The Office of Behavioral Health and Student Safety is hosting the Section 504 Best Practices webinar Tuesday, May 27, 2025, 9 to 10 a.m. The presentation will provide information on the legal requirements for Section 504, how to utilize data to make productive decisions related to common Section 504 practices, how to write appropriate and data driven accommodations, and how to facilitate a good meeting. 

Those interested in attending can register via the Section 504 Best Practices registration form. A recording will be made available to all registrants.   

CollegeBoard is pleased to announce a professional development opportunity for Advanced Placement teachers at no cost. Advanced Placement (AP) courses provide students with rigorous learning experiences coupled with an opportunity to earn college credit. In 2023-2024, over 200,000 Advanced Placement courses were taken by students in the Commonwealth.  

Advanced Placement Participant Grants are available to AP teachers who are teaching one of the following courses in the 2025-2026 school year: 

• AP African American Studies 
• AP Precalculus 
• AP Computer Science Principles 
• AP Seminar 

Participant grants support the tuition cost of an in-person or virtual Advanced Placement Summer Institute (APSI) in June, July, or August. For additional information on how to apply, please see this flyer.  

The History and Social Science department at VDOE is pleased to announce the release of the history and social science instructional guides. Instructional guides are 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. 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, now inclusive of dynamic and interactive components: Changes and Revisions, Understanding the Standard, Supporting Questions, Skills in Practice, and Concepts and Connections aligned to each standard.

Grade 4 and World History and Virginia Studies and United States History will be released this week with the dynamic and interactive components. At the conclusion of this week, all History and Social Science Instructional Guides will have been released to the field.

Educators should continue to monitor the History and Social Science webpage for additional information. Department staff will provide regional 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. Further announcements of such training will be provided in upcoming Virginia Education Update newsletters.  

VDOE has established an optional-use contract with EveryDay Labs, a program focused on helping educators improve student attendance through evidence-based strategies. This optional-use contract is available for divisions to use at their discretion, with no direct funding from VDOE. By conducting this procurement on behalf of divisions, VDOE streamlined the process and ensured compliance with state and local requirements. Divisions interested in partnering with EveryDay Labs will need to identify their own local funding sources.

EveryDay Labs will host a webinar at 12:15 p.m., May 19, 2025, to share how they will support divisions across Virginia through data analytics, personalized communication, collaboration tools, and staff training. This session will include a Q&A segment for participants. 

Register for the May 19 webinar on the EveryDay Labs Webinar Registration Form.  

The Office of Behavioral Health and Student Safety is hosting the Finding the Balance: Devices and Mental Wellness webinar Wednesday, May 21, 2025, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Educators are increasingly recognizing the effects of student devices. While technology enhances learning, creativity, and individualized instruction, excessive use, particularly among students with mental health challenges such as ADHD and depression, can contribute to social skills deficits, dysregulation, and feelings of isolation. This webinar will examine current data and research-informed literature to support a balanced, intentional approach to technology use in elementary education. Attendees will gain practical, evidence-based strategies to implement technology initiatives that prioritize and support student well-being. 

Those interested in attending can register via the Finding the Balance: Devices and Mental Wellness registration form. A recording will be made available to all registrants.

Virginia Public School Authority (VPSA) Educational Technology Notes Series XXV and School Security Equipment Grants Series XIII are available to school divisions. The goal of the educational technology grant program is to improve the instructional, remedial, and testing capabilities of the SOL in local school divisions and to increase the number of schools achieving full accreditation. Proceeds of the Series XXV notes are provided to: 

• Establish a computer-based instructional and testing system for the SOL; 
• Develop an Internet ready local area network (LAN) capability and high speed Internet connectivity at high schools, followed by middle schools, and then in elementary schools; and 
• Establish a 5-to-1 student computer ratio for high schools, followed by middle schools, and then in elementary schools. 

Series XXV reimbursement requests will be submitted through the Virginia Public School Authority Reimbursement Process (VPSARP) application in Single Sign-on for Web Systems (SSWS) Portal. Additional information about the VPSA program can be found on the VDOE website. 

There are a limited number of business days between the closing date and the end of FY 2025 on June 30, 2025. To ensure sufficient time to process the school division reimbursement requests that need to be received by June 30, 2025, such reimbursement requests must be received by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) electronically within the VPSARP application on the Single Sign-on for Web Systems (SSWS) portal, by June 27, 2025.  Please note that Series XX proceeds will expire on June 30, 2025, and available balances should also be claimed by June 27, 2025. 

In addition to the grants provided to support the SOL Web-based Technology Initiative, $12.0 million is provided for Series XIII of the school security equipment grants.  Proceeds of these additional equipment notes will be used to help offset the related local costs associated with the purchase of appropriate security equipment that will improve and help ensure the safety of students attending public schools in Virginia.  Guidelines for the program and the Series XIII application form to apply for funding are available on the VDOE website at: 

Security Equipment Grant Program Guidelines 

Email requests for technical assistance about the Series XXV reimbursement process to VPSA@doe.virginia.gov.  If you have questions relating to qualifying equipment (i.e., hardware, software) that may be purchased from the VPSA note proceeds, please call Calypso Gilstrap, Associate Director for Education Technology and Classroom Innovation, at (804) 750-8708.  

The Virginia Department of Education recently received preliminary Title I allocations, authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), from the U.S. Department of Education (USED) for FFY 2025 (school year 2025-2026). These allocations are provided through Basic Grants, Concentration Grants, Targeted Grants, and Education Finance Incentive Grants (EFIG) that Congress made available under the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (Act). At this time, it is estimated that Virginia will receive a total Title I allocation of $347,311,950.00, representing an approximate 6 percent increase in funding compared to FFY 2024 ($324,795,732.00).  

Please be aware that the preliminary Title I, Part A, allocations for Virginia school divisions do not reflect the state set-asides, changes in final census data, the state reservation for school improvement activities under Section 1003(a) of the ESEA, and other adjustments required by law. The final allocation for each school division is likely to differ from the preliminary allocation provided by USED. 

Refer to the Title I, Part A, website for documents containing calculation information and preliminary allocations for FFY 2025.

Per HB2686, school boards are required to develop and adopt a policy for students in Grades 5-8 to be eligible to enroll in advanced or accelerated mathematics courses. The legislation includes a provision that requires auto enrollment of students who earn a scale score on the end-of-year mathematics Standards of Learning assessment that is in the statewide, grade-level upper quartile.  

The Virginia Department of Education will determine the statewide upper quartile for Grades 5-8 after the spring 2025 Standards of Learning state testing window has closed (Friday, June 20, 2025). Scores that qualify students for auto enrollment will be communicated to school divisions in late June 2025. More information on HB2686 will be forthcoming in a Legislative Update through the Virginia Education Update Newsletter. 

May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Every year, this is an opportunity to listen and learn about diverse AAPI communities as well as how deep the connections are to all facets of American history. There are a wealth of resources through PBS and the Asian Pacific American Center at the Smithsonian; and to support the use of information sources in history and social science instruction, the Law Library of Congress has compiled guides to commemorative observations, including a comprehensive inventory of the Public Laws, Presidential Proclamations and congressional resolutions related to Asian Pacific Heritage Month. 

VDOE values the efforts of teachers in promoting a quality and comprehensive exposure to American and Virginia history. For instructional support and information, please contact the History and Social Science Program at vdoe.hss@doe.virginia.gov.