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.
Arlington Public Schools students recorded increases in four of five broad academic categories in the Virginia Department of Education’s 2025-26 Standards of Learning exams (SOLs).
The school system reported overall increases in reading, history/social sciences, mathematics and science pass rates, with a decline in the writing category.
County education leaders are still evaluating new accountability ratings that showed a mix of success and shortcomings among Arlington schools.
Eight Arlington schools were categorized as “Needs Intensive Support” under new rating system and first results released earlier this month by the Virginia Department of Education, Superintendent Francisco Durán told School Board members at their Dec. 18 meeting.
The Arlington School Board is once again seeking state authorization to administer standardized tests in languages other than English.
The School Board’s 2026 General Assembly legislative package, which went to a vote yesterday (Thursday), carries over the Board’s request from the 2025 legislative session.
Arlington Public Schools was near the top of the pack in both the state and in Northern Virginia in its test scores for the 2024-25 school year.
APS trailed the Loudoun school system in the five broad Standards of Learning categories last school year, but outperformed Fairfax and Prince William counties and the city of Alexandria. It topped the averages statewide in each category.
Arlington Public Schools says it is closing a math achievement gap worsened by Covid.
But a School Board watchdog group says the school system’s new progress report is missing pre-Covid data and paints a misleading picture of how far APS still has to go.
Arlington Public Schools is kicking off the new school year with a bit of good news related to academic performance.
Last school year, students as a whole made gains in math, social studies and science, and in almost all areas, generally exceeded statewide scores, per new testing data.
Black students in Arlington Public Schools still see lower passing rates and are more likely to be suspended than white students, an advocacy group found, as detailed in a new report.
Black Parents of Arlington, a local group founded in 2019 to advocate for the interests of Black students in the county, published “APS in Black: Measuring Educational Opportunities for Black Students” this past weekend.
For the first time since March 2020, most Arlington Public Schools students will be in their classrooms for five days of in-person learning, starting Monday.
Some students will continue at a distance, but overall, the school system says it is focused on three areas this year: accelerated learning, health and safety, and social-emotional learning, according to last night (Thursday’s) School Board meeting.
Fewer K-2 students in Arlington Public Schools, particularly English learners and Black and Hispanic children, are meeting literacy benchmarks this fall, according to new data.
All APS elementary schools recently completed the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) diagnostic, provided by the Commonwealth of Virginia, for kindergarteners and first- and second-graders. The statewide system uses the screener to gauge whether students are grasping the foundations of reading.
Pass rates for standardized tests held steady or dipped slightly among Arlington students last year, though the county still boasts success rates well above state averages across all subjects.
According to test results released yesterday (Wednesday), county students exceeded state pass rates on 25 of the 29 subjects included on the Standards of Learning tests for the 2017-18 school year. Arlington Public Schools expects the results will mean all of its schools earn state accreditation for the fourth straight year.
Hundreds Ticketed for Passing Stopped School Buses — Last year, 618 drivers in Arlington County received a $250 fine for illegally passing a stopped school bus. A police spokeswoman said it was “very alarming” that so many drivers were ignoring the lights and stop arm on buses. [WJLA]
Firefighter Places Fourth in Bodybuilding Competition — An Arlington County firefighter, Capt. Tiffanye Wesley, finished fourth in the 40+ figure bodybuilding competition at the 2017 World Police and Fire Games in Los Angeles. [Twitter]
