McLean-area families with kindergarten through fifth-grade children can get a free, 30-minute reading assessment on Saturday, Aug. 22, two days before Fairfax County Public Schools opens for the 2026-27 school year on Monday, Aug. 24.

McLean School, a private K-12 school in Potomac, Maryland, that draws students from across the Washington metro area, is hosting the complimentary Acadience Reading Screening from 8:30 a.m. to noon at its Falls Road Campus, 11810 Falls Road, Potomac. The screening is open to any K-5 student, not just families enrolled at the school.

The Acadience assessment is one of three universal reading screeners in the United States recognized for reliably identifying students who need immediate reading intervention, according to the school's screening page. Each 30-minute session tells families whether their child's reading competency falls above, at or below grade level.

The screening covers phoneme segmentation, rapid automatic naming, letter sound associations, word recognition fluency, oral reading fluency and reading comprehension.

According to a U.S. News ranking published in October 2025, 29 percent of FCPS students did not meet reading proficiency benchmarks. McLean School says on its website that it takes four times as long to bring a struggling fourth-grader up to grade level in reading as it does a kindergartner.

Abby Himmelrich, McLean School's K-4 reading specialist, administers the screenings. Families must register in advance by contacting Himmelrich at [email protected] or 301-635-6710.

The school operates 27 bus stops across the DMV region, including Northern Virginia. Families who miss the Aug. 22 date can contact McLean School for future screening availability through its registration page.