Virginia fourth- and eighth-graders continue to surpass national rates in math and reading achievement and the state's high school graduates enroll in college at a higher rate than their peers, but more progress is needed, according to a study released Tuesday.
Among the highlights of the Southern Regional Education Board biennial report:
Growth
Virginia's K-12 public school enrollment from 2006 to 2016 is expected to increase, as it did in the previous decade. About 1,229,000 students were enrolled two years ago.
Low-income families
Academic performance among Virginia children living in low-income households has improved in some subjects, despite the increase in the proportion of students in that category. In 2006, 32 percent of Virginia children lived in low-income households, up from 24 percent in 1990. Nationwide, that percentage was 44 percent in 2006.
Better than 'basic'
From 2003 to 2007, the number of Virginia fourth-graders scoring at or above the National Assessment of Educational Progress' "basic" level increased to 87 percent for math and 74 percent for reading. The percentage of eighth-graders achieving at that same level increased to 77 percent for math and stayed at 79 percent for reading.
Higher education
Of those students who entered the state's four-year colleges and universities in 2000, 67 percent graduated within six years. That figure was 55 percent nationally.
Want more?
Read more about the report at www.sreb.org/goals/state_goals_report_2008.asp.
Hattie Brown Garrow, (757) 222-5562, hattie.brown@pilotonline.com
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