When Virginia passed the Literacy Act in 2022, it applied to kindergarten through 3rd grade. The idea was simple: catch reading problems early, when they are cheapest to fix. Starting with the 2025 to 2026 school year, the law grew up. It now reaches through 8th grade.
What the law actually requires
- Screening. Students take the VALLSS screener, a short check of the core skills reading is built on. It flags students as at risk before they fail anything.
- Student Reading Plans. A child flagged high risk gets an individual written plan describing the extra help the school will provide.
- Evidence based teaching. Schools must use reading curricula aligned with the science of reading. A 2025 law, HB2777, pushed this further by requiring high quality, evidence based instructional materials as the foundation of classroom teaching statewide.
- Staffing. Divisions must provide one reading specialist for every 550 students in the early grades, and Virginia teachers now complete dyslexia awareness training to hold a license.
Who gets screened in grades 4 to 8 this year
Not every older student takes the screener. This year the expansion targets students who failed the spring 2025 reading SOL, students who took the read aloud version of the test, and students new to Virginia whose records suggest they may need support. If your child is in one of those groups, expect a screening notice this fall.
What the school provides, and where families come in
The law makes schools screen, plan, and report. It cannot manufacture more hours in a school day. A reading specialist responsible for hundreds of students can rarely give any one child intensive, sustained practice. That is the gap families end up filling, and it is exactly the gap our twice a week intensive classes were built for.
The Literacy Act is good law. It finds the kids. Finding them was never the hard part, though. The hard part is the hundred patient hours that come after, and those hours belong to whoever shows up to teach them.
