The EAL Plan will adapt to the needs of students, staff, the community, and new laws. Different departments, offices, and schools will work together to improve literacy for students. FCPS staff will gather data and share updates on the plan's progress with families and school communities.

Introduction

This [Literacy] is the vital equity work: students must comprehend what they’re reading, possess advanced decoding skills, have word wealth, and be able to command all of these literacy skills. Our social justice frame should prompt us to ask these questions: How are students code breakers, how are they text users, how are they text critics, and how are they meaning-makers? Our culturally responsive pedagogies arm us to build these dispositions and skills in our most vulnerable kids.

A Conversation About Instructional Equity by Zaretta Hammond (2020)

FCPS knows that literacy is the key to student success. Being able to read, write, think, and discuss are essential skills for life. Research shows that developing strong early literacy skills is important for learning and achievement in school and beyond. (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008; Foorman et.al., 2016; National Reading Panel, 2000).

Schools have tried hard to meet the literacy needs of all students. However, a lack of understanding about systemic inequities has led to attempts to "fix" students rather than addressing the causes of these inequities. In FCPS, performance data on Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) Standards of Learning (SOL) shows consistent achievement gaps for Black, Hispanic, Multilingual Learners, and Students with Disabilities. To address these gaps, FCPS created the Equitable Access to Literacy (EAL) plan. Started in Fall 2021, this plan uses important findings from literacy research and culturally responsive teaching methods.

Vision

FCPS is dedicated to a comprehensive, culturally responsive Pre-K-12  literacy program. This program uses proven methods based on reading research and expands learning opportunities to meet students' needs.

FCPS ensures students get clear reading and writing instruction to become proficient in literacy and eliminate achievement gaps based on race, gender, location, ability, socioeconomic status, or language spoken at home.

Commitments

FCPS’s approach to literacy is based on science-based reading research, using a structured literacy model guided by three principles: The Simple View of Reading (Gough, P. B., & Tunmer, W. E. 1986), The Four-Part Processing Model (Seidenberg & McCLelland 1989), and The Reading Rope (Scarborough, 2001).

FCPS is committed to:

• Using data to identify systemic barriers to student performance; examine teaching practices; monitor achievement gaps; and inform changes to policies, practices, and resources.
• Implementing a multi-tiered system of support to ensure evidence-based instruction and early student intervention in reading and writing.
• Providing a solid foundation in literacy through daily, explicit, systematic, and cumulative instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing.
• Deepening educators' knowledge of evidence-based literacy practices and culturally responsive teaching.
• Communicating with families/caregivers and the community about student literacy outcomes.
• Enhancing educators' understanding of essential practices for Multilingual learners.
• Implementing practices to improve language comprehension, such as engaging Multilingual learners in speaking and listening activities with English-proficient peers and teachers.