Beginning December 15, 2014, Matt will officially join the Region 4 family! Matt began his

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) career in 1992. As a teacher, he worked at Chantilly

High School, McLean High School, and Lake Braddock Secondary School. He served as a

summer school principal and as assistant principal at Chantilly High School prior to being

selected as Langley High School’s principal. During his tenure in FCPS, he was awarded the

Golden Eagle Award for success with multi-cultural populations, the Impact II Grant for

technology education, the Bob Plybon Humanitarian Award, and the Chantilly High School

Student Choice Award. Mr. Ragone was a finalist for the Nancy Sprague Leadership Award

for first year administrators, and was awarded the Aspiring School Superintendent Scholarship

from the AASA.

Welcome Matt! We are glad to have you on our team!!!

Follow us on Twitter!

@Region4FCPS

December 5, 2014

12/5-1st&2nd Year

Principal Induction

Meeting/12:00pm@Hu

nt Valley

12/9-Literacy

Leaders/12:00pm

@Providence

Presbyterian

12/10/RSS Pyramid

meeting/8:00am

12/11-8:00am R4

AP&SBA Leadership

Learning@WSHS

12/11-WS Pyramid

meeting/8:00am

12/12-CVPyramid

Mtg./1:00pm-Dogfish

Head Restaurant

12/17, 8:30am Winter

Breakfast Celebration

@WSHS

12/24/14-12/26/14

Christmas Holidays

1/1/15-1/2/15 New

Year’s Holiday

Literacy Institute

The next literacy session will be held on December 9th at Providence Presbyterian Church from 1:00-

3:30pm. This professional development opportunity is for elementary principals, one literacy

leader, and one instructional coach (if your school has an instructional coach). Please inform the

literacy leader and the instructional coach of this session. The attached Look Fors describe many of the

key elements that can be observed in three components of Balanced Literacy:

Focus lessons

Guided reading

Independent reading.

These Look Fors are based on the input obtained from principals, reading specialists, and instructional

coaches during the Region Literacy sessions in October. These specific observable actions can be used

to further teachers’ reflection about their instructional decisions which promotes continuous

improvement in implementing a Balanced Literacy approach. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

$ Budget/ FY15 $

Please make every effort to understand the attached “A Citizen’s Guide to Understanding the Budget “ for FY 2015. In addition, please take a close look at your current school balances. Now is a perfect time of the year to reflect on the results we have obtained (e-CART window-1 and/or other formative assessments) to support the needs of our students. We will not be able to authorize a carry-forward of more than 10%-15% of your current budget for 2015-2016.

We are looking forward to the upcoming Region 4 meeting which will be held

at West Springfield High School:

When: December 17, 2014

Time: 8:30-10:30 a.m.

Please bring a fully charged laptop with you!!

The Centreville Varsity Football Team looks to defend its 2013 State

Championship! The Wildcats will play in the state semi-final football

game on Saturday Dec 6th. 2p.m. vs. Westfield HS—The game will be

at Centreville HS. Let’s cheer on our Wildcats!!!

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Centreville teacher named finalist in national STEM competition

Bull Run Elementary School teacher Jean Wilber has been named one of five Virginia finalists in a

national science education challenge. Jean is a sixth-grade teacher in the advanced academic program,

is the only finalist from Fairfax County and one of 255 national finalists in Samsung’s Solve for

Tomorrow Contest. Check out Jean’s story in the link below!

http://m.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20141125/NEWS/141129582&template=fairfaxtimesMobile

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West Springfield Elementary School

Best Public Elementary Schools ranks 40,403 elementary schools based on key student statistics and 4.6 million

opinions from 280,000 students and parents. A high ranking indicates that the school is an exceptional academic

institution with a diverse set of high-achieving students and faculty, and the students are very happy with their

experiences. West Springfield ES has been ranked #23 – Congratulations WSES!

West Springfield High School

Jenny Walker, math teacher at WSHS, was awarded an innovation grant to provide iPads to support double

blocked algebra instruction. This will allow her to differentiate instruction for struggling math students and

introduce flipped model classes. Congratulation Jenny!

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#News, Tweets and Repeats!!

From the Harvard University EdCast: Babies, Nerds, and Tweets

# December 2, David Johns, executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational

Excellence for African Americans, visited the Askwith Forum to lead a discussion on educational

opportunity. Johns engaged the crowd with his frank talk about the lessons he's learned as part of

the initiative, as well as what needs be done in the United States in order to ensure all students --

especially students of color -- achieve academic excellence.

In this edition of the Harvard EdCast, Johns shares more solutions and strategies for closing the

achievement gap in communities across the country. You can access this EdCast at gse.harvard.edu

#Harvard University is kicking off #ThroughEducation Thursday! Although today is Friday,

keep the conversation going on the Region4 Twitter page! Share your story of impact of why

education matters in your life.

pic.twitter.com/zdjQ8nUbrH