Loudoun and Prince William County students struggle to recover from school closure learning loss – WJLA

WASHINGTON (7News) — Thousands of students in Loudoun County and Prince William County are still struggling to recover from learning loss worsened by pandemic-era school closures.

The school year before the pandemic hit, 83% of all students in Prince William County Public Schools passed their mathematics standards of learning (SOL) assessments. This past school year, 71% of all students passed. That’s a 12% drop.

Pre-pandemic, 70% of economically disadvantaged Prince William County students passed their science SOLs. This past school year, 54% passed.

Before the pandemic, 72% of Prince William County Hispanic students passed their science SOLs. This year past school year, 54% passed.

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Forty-three percent of students with disabilities passed their writing SOLs pre-pandemic in Prince William County. This year, 34% passed.

English language learners in Prince William County appear to have been especially impacted by Prince William County school closures. Pre-pandemic, 41% of English language learners passed their science SOLs. When they returned to school in person, 12% passed. And this past year, 28% passed.

Prince William County Public Schools plans to expand tutoring programs with the $8.6 million that the Youngkin administration is sending to the school system. The school district is working with local colleges to help, and at certain schools, high school students are being paid to tutor kids in grades 3-8.

When it comes to student performance on state assessments for reading, writing, history, math, and science, Loudoun County Public Schools students are not performing as well as they were pre-pandemic. Loudoun County’s Hispanic students, students with disabilities, and students who are economically disadvantaged appear to be struggling the most due to pandemic-era school closures.

Before the pandemic, 67% of Loudoun County’s economically disadvantaged students passed their science standards of learning assessments. This past school year, 50% passed.

That’s a 17% drop.

Pre-pandemic, 37% of Loudoun County’s English language learners passed their science SOLs. This year, 23% passed.

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Seventy percent of Loudoun County’s Hispanic students passed their science SOLs before the pandemic. This past school year, 52% passed.

Sixty-one percent of Loudoun County’s students with disabilities passed their mathematics SOLS pre-pandemic. This past school year, 48% passed.

“LCPS has been working hard in the aftermath of COVID to address learning loss,” LCPS’ Chief Academic Officer Ashley Ellis told 7News in a statement. “We have a strong, multi-tiered system of supports in place to provide remediation and support to address individual student needs. Additionally, we are grateful for the one-time funding and guidance from VDOE to address learning loss through high-dosage tutoring this year.”

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration is sending millions of dollars to local schools for in-person tutoring.

7News obtained LCPS’ plan to address learning loss. The tutoring program at LCPS will be available for students who need help with reading and math in grades 3-8 and online tutoring will be available for all students.