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Prince Edward schools adopt updated literacy plan, add middle-school screening and interventions
Summary
The Prince Edward County School Board approved updates to the division literacy plan to add middle-school screening and specified intervention programs and training; the board instructed staff to submit the plan July 1 so the incoming superintendent can sign it.
The Prince Edward County School Board on Tuesday approved updates to the division’s literacy plan that add middle-school screening requirements, new intervention materials and teacher training, and a plan to submit the revised document on July 1 so the incoming superintendent can sign it.
School staff told the board the Virginia Department of Education has issued additional requirements for middle-school literacy that require local divisions to show screening and intervention steps. The board voted to accept the updates and to allow staff to file the plan July 1 so Dr. Jones’s name will appear as superintendent on the submission.
According to the presentation to the board, the updated plan adds screening and intervention tools for grades 4–8, lists supplemental and intervention materials recommended for middle school (including Read180 and Lexia products), and describes additional teacher training, including LETRS, to prepare middle-school staff to deliver the interventions. The presenter said the state has not yet supplied all technical specifications on whether every middle-school student or only those who fail state standards must be screened, and the plan was written to add the screening once clarified by the VDOE.
Board member discussion focused on timing and signatures. One board member asked whether staff could submit the plan now with the acting superintendent’s signature; staff said the division may either submit now under Acting Superintendent Dr. Cox or delay submission until July 1 to allow the new superintendent, Dr. Jones, to sign the document. The board chose the July 1 filing.
The plan also spells out communication steps to inform parents of screening outcomes and to share data from screeners in report cards and division communications. Staff said supports and interventions used at elementary grades (for example, SPIRE and other phonics programs for students with disabilities) will be extended or adjusted for middle-school students, and that the division will provide professional development for staff unfamiliar with middle-school intervention models.
The board approved the plan as presented and directed staff to submit it July 1 so the permanent superintendent’s name will appear on the filing.
