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Dear Shrevewood Families,
We know many of you were able to attend Back to School Night last week and were able to hear a quick overview of the Virginia Literacy Act and how it is being implemented in FCPS. This email contains a deeper dive if you are interested in learning more. Always feel free to reach out to our Reading Specialist, McKenzie Senick (msenick@fcps.edu) if you have additional questions.
Sincerely,
Katie Vandawalker, Principal
Marti Jo Jackson, Acting Assistant Principal
Virginia Literacy Act
FCPS created a video to share the changes in curriculum, assessments, and interventions that are part of the Virginia Literacy Act that goes into effect across all schools in Virginia. If you did not have a chance to watch the video during Back to School Night, or would like to watch it again, use this link: Literacy Back to School Night Message.
Curriculum
Under the Virginia Literacy Act, FCPS adopted the approved program, Benchmark Advance. In each grade level, our instruction will focus on nine units, each of which focus on a single Knowledge Strand or topic/concept. This is aligned from Kindergarten to 6th grade. Because the goal is to build knowledge and vocabulary while teaching students the skills they need as readers, there are literary topics, science topics and social studies topics that are aligned to the Virginia Standards of Learning (VSOL). The stories and articles students read will be split evenly between fiction and nonfiction to ensure they can read a variety of texts.
 Benchmark Advance develops students’ background knowledge on topics related to science, social studies and literary studies over the course of multiple years. For example, the unit on government and citizenship begins with a focus on rules at home and at school in kindergarten and culminates in the unit, Beyond Democracy in sixth grade, which teaches students about various forms of government used around the world.
 Benchmark Advance has created a Caregiver website. To learn more about what the website has to offer, visit: https://www.benchmarkeducation.com/families.
Assessment
Students in grades K-2 and identified 3rd graders will be assessed using the Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System (VALLSS), a new test of foundational reading skills developed by the state of Virginia in partnership with the University of Virginia. For more information about VALLSS you can review the Parent Brochure. You will receive a Testing Notification if your child will be participating in the VALLSS.
Students in grades 3-6 will be assessed using iReady, an assessment that measures reading foundations as well as reading comprehension, this is the screener that has been used in FCPS for years. You will receive notification of results for either the VALLSS or the iReady.
Intervention
While all students who demonstrate areas of need will benefit from differentiated support in the classroom, students with high levels of risk will get interventions in addition to their core instruction that is focused on their areas of need. This additional support will be documented in a reading plan. Assessment results and reading plans will be discussed with families at conferences. For students with disabilities with significant reading needs, these plans will be discussed in an IEP meeting. Reading plans will include: Area of Need, Yearly Goal, Quarterly Objectives, and Quarterly data to progress monitor goals. These plans will be visible to you in ParentVue, so be sure to have your account up and running this fall.
Resources for Families
Here are some of the resources that the Virginia Literacy Partnership (a partnership between the Virginia Department of Education and the University of Virginia) has posted for families.
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