Good Afternoon, 

This week, we have focused on chronic absenteeism. After the first statewide Chronic Absenteeism Task Force meeting, the members of the committee recommended that we share the video of our first meeting and a discussion guide so that school division attendance teams could replicate the statewide task force conversations in their own divisions. Please see the video and the Meeting 1 Discussion Guide.  

On Tuesday, we held our second task force meeting, and the meeting focused on parent engagement. This task force focused on parent engagement and discussed the importance of family messaging campaigns, health guidance for families, and incentive programs. Please see the video and the Meeting 2 Discussion Guide.  

When thinking about building your school division’s messaging campaign, please consider using:  

• Attendance Playbook
• Implementation Guide

These tools will help school division teams build comprehensive strategies around attendance. In addition, one critical communication tool is the Attendance Works Health Handouts for Families. This resource helps families know when to keep their child at home and when to send them to school. 

Additional family resources discussed included: 

• Attendance Works Handouts for Families
• Attendance Works Student Success Plans
• Attendance Works Illustrating the Gap

The United States Marine Corps’ Recruiting Station Richmond is offering a January training event for Virginia educators. The workshop is offered on Parris Island, South Carolina, from January 9-12, 2024. The training will include opportunities to meet drill instructors, lunch with recruits, attend Marine Band performances, and participate in training events including the rappel tower and rifle range.  

Participants will receive 14 professional education credits. This event is ideal for educators to be better prepared to assist students about opportunities in the Marine Corps and to understand Marine Corps career paths. Participants will receive 14 professional education credits. 

Those interested in attending can contact Sergeant Godfrey Ampong at Godfrey.Ampong@marines.usmc.mil or by phone (804) 501-6584. The application is available for download (PDF) with additional details on attending. 

The National Board Certification Incentive Award (NBCIA) have been announced and can be found here (XLSX). The NBCIA was announced in the #2023-12 Virginia Education update on September 21, 2023. School divisions submitted data for those teachers who met the criteria established by the Virginia Board of Education.  

School divisions should familiarize themselves with the 2023-2024 NBCIA Terms of Grant Award.  

The WIDA Alternate ACCESS test is a large-print, paper-based English Language proficiency assessment that is individually administered to students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who are identified as English learners. In previous years, the Alternate ACCESS test was only available for students in grades 1-12. Beginning in January 2024, WIDA Alternate ACCESS will be available for English Learners (ELs) in kindergarten with the most significant cognitive disabilities.  

For guidance specific to Virginia and the English language proficiency assessments, please visit the Virginia English Language Proficiency Assessments webpage on the VDOE website. For additional information about the WIDA Alternate ACCESS assessment, please visit the WIDA Alternate ACCESS webpage on the WIDA website.  

The winter administration of the Virginia Growth Assessments in grades 3-8 reading and mathematics will begin Monday, November 27, 2023. School divisions have identified their winter growth assessment test dates so the tests are administered to their students no later than Friday, February 16, 2024. 

Unlike the 2023 fall growth assessments focused on content from each student’s previous year of enrollment, the winter growth assessments will assess content from each student’s current enrollment. Student registrations for the winter growth assessments are to match each student’s enrollment in grades 3-8 reading and mathematics. 

The online mathematics tests will begin by assessing Standards of Learning (SOL) that are primarily taught in the first semester of the school year as determined by commonalities among mathematics pacing charts collected from several school divisions. The overall online mathematics growth assessment may include items that are on grade-level and one year above or below grade-level.  

The online reading tests will begin by assessing SOL that are on grade-level, and the overall online growth assessment may include items that are on grade-level and one year above or below grade-level. Test blueprints for each of the grades 3-8 reading and mathematics growth assessments are available on the Virginia Growth Assessments webpage on the VDOE website. 

Section 1127 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, allows school divisions to carry over up to 15 percent of their Title I, Part A, allocation for any fiscal year. School divisions must encumber 85 percent of each award year’s Title I, Part A, allocation by September 30 of the following year (within 15 months). 

Superintendents of divisions that potentially did not meet the requirement to obligate 85 percent of their FY2022 Title I, Part A, funds by September 30, 2023, based on records in the Online Management of Education Grant Awards application available on the Single Sign-on for Web Systems portal will receive an email from essa@doe.virginia.gov by November 14, 2023 outlining the process to either certify that their division did obligate 85 percent of their FY2022 Title I, Part A, funds by September 30, 2023 or choose to apply for a waiver if they have not done so in the last three years.  

The Certification of Obligation and Carryover Waiver Form must be signed by division superintendents and returned by Wednesday, December 13, 2023. 

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Parent Resource Centers (PRC) can have a positive impact on increasing outcomes for students with disabilities, ensuring that parents are informed of their rights and responsibilities related to the special education processes. Because of that potential, the Department of Special Populations has set aside funds to assist school divisions that, due to budgetary considerations, have cut or reduced their local funding for staffing of a PRC. Additional funds are available for PRCs to coordinate an activity such as a parent fair or a take-away resource within their school division or regionally with other PRCs. Available through an application for a cooperative agreement, these funds are extremely limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. 

An application for funding to support personnel or to conduct a PRC activity is on the VDOE Parent Resource Center webpage. Applications are also available via email. 

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School-Based Mental Health Services Grant ⚠️

Audience: Superintendents, Directors, School Principals
Contact: Kristinne Stone, School Mental Health Grant Project Manager

On November 6, 2023, the College Partnership Laboratory Schools Standing Committee  received for first review a college partnership laboratory school application from George Mason University. The Standing Committee also directed the VDOE to post the lab school application for public comment.   

In order to provide appropriate input from parents, teachers, and other interested parties and to obtain information to assist in its evaluation of the lab school application, the Standing Committee is seeking public comment on the GMU application through this form.   

Public comments for these applications will be accepted through November 24, 2023.