishing the information.
In years past, the VDOE released in mid-August statewide pass rates on standardized tests, an accountability metric which aims to show how Virginia's students are performing in public schools.
An internal timeline for reporting the 2022-2023 SOL results, obtained by CBS 6, showed that preliminary pass rates would be made available on July 31.
Local school divisions would be able to access pass rate results on Aug. 14.
And on Aug. 17, the VDOE planned to issue a press release showing statewide pass rates of state assessments.
But the VDOE has not yet released the data.
However, Richmond Public Schools (RPS) posted a document to its school board website on Aug. 21 detailing the district's initial SOL data as well as the statewide results.
Here are the statewide pass rates by subject, according to the RPS presentation:
- History: 65% (-1 from the previous year)
- Reading: 73% (No improvement from the previous year)
- Writing: 65% (No improvement from the previous year)
- Math: 69% (+3 from the previous year)
- Science: 67% (+2 from the previous year)
RPS, which still had pass rates below 50% in every subject, saw year-to-year improvements that exceeded the state's in almost every subject.
However, RPS removed the document, and it is no longer accessible on the school board website.
"We inadvertently shared our results before they were certified as final by the VDOE. When alerted to this, we apologized to the VDOE and promptly removed the presentation," RPS spokesperson Matthew Stanley explained to CBS 6 in an email.
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According to a message State Superintendent Dr. Lisa Coons published on Aug. 17, the department had to postpone releasing the data due to "retake data and appeals still being processed."
Coons said a timeline on when the data would be published had not yet been determined.
In an email to CBS 6 Thursday, a VDOE spokesperson said:
"VDOE releases the scores after all school divisions review their respective data to ensure that it is accurate and are given an opportunity to appeal. VDOE has given school divisions until COB 9/1/23 to submit any requests for modification, and the Department has received requests for modification as recently as today. Once the appeals process has been completed, the Department will make the data publicly available."
Federal guidelines encourage state education agencies to publish annual report cards "before the start of the succeeding school year or as early in the succeeding school year as possible."
Governor Glenn Youngkin's Office did not respond to CBS 6's request for comment.
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