Virginia District Improves SOL Performance with Increased Use of McGraw Hill’s Actively Learn

The study examines the impact of increased usage of McGraw Hill’s Actively Learn™, a supplemental English Language Arts program, on reading performance in a medium-sized public school district in Virginia. The district serves approximately 40,000 students in grades 6–12, with a diverse demographic composition: 44% White, 32% Black/African American, and 11% Hispanic.

Aggregated district-level data from the Virginia state website for the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 school years were analyzed. The study focused on correlations between Actively Learn usage and student performance on the Reading portion of the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment. Actively Learn usage increased significantly during this period, from fewer than 6,000 active users to over 15,000.

Outcomes examined included overall passing rates on the SOL reading assessment, with separate analyses for middle school students (grades 6–8) and high school students completing the end-of-course reading exam. Results showed improved passing rates across all demographic groups and grade levels. Overall district passing rates increased from 74% to 78%, while high school end-of-course passing rates rose from 83% to 88%. For grade 6, the percentage of students passing the Reading portion of the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment increased from 73% in 2020–2021 to 77% in 2021–2022. Similarly, grade 7 saw an improvement from 72% to 76%, and grade 8 from 70% to 74%. These positive trends were observed across demographic groups, including economically disadvantaged students, English learners, and students with disabilities.