Reassessing How Reading Is Taught

BV Teachers Briefed On Literacy Act Goals

Buena Vista City Public Schools recently held a public information session to educate both division staff and the public on the Virginia Literacy Act, which will go into effect at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.

The session was led by Cindy Moyers and Jen McRae, from the Virginia Department of Education Technical and Training Assistance Center (TTAC) at James Madison University.

“The reason that we’re here tonight, one of the reasons, is that Dr. Miller [assistant superintendent of instruction for Buena Vista Schools] wanted us to prepare you, tell you a little bit about the Virginia Literacy Act, which was this legislation that was passed last year and it goes into effect in the fall of 2024,” said McRae.

“The heart of it is just that, we have all this research about what works with reading, and that’s what we should be doing,” she said.

“So the law just says, we should not be using methods that have been found to be ineffective, or even harmful, in that it results in a lot of kids not learning how to read, and instead, we should look at the evidence, things that have been proven to be effective.”

McRae and Moyers directed exercises where Buena Vista staff mapped out sections of the brain and were asked to share their own early experiences in reading and spelling.

“I started with [kindergarteners], I thought I did really well every year,” Moyers said. “I would have four or five that would hover the benchmark, so I would get them the services they needed in kindergarten, and then they would be reassessed in the spring, and we’d made some good gains, but I still had a couple that would be right below the benchmark or hovering it.”

It wasn’t until moving to second grade that Moyers realized these students were not catching up to their peers.

“Then I had an opportunity to jump up to second grade. And at that point, I got to have, I think all but one of the children that I had in kindergarten,” she said.

“They came in, I thought, ‘They’ve had two years; they’re going to be great.’ We started these lessons again, and low and behold, many of them were falling right where they were falling when they left kindergarten.”

“And all of a sudden, it made light bulbs go off to me,” she said.

The implementation of the VLA will bring in new assessments for reading, and changes to what happens when children score below expected levels.

“Now when kids don’t meet the benchmark, they going to qualify for extra reading support. We had that previously too, but this time, they will get an individualized reading plan,” McRae explained.

“Families are going to be involved in the development of that plan, so they’re going to know that their child is struggling with some aspect of reading, and they’re going to know what we are going to do to help them,” she said.

Reading curriculum will also be changing across the state.

McRae highlighted preparedness from schools and teacher training in bringing the resources and guidance from the state into classrooms in ways that will meaningfully impact students.

“The other thing is, it doesn’t matter how good of a curriculum or a program you have, a curriculum does not teach kids. Teachers teach kids,” she said.

“You can put a tool in a teacher’s hand. It could have all the evidence and research behind it, but if a teacher doesn’t really understand it, or isn’t given enough time to plan, then it’s not going to be successful,” said McRae.

“So the other piece is that teachers, principals, are going to have to go through some professional development to learn about the science of reading. Buena Vista’s already gotten a head start on that.”

McRae acknowledged that changes from the VLA will be difficult, but emphasized growth from both schools and communities.

“These are good changes, but change is always hard and scary, and we want to take that away from both our educators and our parents, and kids,” McRae said.

“These are all good things, but change doesn’t happen overnight, and we have to give ourselves grace, as a community, as a school division too, as we learn more and do better.”