Online Tutoring for the Virginia Curriculum
One-to-one tutoring built around the Virginia Standards of Learning, from kindergarten through AP coursework. Virginia writes its own standards and revised its mathematics SOL in 2023, so every tutor is matched to the current standards your child is actually taught and tested on.
SOL-Aligned
2023 Mathematics standards in every lesson
Recommended by parents and students for Virginia curriculum tutoring
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What Virginia Actually Tests
Virginia assesses through the Standards of Learning, with SOL tests in the elementary and middle grades and end-of-course tests in high school. The high school tests carry weight beyond the report card, because they earn verified credits.
SOL
Virginia Standards of Learning, K–12
Grades 3–8
Reading & mathematics, plus science and history
EOC Tests
Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Biology and more
Growth
Fall and winter Growth Assessments, grades 3–8
Virginia also runs Growth Assessments in the autumn and winter for reading and mathematics in grades 3–8. These are diagnostic rather than accountability measures, which makes them the most useful early warning a parent gets. A weak autumn Growth Assessment is a signal to act, not a result to worry about.
Why SOL Scores Are About to Look Different
Virginia rewrote its standards. The 2023 Mathematics Standards of Learning were approved in August 2023 and fully implemented in 2024–25, and the 2024 English Standards of Learning followed. The first SOL tests aligned to those new standards were administered in spring 2025.
The cut scores are now catching up. The thresholds in place through the 2025–26 school year, under which a scaled score of 400 was the pass/proficient mark, were set against the older 2016 mathematics and 2017 English standards. Following a standard-setting process in 2025, the Board of Education is phasing in higher cut scores beginning in the 2026–27 school year, with the aim of aligning Virginia's definition of proficiency more closely with the “proficient” level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress rather than the lower “basic” level most states use.
The consequence deserves stating plainly, because it will worry a great many families next year: a student can perform exactly as well as the year before and still see a lower reported performance level. The bar is moving, not the child. What it does mean is that students who cleared the old threshold comfortably may sit closer to the new one, so it is worth knowing where your child actually stands rather than relying on last year's label.
Verified Credits: Passing the Class Is Not Enough
This is the part of the Virginia system that surprises families moving in from other states. To graduate, students need standard credits, earned by passing the course, and a set number of verified credits, earned by passing the course and the associated SOL end-of-course test. A student can pass Algebra I with a comfortable grade and still not hold the verified credit if the SOL test does not go their way.
The practical consequence is that the SOL end-of-course test is not a formality to be revised for in the final fortnight. It is a graduation requirement in its own right, and it is assessed against the full year of content rather than the most recent unit.
Algebra I is the one that matters most, because it is the mathematics verified credit most students rely on, and because the 2023 standards raised the level of rigour in that course specifically. Students who do not pass can retake the test, but retakes cost time in a year that is already full.
Subject Specialisms
Targeted support across every core subject, from elementary foundations through AP and dual enrollment coursework. Each subject links to a dedicated page with tutor profiles and topics covered.
Online Math Tutors
- Algebra I, Geometry & Algebra II SOL
- 2023 Mathematics SOL, grades 3–8
- Precalculus & AP Calculus
Online English Tutors
- End-of-course Reading & Writing SOL
- Grades 3–8 reading assessments
- Short paper & extended writing
Online Science Tutors
- Grades 5 & 8 Science SOL
- Earth Science SOL
- Scientific investigation & reasoning
Online Physics Tutors
- Physics & Physics Honors
- AP Physics 1, 2 & C
- Math foundations for physics
Online Chemistry Tutors
- Chemistry SOL & Chemistry Honors
- Stoichiometry & equilibrium
- AP Chemistry
Online Biology Tutors
- Biology SOL — a verified credit option
- Genetics, ecology & evolution
- AP Biology
Where Students Need Help, Grade by Grade
Difficulties rarely appear where they are first noticed. These are the stages where Virginia students most often lose ground, and what tends to be behind it.
Grades K–2
Number sense, place value and reading fluency. Virginia schools keep mathematics achievement records in these years precisely because what happens here shapes the grade 3 SOL result.
Grades 3–5
The first SOL years, plus autumn and winter Growth Assessments. Fractions are the usual sticking point in mathematics, and grade 5 brings the first science SOL.
Grades 6–8
Ratios, proportional reasoning and algebraic thinking. This is also where strong SOL mathematics performance can open an advanced pathway, and where a weak result quietly closes one.
Grades 9–12
End-of-course SOL tests, verified credits, and the Standard versus Advanced Studies diploma decision. Earlier gaps become expensive here, because a failed EOC costs a retake as well as a grade.
Standard, Advanced Studies and Automatic Enrolment
Virginia offers a Standard Diploma and an Advanced Studies Diploma, with the Advanced Studies route requiring more credits and a broader course sequence. Mathematics is usually the subject that decides which one a student ends up with, because the advanced sequence has the least room for a difficult year.
There is also a development worth knowing about. Under recent Virginia legislation, school divisions use SOL mathematics performance to automatically enrol high-achieving students into advanced mathematics courses, with statewide upper quartile scores published to guide placement. In other words, a strong SOL mathematics score no longer just records achievement, it can open a door. That makes the middle school years a genuinely high-leverage time to address gaps.
Explore Math TutoringCommon SOL End-of-Course Tests
- Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II
- End-of-course Reading and Writing
- Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science
- World History I and II
- Virginia and United States History
Diploma, credit and assessment requirements are set by the Virginia Board of Education and are periodically revised. Always confirm current requirements with your school counselor.
Why Math Make Smart Works for Virginia Students
SOL, Not Common Core
Virginia never adopted the Common Core and writes its own Standards of Learning, revised for mathematics in 2023. Tutors are assessed on the current Virginia standards, because national materials sequence topics differently.
Built for Verified Credits
Because an EOC test can decide a verified credit regardless of the course grade, we work across the full year of content rather than the current unit, and we cover the technology-enhanced item formats the SOL tests use.
Progress You Can Read
Written summaries after every session and a bi-weekly report showing which standards have been mastered and which still need attention, in the language of the SOL curriculum framework.
Virginia Curriculum Questions, Answered
The questions Virginia parents ask us most often about the SOL, verified credits and diplomas.
My child passed the course but failed the SOL. What happens?
They keep the standard credit for passing the course, but they do not earn the verified credit that the SOL test carries, and verified credits are required to graduate. Students can retake the test, and there are expedited retake provisions in some circumstances. This is the single most important thing to understand about the Virginia system, and it is why a strong report card is not by itself evidence that a student is on track.
Why does the math look different from what I remember?
Because it changed. The Virginia Board of Education approved the 2023 Mathematics Standards of Learning on 31 August 2023, the first major revision since 2016, and they were fully implemented during the 2024–25 school year. The revision raised expectations, built stronger vertical connections between grades, and increased rigour in Algebra I in particular. Practice materials written for the 2016 standards no longer match the tests your child sits.
What are Growth Assessments, and do they count?
They are autumn and winter assessments in reading and mathematics for grades 3–8, and they are diagnostic rather than accountability measures. They do not determine a school rating or a student's promotion. What they do offer is early information, months before the spring SOL. A disappointing autumn Growth Assessment is the most useful signal a Virginia parent gets all year, because there is still most of a school year in which to act on it.
Can a good SOL score get my child into advanced math?
In effect, yes. Virginia divisions now use SOL mathematics performance to automatically enrol high-achieving students into advanced mathematics courses, with the state publishing upper quartile scores to guide placement. The point for families is that a middle school SOL result is no longer just a record of the year gone by. It can determine the course a student is placed in next, which shapes the whole high school mathematics sequence.
Why might my child's SOL score drop next year?
Most likely because the passing threshold is changing, not because your child has gone backwards. The cut scores used through 2025–26, under which 400 was the pass/proficient mark, were set against Virginia's older standards. After a standard-setting process in 2025, higher cut scores are being phased in from 2026–27, intended to bring Virginia's definition of proficiency closer to the NAEP “proficient” level. Expect reported results across the state to look weaker for a period. What matters for your child is the underlying work, not the label attached to it.
Does Virginia use the Common Core?
No. Virginia has always maintained its own Standards of Learning and never adopted the Common Core State Standards. The SOL are written and revised by the Virginia Board of Education, and the current mathematics standards date from 2023. This matters practically rather than politically: national tutoring materials and workbooks built around Common Core sequencing will introduce topics in a different order and to a different depth than your child's classroom, which is why we match tutors to the Virginia standards and to the specific SOL test a student will sit.
Ready to build real confidence in the Virginia curriculum?
Start with a free assessment. We'll find out where your child actually stands against the Standards of Learning and match them with a tutor who knows the SOL tests their school runs.