I hope everyone had an opportunity to honor our brave service members and celebrate Veterans Day.  I wanted to highlight four different celebrations held throughout the Commonwealth, showcasing our school divisions' commitment to fostering a robust civics atmosphere through these events. 

1. Norton City honors Veteran Graduates with this student-created video
   
   
2. Wytheville’s Spiller Elementary School held a parade with multi-generational students and hometown heroes
   
   
3. Turner Ashby High School in Rockingham County held its third annual Veterans Day Celebration on Friday to show its appreciation
   
   
4. Gloucester Public Schools released this video celebrating their staff members who are veterans, while also teaching students how to honor these heroes

Last week, the Governor held a media briefing to unveil the School Performance and Support Hub and to announce his upcoming budget commitments aimed at supporting our most struggling schools. The Hub provides a wealth of information on the Framework, data toolkit, and expansive educator and family supports. The Department has created four different roadmaps: Superintendent's Roadmap to Readiness, Principal's Roadmap to Readiness, Teacher's Roadmap to Readiness, and Parent's Roadmap to Readiness. Each of the Roadmaps help different stakeholders connect the data and the review of the data to determine which resources would be most effective in planning.  

The Framework and now the Hub are designed for schools to use actionable data, know where they need the most improvement, and allowing parents, teachers, schools, and state leaders to work side by side on prioritized needs. The Framework encourages and enables school communities to work together to implement changes that improve student and school performance - for every student in every school throughout the Commonwealth.   

As educators begin to determine how their data shows students’ mastering grade level content, meeting expected growth, and readiness for the next phase of schooling, VDOE will continue to support schools with ongoing office hours on Wednesdays from 9-10 a.m., as well as webinars, with the next one set for November 15 at 10 a.m. Registration information on these sessions has been shared with superintendents and division accountability designees. 

The VDOE is also releasing application information for literacy grants aimed at high need schools. These grants will offer multi-year cohorts for school and division leadership teams, focusing on support for English learners and students with disabilities. The grants will cover high-quality instructional materials, instructional walkthroughs and teacher feedback, technical assistance and coaching calls, and the creation and execution of a data-driven improvement plan. The application period will close on December 2. 

As always, thank you for all you do, 

Lisa

EducateVA will be offering EL Praxis Preparation Workshops at a reduced cost to participants who have been permanent residents of Virginia for at least the past 12 months. Offered multiple times each year, EducateVA delivers a three-session online workshop series to current teachers who wish to add an ESOL endorsement to their existing license. Upon completion, workshop participants will be well prepared to take Praxis Subject Assessment #5362. Cost for in-state residents is $300. For more information, please contact EducateVA.  

EducateVA has also developed an ESOL-specific endorsement track into the existing Career Switcher program, which will allow participants to be better prepared to seek out positions as EL teachers in Virginia. This is a pre-service option, but also available to provisionally licensed teachers who are in their first, and in many cases, second year of the provisional license. Please visit the Educate VA ESOL Programs webpage for more information. 

The Virginia Department of Education is pleased to announce a literacy grant opportunity that will provide additional support and funding to ensure schools have the structures, tools, capacity, and resources to increase literacy growth and achievement for all students. 

 With declines in reading most notable in students with disabilities and English learners, coupled with rapidly changing enrollment, divisions have requested professional learning and technical assistance for schools to support educators of these student groups. In response to division feedback, VDOE is prioritizing three opportunities for this school year: the English Learner Literacy Network, the Students with Disabilities Literacy Network, and family engagement resources. 

 A division may submit one application on behalf of their schools. For this grant cycle, all applications are to be submitted no later than Monday, December 2, 2024. Divisions with high needs will be prioritized for this grant award. 

 Applicants are highly encouraged to attend the Grant Q&A Office Hours that will be held on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, at 11 a.m. Registration is required in advance. 

In the upcoming weeks, VDOE will release history and social science instructional guides as companion documents to the 2023 History and Social Science Standards of Learning – amplifying each standard by defining the core knowledge and skills in practice, supporting teachers and their instruction, and serving to transition classroom instruction from the 2015 History and Social Science Standards of Learning to the newly adopted standards.  

Instructional supports are accessible in #GoOpenVA to assist school divisions in making decisions about local curriculum development and how best to help students meet the goals of the standards. The local History and Social Science curriculum should include a variety of information sources, readings, learning experiences, and forms of assessment selected to create a rigorous instructional program.  

Instructional guides include five distinct sections: Changes and Revisions, Understanding the Standard, Supporting Questions, Skills in Practice, and Concepts and Connections aligned to each standard.  

The first release date is November 15, 2024 (Civics and Economics). Department staff will provide professional learning sessions through multiple means to ensure that teachers and those that support them (e.g., principals, central office personnel, directors) will learn about the purpose, intention, structure, content, and context for implementation.   

A webinar will be held Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the purpose and appropriate use of the instructional guides. Division leaders, curriculum leaders, and school leaders are asked to attend this session. You must register in advance.  

Educators should monitor the History and Social Science webpage for additional information. 

The Commission on Youth, a bipartisan legislative commission of the Virginia General Assembly, is conducting a study on how to improve Virginia’s special education dispute resolution system. The perspectives from parents, agency professionals, attorneys, advocates, teachers, or other roles will be crucial as the Commission develops recommendations for this study.  

The Special Education Dispute Resolution Process Survey is estimated to take 10-25 minutes to complete. This survey uses Google Forms, and responses are confidential. The Commission encourages groups with members who have vision impairments or require translation to assist those members in completing the survey. The survey will close Friday, November 22, 2024, at 3 p.m. 

The Commission retained the services of Special Education Solutions, LLC (SES), a leading expert in special education compliance, training, and dispute resolution to assist with this study and survey. For issues accessing the survey, contact Deusdedi Merced, Managing Member, SES, dmerced@spedsolutions.com. 

Please join the VDOE in celebrating Virginia School Psychologists during the week of November 11-15, 2024. National School Psychology Week is an opportunity for schools to recognize the contributions of school psychologists and the important role they play in schools and communities. This year's theme, “Spark Discovery,” recognizes the work that school psychologists do to help their communities seek out new ideas, effect change, and expand horizons for children and youth.   

The National Association of School Psychologists has developed adaptable resources and suggested activities related to the theme to Spark Discovery with students, families, and school communities. To find out more about how school psychologists contribute to the school community and help students thrive, please see the Who Are School Psychologists flyer and other resources on the VDOE School Psychology Services webpage.

The WIDA Fellows program brings expert educators and WIDA staff together in a collaborative effort to enhance the development of WIDA products and services. Three Virginia educators were recognized for their participation in this program: 

• Mabel Lamprea, newcomer English Language teacher, from Loudoun County Public Schools 
• Sara Carr, LIEP team lead, from Richmond City Public Schools 
• Tara Willging, former English Language teacher from Virginia Commonwealth University 

Their full bios and information about the WIDA Fellows program can be found on the WIDA website. 

The conference was an excellent opportunity to see the professionalism and dedication of Virginia’s educators and leaders. #ElevateEducatorsVA