Virginia superintendent says new accreditation ratings 'masks' impact of school closures

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Virginia's superintendent of public instruction questioned the state's accreditation standards, saying they are obscuring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding school closures.

The academic levels in Virginia schools dropped starkly in some subjects in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet 89 percent of schools still earned full accreditation for 2022-2023, according to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), only a 3 percent drop from the 2019-2020 school year.

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A student boards a school bus outside of Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington County which is one of several school districts which sued to stop the mask-optional order by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R), in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., January 25, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

"These ratings call into question the effectiveness of our accreditation standards in identifying schools where students are struggling to achieve grade-level proficiency," Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow said in a news release.

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Balow argued that the standards "fail to capture" the stark reality in Virginia schools due in part to "lower expectations," noting that failures tripled in reading, and quadrupled in math. 

"This masks the catastrophic learning losses experienced by our most vulnerable students," she said.

Prior to the pandemic, she pointed out, the number of students statewide who failed an [Standard of Learning] reading test but showed growth and therefore counted toward their school’s accreditation rating ranged from 19,000-20,000. That number is now at 61,000, according to VDOE. Similarly, the number of students who failed a math [Standard of Learning] test before the pandemic but showed growth and counted toward their school’s rating was about 20,000. In 2022 the number has quadrupled to more than 88,000.

A Fairfax County school bus sits in a depot, a day after it was announced the county would begin the school year all online, in Lorton, Virginia, U.S., July 22, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

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"The number and percentage of schools earning accreditation is almost as high as three years ago, despite significant declines in achievement on Standards of Learning tests in reading, math and science — especially among minority and economically disadvantaged students," Balow said. "Accreditation is one of the primary drivers of state interventions and local efforts to improve outcomes for students, and frankly, the school ratings we are releasing today fail to capture the extent of the crisis facing our schools and students."

Asked to respond to the standards, the office of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R., provided Fox News Digital with a statement.

"The accreditation ratings do not reflect catastrophic learning loss and growing achievement gaps facing Virginia’s students," Youngkin said in a statement. "This broken accountability system fails to provide a clear picture of the academic achievement and progress of our schools to parents, teachers, and local school divisions. Virginia must have the most transparent and accountable education system in the nation and these accreditation ratings demonstrate the imperative for change.

"Secretary Guidera will continue her work with Superintendent Balow and the Board of Education in their efforts to design an accreditation and accountability system that provides clear, actionable, and timely information. I expect the release of our school accreditation ratings next year to provide Virginians an accurate and understandable picture of how well every one of our schools is preparing our students for success in life."

The U.S. Department of Education building in Washington, D.C.  ((Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images))

School closures prompted many Virginia parents to become more involved in their children's education, with some airing their grievances at school board meetings. In Fairfax County Public Schools, one of the largest districts in the country, students' reading scores decreased 10% from 2019 through 2021, according to the Virginia Department of Education's most recently available data. Math scores dropped 30%. 

Parents said the closures impacted their children's physical and mental well-being as well.

Tom Goudreau, a parent in Fairfax County, recently blasted the local school board for allowing months long school closures, which he said negatively impacted his special needs son.

"He had vision problems, he had ADHD, he had some emotional detachment disorders," Goudreau told Fox News Digital. "And so putting him in front of a Zoom call with 16 other students that he doesn't know, with teachers that don't know him where he can't see everybody in the class, that they mute everybody until they're called upon, was a point of frustration. And doing that for six hours a day, five days a week, it was insanity. Just insanity."

Goudreau accused Fairfax schools of leading a "race to the bottom" in academics and suggested the board focus on a return to academic levels achieved prior to the 2019-2020 school year, "repair damaged relationships with parents," and "reestablish resource stewardship to serve FCPS strategic priorities." 

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The academic slowdown in the wake of COVID-19 has been tracked nationally as well. Recent data released by the National Center for Education Statistics showed the largest score drop in reading among 9-year-old students since 1990, and the first-ever score drop in mathematics among the same age group.