As Fairfax County schools prepare for a full return to five days of in-person learning this fall, a top priority of FCPS is ensuring there is an appropriate plan to bring students up to grade level or higher. Below is a brief snapshot of the key strategies FCPS will use to address student learning loss during the upcoming school year:

Reviewing and Reteaching: FCPS is updating its curriculum instruction guides to ensure that teachers are provided with effective information and strategies to review or reteach previous grade standards as they teach current year content. This approach is critical for helping students master essential knowledge and fill any skill gaps. This approach will also allow FCPS to accelerate learning, as opposed to starting a cycle of remediation. For students who have more significant learning needs, FCPS anticipates providing a variety of interventions.

Identifying Student Needs: Students at all levels will participate in classroom assessments based on grade level units to identify specific learning gaps that need to be addressed during its regularly scheduled grade-level instruction. Elementary students will participate in a VDOE Fall “SOL-like” assessment, as well as the iReady screener. These will serve as “initial indicators” for each student’s needs in literacy and mathematics. Middle school students will participate in the new VDOE assessments and mathematics/literacy inventories. High school students who have risk indicators will participate in mathematics and literacy inventories.

Preparing Teachers to Tackle Learning Loss: Upon return to school, teachers will engage in professional development, so they are prepared to implement updated curriculum guides and effectively use data and strategies to support social-emotional learning. Ongoing professional development will occur throughout the year with specific support for teacher leaders/coaches at each school site. In addition, our resource teachers from Central Office will be deployed in our schools to support professional development, planning, and instructional delivery.

Source:  Fairfax County Public Schools