Last year brought overall improvements to standardized test scores at Arlington Public Schools, but results throughout the school system remain uneven.
School Board members dissected results for 2025-26 Standards of Learning, or SOLs, by school and different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic categories. The data “tells two stories simultaneously,” School Board member Monique “Moe” Bryant said at the Sept. 24 School Board meeting.
“We are outpacing many of our peers in terms of where we are,” she said, but “when the data is disaggregated, we see much more uneven outcomes.”
While disparities in test results persist, some gaps are closing. School Board member Zuraya Tapia-Hadley said successes in math and reading scores for Black and Hispanic students are “really encouraging to see.”
The Virginia Department of Education uses SOL results and other factors to place schools in four categories. Based on 2025-26 results, Arlington schools fell into the following tiers:
- Distinguished: Ashlawn, Arlington Science Focus, Arlington Traditional, Campbell, Cardinal, Claremont, Discovery, Glebe, Innovation, Jamestown, Key, Montessori Public School of Arlington, Nottingham, Oakridge, Taylor and Tuckahoe elementary schools; Williamsburg, Dorothy Hamm and Swanson middle schools; and Yorktown and Washington-Liberty high schools
- Meets Expectations: Abingdon, Barcroft, Barrett, Carlin Springs, Alice West Fleet, Hoffman-Boston, Long Branch and Randolph elementary schools; Gunston, Kenmore and Thomas Jefferson middle schools; and Wakefield High School
- Approaching Expectations: Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary
- Needs Intensive Support: Arlington Community High School
Fifteen APS schools moved up a level in the rankings compared to 2024-25: Dorothy Hamm and Swanson middle schools and Ashlawn, Campbell, Key, Claremont, Innovation, Oakridge, Carlin Springs, Abingdon, Barcroft, Randolph, Long Branch and Barrett elementaries plus Montessori Public School of Arlington.
The state rankings come with a caveat, as some schools may be downgraded in the rankings when federal accountability reports are released in coming weeks. Schools at risk of downgrade include seven elementaries, school leaders said: Abingdon, Barrett, Barcroft, Carlin Springs, Innovation, Long Branch and Randolph.
Even if some do move down in the rankings, the overall achievement “deserves a round of applause,” said Gerald Mann, the school system’s chief academic officer.
“It’s something for us to celebrate,” Mann said of schools’ performances. “They and their staffs and their students earned that.”
Four elementary schools — Nottingham, Campbell, Jamestown and Long Branch — recorded the highest year-over-year SOLs improvement within the school division.
Assistant superintendent for school and community relations appointed: Arlington Public Schools’ incoming assistant superintendent for school and community relations will be trading the blazing heat of Arizona for the humidity of the D.C. region.
School Board members on Sept. 24 appointed Heidi Vega to the post. She will start in the position in early November.
Vega currently serves as director of communications for the Arizona School Boards Association.
“I’m so grateful and excited to begin this next chapter,” Vega told Board members.
She and her husband are both Arizona natives, but “fell in love with the community” during trips to the local area, she said.
While Vega will be relocating immediately, her husband will remain in Arizona through the school year so their youngest daughter can finish her senior year of high school.
The couple was looking to move to the local area eventually, but “the opportunity came sooner than later, and I took it,” Vega told School Board members.
