VirtualSC and Edmentum Proficiency-Based Courses
The VirtualSC (VSC) provides online courses as an effective alternative for content recovery, Advanced Placement courses, meeting graduation requirements and resolving student schedule conflicts.
Virtual learning instruction involves teaching course content via the Internet. As in traditional face-to-face classrooms, teachers facilitate daily learning activities such as discussions, projects, labs, group work, and writing workshops. By providing feedback, remediation, and enrichment, virtual learning instructors guide students through VSC and Courseware (part of Edmentum) content approved courses.
VSC and Courseware offer flexibility. Students can access the courses anytime during the school day. Teachers will post materials for completion, communicate via chat, e-mail and discussion questions.
VSC and Courseware provide opportunities for content recovery and initial credit by keeping students on track, providing access to the content they need and helping students graduate on time.
All VSC and Courseware courses are accredited. School counselors can provide information on available courses that meet graduation requirements as well as additional courses that fulfill an Individualized Graduation Plan (IGP) major. Upon completion of a course, grades will be sent to the student’s home school. Students may contact their school counselor upon completion of the course for grade related information.
Grading Guidelines 1. Students taking a course for the first time will receive the grade earned in the virtual high school course. The weighting of the course will be determined according to the uniform grading scale. 2. Students taking content recovery courses for previously failed coursework (must have a grade in that course between 50 and 51) will receive a maximum passing grade of 60 after satisfactorily completing a course. The grade of 60 replaces any other grade earned. 3. If a student chooses to take an online course and receives a passing grade but has missed too many days to receive credit, the student must make up their attendance in attendance recovery. The grade originally earned will be the grade given after attendance is made up. 4. A student may take a course that he or she has previously passed or failed (within a two-year period) if the student is not satisfied with the grade earned. The grade earned in the repeat course is the grade received.
"Does the NCAA allow online courses? To determine eligibility of incoming student-athletes, the NCAA does accept (within the process of the course reviews) a number of high-quality online courses as long as they are college preparatory in nature. This means the online course has evidence of a teacher working with a student to provide 1) instruction that is college preparatory in nature, 2) assessments that are college preparatory in nature with responsive feedback on how to improve toward college-readiness, 3) a syllabus, proposed timeline and sequence of lessons that a student must master to complete the course. The NCAA does support mastery-based online courses that show the nature of instruction is college preparatory and the nature of assessments are performance-based, demonstrating through a performance of the student the knowledge, skills and competencies required for each lesson. The NCAA does allow students the ability to move at a flexible pace – but that pacing must be “negotiated pacing” (they are fine with students moving at a flexible pace, but it must be within a defined timeframe) within the framework of expectations for the course. There is a questionnaire that may be completed by educational institutions that asks questions about the instruction, teaching models, pacing, timeframes and other important details that examine quality of online and non-traditional courses." (Aurora-institute.org)