                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

(EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2026) DEFINITIONS (§ 22.1-1)

As used in this title, unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#8220;Board&#8221; or &#8220;State Board&#8221; means the Board of Education.
		&#8220;Department&#8221; means the Department of Education.
		&#8220;Division superintendent&#8221; means the division superintendent of
schools of a school division.
		&#8220;Dual enrollment&#8221; 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. &#8220;Dual enrollment&#8221; does not
include the enrollment of a qualified high school student in a postsecondary
course that is not creditable toward high school completion.
		&#8220;Elementary&#8221; includes kindergarten.
		&#8220;Elementary and secondary&#8221; and &#8220;elementary or
secondary&#8221; include elementary, middle, and high school grades.
		&#8220;Evidence-based literacy instruction&#8221; means structured
instructional practices, including sequential, systematic, explicit, and
cumulative teaching, that (i) are based on reliable, trustworthy, and valid
evidence consistent with science-based reading research; (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&#8217; 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
order to meet the individual needs of students. &#8220;Evidence-based literacy
instruction&#8221; 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.
		&#8220;Governing body&#8221; or &#8220;local governing body&#8221; 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.
		&#8220;Middle school&#8221; means separate schools for early adolescents and
the middle school grades that might be housed at elementary or high schools.
		&#8220;Parent&#8221; or &#8220;parents&#8221; means any parent, guardian,
legal custodian, or other person having control or charge of a child.
		&#8220;Person of school age&#8221; 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.
		&#8220;School board&#8221; means the school board that governs a school
division.
		&#8220;Science-based reading research&#8221; 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 evidence-based literacy instruction practices to promote reading and
writing achievement.
		&#8220;Superintendent&#8221; means the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
		&#8220;Textbooks and other high-quality instructional materials&#8221; 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 evidence; (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 evidence and have a demonstrated record of
success, and build understanding of the rationale for curricula components.

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.