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A division literacy plan was presented to the Rockbridge County School Board at its June 11 meeting.
The plan details how the division will implement the Virginia Literacy Act, legislation aimed at improving student reading outcomes in the state, which will go into effect at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school years.
Timothy Martino, assistant superintendent of instruction and administration, told the Board that he worked with the division’s reading specialists in developing the plan.
“The four of us put our heads together and came up with something we think will be better for our kids,” he said.
Included is a literacy vision for Rockbridge County Schools, which reads, in part, “We will utilize a structured literacy approach that reflects explicit phonics instruction, vocabulary experiences, interactions with high quality texts, and other specific and targeted supports.”
“This literacy vision is substantially different than what it has been in the past, because the science of reading has now come to the forefront as opposed to guided reading,” Martino said at the meeting.
“As you look at it, the big thing is you need high quality materials and very specific, explicit instruction. Everything has a purpose.”
Instructional, supplemental, and intervention reading materials have been adopted from the list approved by the state.
The VLA also mandates training for teachers and reading specialists, which is already underway in Rockbridge.
“We are way ahead of the curve,” said Martino. “We started two years ago.”
In addition, the literacy plan also lays out community engagement efforts, to bring parents, caregivers, and the greater community into literacy education.
Rockbridge plans to hold a “State of Literacy” forum each semester, where teachers and parents will be able to learn more about the VLA and its implementation.
