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To-do’s
This Week’s Articles
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News from Across the Commonwealth
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Milken Educator Award
The Board of Education was honored to be joined this week by Pamela Stepko, a 2022 Milken Educator Award winner. Pamela, the math interventionist with Cumberland Elementary School, was recognized for her continued excellence and innovation in creatively meeting the diverse needs of Cumberland's students.
Ms. Stepko is pictured below, front row center, with members of the Virginia Board of Education and Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Lisa Coons.
High-Intensity Tutoring
Dr. Coons visited Buckingham's schools to see their high-intensity tutoring in action. Catching up to get ahead, the hard work of Buckingham's teachers and instructional assistants is an important example of what a high-intensity tutoring program can mean to students.
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Dr. Lisa Coons, Superintendent of Public Instruction
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Good Afternoon,
This week, as part of their efforts to create new accountability measures, the Board of Education announced a series of eight Listening Sessions across the commonwealth to give educators, parents and community members the opportunity to speak to the Board about their expectations on future accountability measurements.
The sessions are coordinated by The Hunt Institute, and the full schedule is online. I encourage you to share the information on these meetings in your region to ensure everyone has a chance to hear about and speak on these important changes. We start in Abingdon on Monday night (11/20), and I look forward to seeing our friends in Region 7 there.
If you missed our newsletter last week, you can find each meeting video for the chronic absenteeism task force and the discussion guides online. The videos and discussion guides are strong tools to help your school division focus on attendance strategies in your own school division. The first meeting focused on transportation, while the second focused on family engagement. You will find tools, communications, and resources embedded in both discussion guides. The task force’s next meeting will be this Tuesday (11/21) at 4:30 pm. I encourage you join in on the VDOE YouTubePage.
Last week, Dr. Raley and I had the opportunity to visit ALL In programming in Buckingham County. I am incredibly proud of the teachers, instructional assistants, and students who have delved deeply into learning recovery and launched tutoring sessions during the school day in the elementary school. We saw excitement and joy from students getting direct support with their learning goals. In addition, they have been using Zearn to track progress over the past four weeks and are demonstrating growth.
 Yesterday, the Board recognized Pamela Stepko, our 2022 Milken Award winner. I had the opportunity to visit Pam and her students in Cumberland County a few weeks ago and see how her innovative math intervention practices provided fun and innovative ways for students to engage in math lessons that assisted struggling learners. We are very proud of Pamela and the national recognition she has received for her excellence in Cumberland’s classrooms.
The Board also approved state programmatic accreditation standards supporting clearly defined and uniform standards for career and technical education programming. as we continue to move forward on implementing the Virginia Literacy Act, the Board reviewed on first read the English Language Arts (ELA) curricular materials.
School innovation continues to be on the Board’s agenda. They approved two new lab schools. First, the Future Educators Academy that represents a lab school in collaboration and partnership with Laurel Ridge Community College, Germanna Community College, James Madison University, and school divisions in Culpeper County, Orange County, Madison County, Clarke County , Fauquier County, Frederick County, Page County, Rappahannock County, Shenandoah County, and Warren counties, and the City of Winchester.
The Future Educators Academy is an innovative early college academy focused on providing high-quality, accelerated teacher education to produce exceptional teachers, giving hands-on exposure and experience to upcoming teachers and helping to resolve the continuing shortage of qualified professional teachers in Central Virginia.
The Board also approved the Academy of Technology and Innovation, (ATI) a partnership with University of Mary Washington, Stafford County, Caroline County, Fredericksburg City, King George County, and Spotsylvania County.
The ATI program will help students witness and experience the application of computer science, data science, and broader technology across content areas and industries with meaningful opportunities to gain work-based learning experience through externships and internships to prepare them for entering the workforce.
Finally, the board provided feedback drafts of the annual report, comprehensive five-year plan, and SOQ prescriptions. Those drafts are on the Board's webpage and I encourage you to take a look at them to see the work that the Board and the Department have done this year, as well as where they are headed in the year ahead.
We continue to be proud of the dedication and focus of educators across the Commonwealth. Please see our exciting news about principal mentorship to launch this summer and the current Grow Your Own grant application process.
In appreciation,
Lisa
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 ALL In Virginia
ALL In Milestone
School divisions hit a major milestone this week with 70% of school divisions having submitted their All In Spending Plans. The 91 division plans have been reviewed and are being implemented across the commonwealth.
Your feedback on how divisions are creatively implementing the All In tutoring has been encouraging, as well as seeing the tutoring in-person as we have visited schools throughout the commonwealth. Thanks for your commitment to helping all Virginia students not just catch-up, but step ahead on their math and reading.
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News from our Content Specialists and Special Education
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Upcoming iTeach Webinars
Audience: Superintendents, Directors
Contact: Rob Gilstrap, Assistant Superintendent of Educator Prep
VDOE is pleased to announce two upcoming webinars on Virginia iTeach. The iTeach system allows provisional licensed teachers to complete remaining teacher education courses asynchronously within a self-paced program at a much lower cost than traditional programs. This program was approved by the Virginia Board of Education in June 2023 for more than twenty divisions.
Participating iTeach divisions can register for one of two webinars to learn more about the Virginia iTeach program, approved programs, and VDOE processes, including teacher licenses. One-hour sessions will be offered: November 29th at 3 p.m. and November 30th at 10 a.m.
Please select one session and register in advance using the links below. After submitting the registration, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. A recording of the webinar will be posted for all divisions.
Public Hearings for the 2024 English Standards of Learning
Audience: Superintendents, Directors, School Principals, Teachers, non-teaching staff, Parents
Contact: Jill Nogueras, Coordinator of English - (804) 418-4715
The Virginia Board of Education will hold public hearings on the proposed 2024 English Standards of Learning after first review in January 2024. The purpose of the Standards of Learning is to identify the essential content, processes, and skills for grade levels and subject courses across the Commonwealth. The 2024 English Standards of Learning as proposed are designed to be aligned to evidence-based literacy instructional practices and the Virginia Literacy Act. Public hearings are being planned for the following dates and locations:
- February 5, 2024
Moton Museum, Farmville, VA
- February 6, 2024
Virtual Public Hearing
- February 12, 2024
Virtual Public Hearing
- February 13, 2024
Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA
- February 15, 2024
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
- February 16, 2024
Virtual Public Hearing
- February 20, 2024
Chesterfield Career Technical Center Hull, Chesterfield, VA
- February 21, 2024
Virtual Public Hearing
- February 22, 2024
Southwest Higher Education Center, Abingdon, VA
- February 26, 2024
Laurel Ridge Community College, Middletown, VA
The most current information about the revision process and public hearing dates/locations is available on the Revisions to the 2017 English Standards of Learning webpage.
Principal Mentoring Pilot Project Announced
Audience: Superintendents, Directors, School Principal
The VDOE, together with VAESP and VASSP, announced today the Virginia Principal Mentoring Project, a pilot program focused on mentoring principals with a year or less experience and who are leading federally identified at-risk schools. The project will pair current principals with successful recently retired principals best able to share their experience in the position and perspective on overcoming the challenges faced in the current educational environment.
Recognizing the crucial need to support new principals in challenged schools, in addition to pairing new principals with mentors, a comprehensive professional development program will be implemented to enhance their leadership capabilities in key areas. Designed to initially work with 24 principals at federally identified at-risk schools, the pilot program is expected to fully commence before the 2024-2025 school year.
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School Performance & Support
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VVAAS Public Reports and Professional Development Opportunities
Audience: Superintendents, Directors, School Principals
Contact: Morri Pace, VVAAS Coordinator; Dr. Dave Myers, Deputy Superintendent/Chief Information Officer
VDOE and SAS® EVAAS are pleased to announce the upcoming release of two public reports in Virginia Visualization and Analytic Solution (VVAAS) today, November 16, 2023. The VVAAS Public Site and the Virginia Learning Gap Analysis can be found on the VDOE VVAAS webpage along with professional development opportunities for Virginia educators.
The VVAAS public site provides a graphing tool called scatterplots, enabling comparison among Virginia K-12 public divisions. The scatterplots create interactive graphs for an SOL test that include growth, achievement, and student demographic information for each division within the state. The public site will contain information about the students who tested in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school year. The Public Site resource will also allow educators in similar demographic divisions to collaborate for the purpose of improving student outcomes. Additionally, the public will be informed on ways to support education in their area with time, talents, and resources.
VDOE and SAS Institute Inc. (SAS) collaborated to leverage existing student assessment data to yield insight into how the pandemic disrupted student learning and how students have subsequently performed after this disruption. The report focuses on student performance by comparing students’ pre-pandemic expected performance with their post-pandemic actual performance in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years.
VVAAS 2022-2023 data, user accounts, and professional development opportunities for educators have been live since October 18, 2023. All divisions should verify they have a Super Division User for VVAAS. The VDOE looks forward to partnering with educators in various training opportunities. Educators can select from in-person, webinars, and hosted group learning environments that best fit their needs. For updates on training or VVAAS information please visit the VDOE VVAAS webpage or VVAAS Canvas course for VVAAS: Looking at Y2 events and registration information.
Notification of Private Day Placement Data Posting
Audience: Superintendents, Directors, School Principals
Contact: Samantha Gregory, Coordinator of Specially Designed Behavior Intervention and Improvement
In the revised state budget, an amendment was made for the Office of Children’s Services (OCS) to contract with the VDOE Department of Special Populations regarding private day placements for students with disabilities.
In compliance with this amendment, the VDOE will conduct a review of private day placements across the Commonwealth. As a part of this review, the following data will be compiled and shared with OCS:
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The number of students in private day placements by locality,
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The ratio of children in private day placements to the total number of students in the local educational agency (LEA), and
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Identification of LEAs that exceed the statewide average of private day placements compared to the LEA’s enrollment.
This information will also be made publicly available on the OCS website by October 1 of each year. As with other data shared with the public, methods will be followed to ensure privacy and confidentiality.
The VDOE recognizes the new reporting requirements may raise questions. While the specifics of this partnership are still in development, more information and opportunities related to this amendment are forthcoming.
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Division Finance and Budgeting
2022-2023 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Maintenance of Effort (MOE) Requirements ⚠️
Audience: Superintendents; Division Finance and Special Education Staff
Contact: Shalonda Lewis, Special Education Financial Data Specialist
The Maintenance of Effort requirements in §300.203(b) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires school divisions to spend at least the same amount of local or local plus state dollars for the current school year on the delivery of special education and related services as were spent from that same source in the last year the school division met its MOE compliance obligation.
All school divisions must utilize the IDEAMOE Application through VDOE’s Single Sign-on for Web Systems (SSWS) portal to report costs associated with providing special education and related services to children and youth with disabilities that are above and beyond the cost of providing regular education programs to nondisabled students. The data collection window will open December 4, 2023, and close January 31, 2024.
A pre-recorded training session reviewing the purpose of MOE, allowable and unallowable exceptions, methods of calculation, consequences of non-compliance and submitting the data will be made available, and two live question and answer sessions will be conducted in January 2024 to provide assistance. Special Education Directors will receive an email from the Assistant Superintendent of Special Populations to access these resources and are encouraged to share the information with those assisting with this data collection.
2022-2023 Stronger Connections Grant Allocations Announced ⚠️
Audience: Superintendents; Federal Program Coordinators, Title IV, Part A Directors
Contact: Marsha Granderson, Title IV Coordinator
As part of the “Stronger Connections” grant program announced by Governor Youngkin earlier this year, grant allocations are now available. The Stronger Connections grant program prioritizes divisions where students are at increased risk of violence and chronic absenteeism and with high student-to-staff ratios for counselors, psychologists and social workers.
Stronger Connections grants are targeted to improve school safety through school hardening measures that reduce vulnerability to attacks in K-12 schools and improve communication during emergencies. Grant funds can also be used to fund school resource and school security officers in schools where none are currently assigned.
Subgrantees may access their funds through the reimbursement process for the period beginning July 1, 2023, with encumbrance through September 30, 2026.
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News from the Virginia Board of Education
Lab Schools
The Virginia Board of Education this week approved two new lab schools, Germanna Community College’s Future Educators Academy and University of Mary Washington’s Academy of Technology and Innovation. With three approved lab schools among 20 lab school applicants across the Commonwealth, Virginia is becoming a top national leader in lab school development.
The first lab school, VCU x CodeRVA, was unanimously approved by the Virginia Board of Education in July 2023.
CTE Accreditation Standards
The Board also approved state programmatic accreditation standards supporting clearly defined and uniform standards for career and technical education programming.
December Meeting
The Board will have their final meeting of the calendar year in December to give final review to Board’s Comprehensive Plan, the 2023 Annual Report, as well as the 2023 Prescriptions on the Standards of Quality. All of these documents are available in their pre-reviewed form on this week’s Board meeting notice.
Listening Sessions Planned ⚠️
With the state Board of Education having begun the official regulatory process this past August to revise Virginia’s Standards of Accreditation with an intention of creating an accountability measurement separate from accreditation, the Board is planning listening sessions across the Commonwealth to help facilitate public engagement in the accountability measurement development process.
These listening sessions are intended to inform the Board and facilitate public input focused on potential accountability measures. The sessions are being coordinated by the Hunt Institute, an independent, non-profit organization.
Parents, educators and interested citizens are invited to attend the session in their region and comment on their expectations for accountability measurements. Meetings will be held:
Regions, Dates, and Times
| Location |
Date |
Time |
Event Site |
| Region 7 |
Mon., Nov. 20 |
6:30-8:00 pm |
Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, 1 Partnership Circle, Abingdon, VA 24210 |
| Region 6 |
Mon., Nov. 27 |
6:30-8:00 pm |
Roanoke City Public Schools, William Fleming High School, 3649 Ferncliff Ave NW, Roanoke, VA 24017 |
| Region 3 |
Friday, Dec. 1 |
5:30-7:00 pm |
Stafford Public Schools, Brooke Point High School, 1700 Courthouse Rd, Stafford, VA 22554 |
| Region 4 |
Tues., Dec. 5 |
7:00-8:30 pm |
George Mason University, Science and Technology Campus, building TBD |
| Region 5 |
Thurs., Dec. 7 |
6:30-8:00 pm |
Bedford County Public Schools, Liberty Middle School, 1237 Lacey Putney Way, Bedford, VA 24523 |
| Region 1 |
Mon., Dec. 11 |
6:30-8:00 pm |
Chesterfield County Public Schools, Career Technical Center, 13900 Hull Street, Midlothian, VA 23112 |
| Region 2 |
Weds., Dec. 13 |
6:30-8:00 pm |
Chesapeake Public Schools, Indian River High School, 1969 Braves Trail, Chesapeake, Virginia 23325 |
| Region 8 |
Thurs., Dec. 14 |
6:30-8:00 pm |
Greensville County Public Schools, Greensville County High School, 403 Harding Street. Emporia, VA. 23847 |
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Career Opportunities at VDOE
VDOE is hiring! Our newest openings include:
- Office Manager
- Director of Behavioral Health and Wellness
- Business Analyst - Systems Architect
- IT System Administrator
- Instructional Technology Specialist
- Associate Director of Development & Database
- School Nutrition Farm to School Specialist
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