Fall 2026-2027 Rappahannock County Public Schools Partnership Update 

Fall 2026

We have begun our fourth year partnering with Rappahannock County Public Schools in Virginia to strengthen curiosity and critical thinking. The goal of the partnership this year is to build capacity so the teachers we’ve worked with over these years can take the work forward on their own. To meet that goal, we’re deeply focused on elevating the expertise of the educators we’re working with.

In September, our staff visited the classrooms of our current 26-27 RCPS Inspired Teaching Fellows and looked for strong examples of the ABCDEs at play in their instructional approaches. We took what we learned from these visits and met with administrators to identify the larger needs they were observing across all classrooms. The district has already incorporated the ABCDEs of Learner Needs into their observation tools and the language they use in professional learning with their staff. But there was a desire to see what it looks like to build a lesson plan where learner needs are anticipated and incorporated into the design.

At the high school level, this workshop even included an exploration of how to use an AI lesson planning tool, Dani Driggers, an Inspired Teaching Fellow alum, created using the ABCDEs as one of the frameworks for the design. 

We are eager to see where the work goes in the coming months and are excited to be working with a community that is taking the Inspired Teaching approach and incorporating it in meaningful ways into the culture of their schools.