Manassas City presents 2024–25 SOL results; officials outline targeted school-level interventions

Manassas City Public Schools released 2024–25 Standards of Learning (SOL) pass rates and chronic absenteeism figures during the school board’s meeting, and district staff described a multi-pronged response focused on strengthening instruction, expanding coaching and targeting supports at individual schools.

The presentation opened with Jennifer Casada, executive director of accountability and finance, summarizing statewide context from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE): new reading and math standards and assessments are “more rigorous” and require students to show deeper reasoning. Casada said the change required students to demonstrate “30 to 40 percent more content” in reading and math to pass the new SOLs. Craig Gafeller, deputy superintendent, outlined the district’s response emphasizing tier 1 instruction, additional coaching and school-level reorganizations to provide more instructional monitoring and targeted interventions.

Why it matters: the VDOE changes altered the baseline for statewide comparisons, and the board’s aspirational target — 80 percent passing in reading and math — was set under previous standards. Casada stressed that the target remains the division’s objective but that the new assessments affect year-to-year comparisons and accountability timing.

Key results and patterns - Reading: Division-level reading pass rates were “relatively level” overall, with increases at grade 6 but declines at grades 5 and 8 and mixed patterns across schools. Casada highlighted that English learners and Black students’ results mirrored state trends, while students with disabilities and Hispanic students showed dips in some measures. - Mathematics: The district reported notable gains in several elementary grades and in high-school course exams, including double-digit increases at grade 3, grade 6 and Algebra II; however, decreases appeared on some grade 7 and 8 tests. - Science and high school courses: Overall science pass rates were described as level; more students took biology and high-school math courses in 2024–25, affecting comparative rates. - Chronic absenteeism: The district’s chronic absenteeism rate fell from 22.3 percent in 2023–24 to 20 percent in 2024–25, with six schools at or better than the state average (14.8 percent). Hayden, Metz and Osborne showed improvements of four percentage points or more.

District response and school-level changes Gafeller presented actions the division will take for 2025–26: record and publish model lessons, expand coaching and deepen professional learning, strengthen co-teaching practices, and refine supports for special education and English learners. The district will also finalize updates to attendance protocols and launch improved behavior-incident tracking systems to give principals consistent data.

Several schools have tailored plans described as part of the presentation: Round Elementary’s new principal will prioritize fidelity to the Benchmark Advanced literacy resource; Metz Middle School added a second instructional facilitator and another special-education teacher-on-assignment and adjusted its Mustang block to increase targeted instruction; Osborne High tightened attendance protocols and expanded supports for students who need alternative pathways.

Principals’ accounts read into the record by district administrators described concrete classroom practices associated with gains: expanded collaborative learning team (CLT) cycles, task-based math problem solving, increased use of manipulatives, strengthened intervention blocks, and extended science instructional minutes using a 5E model (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate).

Board questions and next steps Board members asked for cohort-based analyses (tracking the same cohort across grades), disaggregated breakdowns of middle-school math by course enrollment (to separate grade-level from accelerated-course outcomes), and state comparisons for specific tests. District staff agreed to provide additional breakdowns and to return to the board with further detail on fidelity checks for the Benchmark Advanced materials, supports for special education teachers, and implications of any state decisions about SOL administration windows or cut scores.

The district emphasized that progress in mathematics and improvements in attendance are early indicators of traction, while reading implementation remains the primary area of focus given the scale of instructional change required by the Virginia Literacy Act and new state-approved materials.

Ending: District leaders said the division will continue quarterly data dialogues, increase on-site instructional monitoring, and match resources to each school’s identified needs to sustain the gains and address persistent gaps.