Henrico students show modest improvement on SOLs but still trail Virginia peers in reading, math

Henrico County Public Schools students made modest overall gains on Virginia Standards of Learning exams during the 2025-26 school year, but the county continued to trail statewide performance in reading and mathematics among students taking the regular grades 3-8 tests.

Across all SOL tests included in Henrico's division-level subject results, 70% of students passed reading exams, essentially unchanged from the previous school year and up from 69% in 2023-24. The divisionwide mathematics pass rate rose from 65% last year to 67% this year, also topping the 66% rate from two years ago.

The science pass rate held steady at 71%, three percentage points higher than in 2023-24.

The SOLs are used as a baseline measure of how well Virginia students are learning the state's academic standards, and Henrico's results show substantial differences among subjects, grade levels and individual schools.

Overall, among the 20 grade-level SOL exams that were taken by at least 200 Henrico students, pass rates improved from the previous school year on 11, worsened on seven and remained the same on two.

The largest improvements among those 11 came in seventh grade math (up to a 59% pass rate from 54% the previous year) and end-of-course reading (86% pass rate, up from 82%). The largest drop among the seven tests on which scores fell came in end-of-course earth science. (81%, down from 84%).

Henrico students fell short of their statewide counterparts in reading in the exams for grades 3 through 8, with about 68% of students in those grade levels passing, compared with 72% statewide.

In the mathematics tests for the same grades, about 60% of Henrico test-takers passed, compared with 69% throughout Virginia.

The picture was stronger on end-of-course exams typically taken by students pursuing high-school-level coursework.

Henrico's combined pass rate on Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry was about 84%, just below Virginia's statewide rate of 85%. Henrico students matched the statewide end-of-course reading rate at 86%.

In science, Henrico's combined pass rate on Biology, Chemistry and Earth Science was about 78%, compared with 75% statewide.

Statewide, Virginia reported incremental improvement in both reading and mathematics, with pass rates increasing by 0.4 percentage points in each subject from the previous year. State officials said the results continued a longer post-pandemic recovery in which statewide reading proficiency has increased by five percentage points and math proficiency by 19 percentage points during the past five years.

History, math and reading results

Henrico's largest subject-level year-over-year increase came in history and social sciences, where the pass rate climbed from 44% to 61%.

That increase should be interpreted cautiously, however, because far fewer Henrico students took the history tests represented in the data than in previous years. The 2025-26 results were based on 417 tests, compared with 728 in 2024-25 and 3,475 in 2023-24.

Virginia as a whole also improved in history and social sciences, though much less dramatically, with the statewide pass rate increasing by 3.2 percentage points.

Among individual Henrico history exams, the Virginia and U.S. History pass rate increased from 37% to 57%, while World History II rose from 51% to 65%. Geography climbed from 69% to 87%, though only 67 Henrico students took that test.

Henrico's writing pass rate was 91%, up from 90% a year earlier, but that figure represented only 44 tests.

Math results varied considerably by grade.

Among third-graders, 67% passed the math SOL, up from 64% last year. The fifth-grade rate increased from 69% to 70%, and seventh-grade math showed one of the larger gains, rising five percentage points from 54% to 59%.

But only 44% of sixth-graders and 44% of eighth-graders passed their grade-level math tests. Sixth grade improved by one percentage point from the previous year's results, while eighth grade declined from 46%.

The weak middle-school grade-level results come with an important caveat: some of the county's stronger math students take high-school-level courses instead of their grade-level SOL. Virginia officials similarly noted that statewide grade 7 and grade 8 math results are affected by growing numbers of students taking advanced end-of-course math assessments instead.

Henrico students taking those advanced tests generally performed much better. Eighty-four percent passed Algebra I, 91% passed Algebra II and 81% passed Geometry.

Reading results also varied by grade.

The third-grade pass rate increased from 63% to 64%, but fourth-grade reading declined from 71% to 68%. Fifth grade remained at 69%, sixth grade slipped from 68% to 67%, and both seventh and eighth grades improved to 69%.

Students taking the end-of-course English reading exam performed considerably better: 86% passed, up from 82% a year earlier and matching the statewide rate.

Wide gaps among Henrico schools

The school-level data reveal an even wider range of results.

Deep Run High School had Henrico's highest overall school reading pass rate at 97%, along with rates of 91% in mathematics and 89% in science.

Glen Allen High School posted a 93% reading rate and 88% science rate. Its history and social sciences pass rate rose sharply, from 46% to 85%, although the 2025-26 figure represented 52 tests.

Mills E. Godwin High School recorded pass rates of 92% in mathematics, 90% in reading and 85% in science. Its math rate climbed seven percentage points from 85% the previous year.

Several elementary schools also substantially exceeded county averages:

• Tuckahoe Elementary students posted pass rates of 93% in mathematics and 92% in both reading and science;

• Rivers Edge Elementary recorded 94% in mathematics, 92% in reading and 90% in science, and among its individual results, 96% of 138 third-graders taking the math SOL passed;

• Pemberton Elementary posted rates of 90% in math, 87% in reading and 89% in science;

• Shady Grove Elementary recorded 88% in math and reading and 89% in science;

• Gayton Elementary students passed at rates of 91% in mathematics, 88% in reading and 86% in science.

Some Henrico middle-school students posted exceptionally strong results when taking advanced high-school-level tests.

At Hungary Creek Middle School, all 132 students taking Algebra I passed, as did all 55 students taking Geometry.

At Pocahontas Middle School, 99% of 167 Algebra I test-takers passed, while all 48 Geometry test-takers and all 138 students taking Earth Science passed.

Short Pump Middle School recorded 99% pass rates in both Algebra I and Geometry and a 98% pass rate in Earth Science.

At the other end of the spectrum, a number of Henrico schools – primarily those with Title 1 designations (which receive federal funding to help serve high concentrations of children from low-income families) posted pass rates far below county averages.

At Laburnum Elementary, 37% of students passed reading, 30% passed mathematics and 26% passed science.

Highland Springs Elementary recorded rates of 35% in reading, 34% in mathematics and 25% in science.

Fair Oaks Elementary posted pass rates of 35% in reading, 34% in mathematics and 29% in science. Fifth-grade results there declined particularly sharply: just 17% passed reading, 26% passed mathematics and 29% passed science, compared with 47%, 57% and 53%, respectively, the previous year.

Other lower-performing elementary schools included Glen Lea, where 40% passed reading and 35% passed both mathematics and science; Ridge, where rates were 38% in reading, 40% in mathematics and 45% in science; and Montrose, where 47% passed reading, 40% passed math and 43% passed science.

Some middle schools also remained well below division averages.

John Rolfe Middle recorded a 39% overall mathematics pass rate and a 40% science rate, although both improved by six percentage points from the previous year. Its reading rate increased more substantially, from 44% to 52%.

One of Rolfe's most notable improvements came in eighth-grade mathematics, where the pass rate more than doubled from 19% to 43%. At the same school, seventh-grade math increased from 24% to 34%, while sixth-grade math declined from 33% to 30%.

Brookland Middle's overall math pass rate increased from 37% to 41%, but remained well below the division average. Fairfield Middle recorded rates of 43% in mathematics, 45% in science and 52% in reading.

Some schools show significant changes

Several elementary schools that remained below county averages nevertheless showed substantial improvement.

Glen Lea Elementary's science rate climbed from 21% to 35%, while mathematics increased from 29% to 35% and reading from 35% to 40%.

Seven Pines Elementary produced some of the largest grade-level gains. Its third-grade math pass rate jumped from 52% to 79%, third-grade reading increased from 53% to 73%, and fifth-grade reading rose from 44% to 65%.

Those gains contrasted with significant declines elsewhere. Chamberlayne Elementary's fifth-grade science rate dropped from 84% to 50%, while fifth-grade mathematics fell from 77% to 53%.

Participation rates and the broader picture

Differences in test participation do not appear to explain the wide performance gaps among most Henrico schools. Divisionwide, 98.7% of eligible students participated in mathematics SOL testing, 98.9% in reading and 98.3% in science.

Participation also was generally high at both ends of the performance spectrum. Deep Run High, for example, had participation rates above 99% in all three subjects, while Laburnum Elementary — despite posting some of the county's lowest pass rates — had 100% participation in math, reading and science. Fair Oaks Elementary similarly had participation rates of nearly 99% or higher.

Henrico Virtual Academy was a notable exception countywide, with participation of about 89% to 90% across the three subjects.

Taken together, Henrico's 2025-26 results present a mixed picture.

Overall math performance improved and reading and science held steady, and many students taking advanced end-of-course tests performed at or near statewide levels.

But Henrico's regular grades 3 through 8 results remained below Virginia's averages — particularly in mathematics — while enormous differences persisted from one county school to another.

In reading, for example, schoolwide pass rates ranged from 35% at Fair Oaks and Highland Springs elementary schools to 97% at Deep Run High; in mathematics, they ranged from 30% at Laburnum Elementary to 94% at Rivers Edge Elementary.