AVL Student Expectations

Students Must Maintain Weekly Contact

According to Washington State law, students must have weekly personal contact with their instructors. Direct personal contact shall be for the purposes of instruction, review of assignments, testing, reporting of student progress, or other learning activities.

Students are required to maintain contact a minimum of once a week.

In Virtual Learning, the student-maintained direct personal contact requirement can be fulfilled by a two-way exchange with the instructor, such as:

• An assignment/ test/ activity posted to Blackboard that an instructor grades and/or provides feedback on

• Participation in a discussion board, blog or chat with the instructor

• Face-to-face meeting with the instructor

• E-mail exchange with the instructor – explaining, for example, progress being made in the course or to ask a question

• Phone call with the instructor

• An e-mail or phone call with student and parent or guardian to the instructor

• Instant messaging with the instructor

• Interactive video communication with the instructor

• Other means of digital communication with the instructor.

Again, maintaining weekly contact with the instructor is a basic requirement of AVL and the responsibility of the student. Students who fail to do so are in noncompliance with AVL rules of participation.

Students Must Maintain Regular Progress

One of the advantages of AVL is that it allows for a flexible learning environment. Students may work on their assignments when and where they would like. At the same time, though, Washington State Law requires students to make academic progress in their online courses.

Student progress will be evaluated against progress benchmarks which are clearly defined in the course for each month. In addition to the course schedule, these benchmarks may also come in the form of lesson, unit, assignment and/or assessment completion dates. These established progress benchmarks will allow teachers and students to assess the students’ educational progress in meeting the course learning standards. At a minimum, students must turn in at least one assignment per week to maintain a status of “making monthly progress,” but will need to complete all the instructor is asking for each week in order to complete the course on time.

Students who do not meet progress and course schedule benchmarks may, at the discretion of AVL administration, be removed from the course within the 21-day trial period or placed on a more restrictive student “intervention plan” (also called a “student success plan”) for their learning after the trial period. Any student not making progress at any point in the course for more than 21 days may be removed from the course at the discretion of AVL administration.

A student who withdraws or is dropped from an AVL course after the 21-day trial period and does not enroll in the same course in his or her home school will receive a semester grade of “F.”

AVL would like to welcome all students who will to make regular academic progress in our virtual classes.

Students Must Maintain Academic Integrity

Our vision for learning at Virtual Learning is that we demand the highest standard of achievement and excellence from our students. Optimal learning and rigor are the result of students developing and communicating their own thinking and findings in a disciplined community. The AVL community supports development of well-rounded students who personify trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, and good character.

Cheating as defined by Spokane Public Schools Policy 3200 is, but is not limited to, knowingly submitting the work of others represented as his/her own (i.e., copying from others, using information or technology not authorized by the teacher, asking someone for improper help on an assignment/exam, and/or gaining or providing unauthorized access to exam materials). Cheating also includes the aiding and abetting of cheating by others.

Plagiarism as defined by Spokane Public Schools Policy 3200 is, but is not limited to, the unauthorized use of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own. It is the students’ responsibility to clearly document the source of information used in work submitted as their own (as defined by the MLA Handbook).

District Verification of Student Work per Spokane Public Schools Procedure 2255 states that the district will use reliable methods to verify a student is doing his or her own work. These include, but are not limited to: proctored examinations, proctored projects, in-person presentations, and real-time presentations using video conference technology.