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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>74111</law_id><section_number>22.1-1</section_number><catch_line>(Effective July 1, 2026) Definitions</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>19.2-70.3</reference><reference>22.1-253.13:4</reference><reference>22.1-274.2</reference><reference>22.1-5</reference><reference>22.1-5.1</reference><reference>23.1-902.1</reference><reference>46.2-334</reference><reference>54.1-2901</reference><reference>54.1-3001</reference><reference>54.1-3408</reference><reference>56-585.5</reference><reference>8.01-195.2</reference><reference>8.01-225</reference><reference>8.01-424</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="22.1">Education</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="1">System of Public Schools; General Provisions</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>As used in this title, unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#x201C;Board&#x201D; or &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">State Board</span>&#x201D; means the Board of Education.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Department</span>&#x201D; means the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> of Education.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Division superintendent</span>&#x201D; means the <span class="dictionary">division superintendent</span> of schools of a school division.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Dual enrollment</span>&#x201D; means the enrollment of a qualified high school student in a postsecondary course that is creditable toward high school completion and a career certificate or an associate or baccalaureate degree at a public institution of higher education. &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Dual enrollment</span>&#x201D; does not include the enrollment of a qualified high school student in a postsecondary course that is not creditable toward high school completion.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Elementary</span>&#x201D; includes kindergarten.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Elementary</span> and secondary&#x201D; and &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">elementary</span> or secondary&#x201D; include <span class="dictionary">elementary</span>, middle, and high school grades.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary"><span class="dictionary">Evidence</span>-based literacy instruction</span>&#x201D; means structured instructional practices, including sequential, systematic, explicit, and cumulative teaching, that (i) are based on reliable, trustworthy, and valid <span class="dictionary">evidence</span> consistent with <span class="dictionary">science-based reading research</span>; (ii) are used in core or general instruction, supplemental instruction, intervention services, and intensive intervention services; (iii) have a demonstrated record of success in adequately increasing students&#x2019; reading competency, vocabulary, oral language, and comprehension and in building mastery of the foundational reading skills of phonological and phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, phonics, spelling, and text reading fluency; and (iv) are able to be differentiated in <span class="dictionary">order</span> to meet the individual needs of students. &#x201C;<span class="dictionary"><span class="dictionary">Evidence</span>-based literacy instruction</span>&#x201D; does not include practices that instruct students to gain meaning from print through the use of (a) three-cueing, which includes semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic cues; (b) meaning, structure, and visual cues; or (c) visual memory for word recognition.
		&#x201C;Governing body&#x201D; or &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">local governing body</span>&#x201D; means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, responsible for appropriating funds for such locality, as the context may require.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Middle school</span>&#x201D; means separate schools for early adolescents and the <span class="dictionary">middle school</span> grades that might be housed at <span class="dictionary">elementary</span> or high schools.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Parent</span>&#x201D; or &#x201C;<span class="dictionary"><span class="dictionary">parents</span></span>&#x201D; means any <span class="dictionary">parent</span>, guardian, legal custodian, or other person having control or charge of a child.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Person of school age</span>&#x201D; means a person who will have reached his fifth birthday on or before September 30 of the school year and who has not reached twenty years of age on or before August 1 of the school year.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">School board</span>&#x201D; means the <span class="dictionary">school board</span> that governs a school division.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Science-based reading research</span>&#x201D; means research that (i) applies rigorous, systematic, and objective observational or experimental procedures to obtain valid knowledge relevant to reading development, reading instruction, and reading and writing difficulties and (ii) explains how proficient reading and writing develop, why some children have difficulties developing key literacy skills, and how schools can best assess and instruct early literacy, including the use of <span class="dictionary"><span class="dictionary">evidence</span>-based literacy instruction</span> practices to promote reading and writing achievement.
		&#x201C;Superintendent&#x201D; means the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Textbooks and other high-quality instructional materials</span>&#x201D; means systematic print or digital curricula that serve as the primary curriculum basis for a grade-level subject or course and that provide (i) adequate content and materials for student mastery of corresponding Standards of Learning; (ii) instructional practices that are aligned with general and discipline-specific research <span class="dictionary">evidence</span>; (iii) assessments to monitor student mastery of curriculum content; (iv) guidance for meeting student needs including enrichment for above-grade-level students and intensification for students who are at-risk of not mastering curriculum content, including English language learners and students with disabilities; and (v) resources for teachers that develop content knowledge, support implementation of instructional practices that are based on reliable, trustworthy, and valid <span class="dictionary">evidence</span> and have a demonstrated record of success, and build understanding of the rationale for curricula components.</p></section></text><history>1980, c. 559; 1985, c. 407; 1991, c. 178; 1995, c. 852; 2000, c. 629; 2001, c. 828; 2020, cc. 860, 861; 2022, cc. 549, 550; 2024, cc. 12, 44, 647, 684; 2025, cc. 680, 683.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
