ABOUT THIS COURSE

This course worked with middle and high school teachers in Virginia Beach, to explore how they could effectively prepare students for a new kind of state-level assessment. In 2023, the state of VA began field testing a new assessment item: Integrated Reading and Writing Practice. Middle and high school students were now to be given one or more passages and then would have to respond to a prompt using textual evidence.

The course leveraged evidence-based practice in literacy pedagogy, emphasized portfolio development, and worked through drafting-feedback-revision cycles to help teachers prepare effective materials for use on the ground.

Participants were able to develop understanding of the requirements of the Integrated Reading and Writing Practice Items assessment, effective strategies for preparing students to engage and respond to nonfiction-based passages, and concrete strategies to help students articulate claims and build evidence into their writing.

Offered in collaboration with UVA’s Center for the Liberal Arts and the Virginia Beach Public Schools.