From the brief: "COVID-19 significantly impacted the educational and home environments for students throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia in ways that may have impacted student learning, as measured by standardized exams. We analyze statewide, student-level administrative and assessment data on the Standards of Learning (SOL) reading and math tests for the 2011-12 through 2020-21 school years among students enrolled in grades 3 through 8. We examine the change in the number of tests taken, the test-taking rate among enrolled students, and student performance on the tests, in the first postpandemic onset year in which students were tested (2020-21) relative to last full pre-pandemic year (2018-19). Our key findings include the following: 

• There was a substantial reduction—a 29% decrease—in the number of 3rd through 8th grade students who took an SOL test in math and reading in the first post-pandemic onset year for which testing data are available (2020- 21).
• Declines occurred across all grade levels and regardless of student race or ethnicity or their status as economically disadvantaged, a student with disability, or an English Learner. However, the largest declines were among Black students in both subjects and the smallest declines among English Learners in reading.
• The decline in the number of tests taken was due primarily to a decline in the test-taking rate among students enrolled in the public schools, but about one-third of the drop was due to a substantial decrease in the number of students enrolled in the public schools post-pandemic.
• And more..."