Manassas City Public Schools has begun implementing the “All in Virginia” plan as part of a statewide funding plan to address learning disparities.
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Manassas City Public Schools has begun implementing the “All in Virginia” plan as part of a statewide funding plan to address learning disparities.
Ed Stevenson, director of instruction for the school division, presented the spending plan to the Manassas City School Board at its December meeting. In November, the Virginia Department of Education released a Manassas Public Schools plan to address student learning and literacy decline as part of the “All in Virginia” program launched by Governor Glenn Youngkin. approved.
The program is designed to assist students experiencing the lingering negative effects of COVID-19 and includes support for enforcement of the Virginia Literacy Act.
“While these types of programs are not new to our school sector, All In’s recommendations are helping to launch individual school programs outside of school hours to target learning gaps. I would like to note that,” Stevenson said.
The school division needs to spend the money by the end of the 2025-26 school year, Stevenson said. The department plans to use the funds through the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
The Governor made recommendations on how funds should be allocated through the All in Virginia Plan. Recommendations include:
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3-5 hours per week of 18-36 weeks of academic support for grades 3-8.
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Use of grade-level tools and materials
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Providing real-time instructional support from trained staff
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Regular progress monitoring
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Personalization tailored to student needs
The Governor also recommended that departments allocate 70% of their funding to the All In plan and 20% to implementing the Virginia Literacy Act.
Manassas School District’s plan follows that 70/20 recommendation. Additionally, the plan meets the governor’s recommendations by using blocks of support that target grades kindergarten through middle school. program:
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Operates all year round
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Kindergarten through 6th grade will receive 3 hours of support per week, and 7th through 8th grade will receive 5 hours of support per week.
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Use grade-level materials and platforms
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Featuring live instruction from certified teachers and trained staff
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Use “A Cycle that Works” programming and auxiliary tools to monitor progress
The school division provides one to three hours of academic support per week outside of school hours to supplement targeted instruction during the school day. Stephenson said students are identified as eligible for services based on their academic needs and invited to participate.
Support for the program is primarily provided by teachers, using a platform that allows them to personalize the experience to meet the needs of specific students.
The before- and after-school programs serve approximately 500 students at the elementary, middle and middle school levels throughout the district, Stevenson said.
timeline, monitoring
The program had already begun in October for some schools, but Stevenson said most schools didn’t start until November.
Officials said the school division’s targeted support program, already in place from 2022 to 2023, will require more weeks, hours per week, tools and resources, staff qualifications and evaluations, and progress monitoring processes. and other key aspects of the governor’s plan.
“Thus, the basic framework we established last year for our targeted assistance programs remains unchanged, but implementation has been enhanced and tailored based on the resources provided by the state,” Stevenson said. .
Stephenson said the school division is preparing personnel for implementation of the Virginia Literacy Act in 2024-2025. This includes core resource implementation and training, specialized learning for the core literacy program, strategies and screening and diagnostic tools mandated by the Virginia Literacy Act, and personal reading plans.
Regarding the Virginia Literacy Act, Stevenson said the school division is preparing core literacy resource recommendations to submit to the Board of Education in January.
Local professional learning based on the program adopted by the department will be rolled out to teachers during the second semester. State-level training for reading support teachers on practices, screening, and diagnostic tools is underway and will be expanded to other teachers later in the school year.
Although the fund does not have state reporting requirements, school divisions “use valid and reliable data sources, including common formative and benchmark assessments, diagnostic tests, inventories, and platform-based progress monitoring tools, to “We regularly evaluate the effectiveness of our programs and provide financial support,” Stevenson said.
Deputy Commissioner Lisa Stevens said that because there is no reporting requirement to the state, the state is simply “providing the program” and the school division oversees the implementation of the program.