At Viroqua Area Schools, our mission is to nurture excellence, unlock potential, and ignite passion in all students.
The following information shares how the district is implementing the requirements of Wisconsin 2023 Act 20.
For more information about the law, see Act 20 Legislation and Act 20 FAQ
This Early Literacy Remediation Plan, which is required by state law, addresses reading instruction, assessment, and remediation with a primary focus on five year old kindergarten through third grade.
Act 20 Requirement: By July 1, 2025, all individuals employed as a 5K-grade 3 teacher, reading teacher, or administrator will need to begin a training on science-based early literacy instruction from a list of approved programs.
VAS Plan: All of our 5K-3rd grade teachers will complete Orton Gillingham training through the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education. This is a 30-hour training endorsed by the Center for Effective Reading Instruction. Administrators will complete the Foundational Literacy Leaders Training through Glean Education and CESA 4. Both these trainings meet the criteria set forth by Act 20.
Act 20 Requirement: All Wisconsin schools are required to provide science-based early literacy instruction in both universal and intervention settings. Science-based early literacy instruction is defined as the following.
Instruction that is systematic and explicit and consists of all the following:
*Phonological awareness
*Phonemic awareness
*Phonics
*Building background knowledge
*Oral language development
*Vocabulary building
*Instruction in writing
*Instruction in comprehension
*Reading fluency
VAS Plan: All 5K-4th grade educators will implement Benchmark Advance beginning in September 2024. This curricular resource is science-based and includes all the components of systematic and explicit instruction listed above. Staff received professional development for the implementation of the resource in August 2024 and will have additional professional development throughout the 2024-25 school year.
Information on interventions can be found under Personal Reading Plans tab below.
Act 20 Requirement: Act 20 states that 4K students are to be assessed twice during the school year on phonemic awareness and letter sound knowledge. 5K-3rd grade students will be screened at least 3 times during the school year on phonemic awareness, decoding skills, alphabet knowledge, letter sound knowledge, and oral vocabulary. Students will be screened using AimswebPlus, a fundamental reading skills screening assessment selected by the DPI.
*Note that an amendment to Act 20, signed in March 2024, delayed the first administration of the screener in school year 24-25 to mid-year (January for 5K-3rd grade, spring for 4K).
VAS Plan: VAS educators will use AimswebPlus assessments in accordance to the required screening windows and subtests. An assessment team will monitor the results of screening assessments to determine, develop, and implement plans to follow up with additional diagnostic assessments using AimswebPlus and/or Fastbridge. A legal guardian has the right to submit a request for diagnostic assessment at any time, including the right to request an evaluation through special education.
Act 20 Requirement: Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, Act 20 requires districts to provide parents and families with results of the reading readiness screener no later than 15 days after the assessment is scored, including all of the following:
The pupil's score on the reading readiness assessment.
The pupil's score in each early literacy skill category assessed by the reading readiness assessment.
The pupil's percentile rank score on the reading readiness assessment, if available.
The definition of “at-risk” and the score on the reading readiness assessment that would indicate that a pupil is at-risk.
A plain language description of the literacy skills the reading readiness assessment is designed to measure.
VAS Plan: Parents/guardians will be notified within 15 days of the scoring of each early literacy screener, including information about the assessments, their child's screening results, and if additional diagnostic assessment is required. If additional diagnostic assessments are given, parents/guardians will also receive information about those results and information on the child's Personal Reading Plan. Parents and caregivers can expect a letter within 15 days of the scoring of the statewide early literacy screener.
Act 20 Requirement: Any 5K-3rd grade student who scores below the 25th percentile on the reading readiness screener must receive a personal reading plan. The personal reading plan must include:
The pupil's specific early literacy skill deficiencies, as identified by the applicable assessment.
Goals and benchmarks for the pupil's progress toward grade-level literacy skills.
How the pupil's progress will be monitored.
A description of the interventions and any additional instructional services that will be provided to the pupil to address the pupil's early literacy skill deficiencies.
The programming that the pupil's teacher will use to provide reading instruction to the pupil. This programming must align to the definition of science-based early literacy instruction as stated in Act 20 and address the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Strategies the pupil's parent is encouraged to use to help the pupil achieve grade-level literacy skills.
Any additional services available and appropriate to accelerate the pupil's early literacy skill development.
VAS will provide parents/guardians a copy of the personal reading plan and provide progress updates after 10 weeks.
VAS Plan: VAS will create a personal reading plan for all qualifying students in Educlimber. This plan will include all the required information as defined in Act 20 and will be shared with families.
Act 20 Requirement: Schools must have a policy for promotion from 3rd to 4th grade, based on a DPI model policy, by July 1, 2025. More information will be added as it is released from the state.
VAS Plan: The VAS promotion policy will be revised to align with the model released by the DPI.
Act 20 Requirement: Act 20 requires each school district to articulate and post an early literacy remediation plan that includes all of the following:
The name of the diagnostic reading assessment the school district uses
A description of the reading interventions the school district uses to address characteristics of dyslexia
A description of how the school district monitors pupil progress during interventions, including the tools used and their frequency
A description of how the school district uses early literacy assessment results to evaluate early literacy instruction
A description of the parent notification policy that complies with Act 20
VAS Plan: In alignment with state requirements, VAS will post and update an early literacy remediation plan on the school district's website.