At Utah Virtual Academy we understand that our school is academically rigorous. Meeting the challenge of completing one year of course work in this model can be demanding. Our certified teachers are here to assist Learning Coaches and students to meet the associated challenges. Learning Coaches may utilize their expertise as they progress through our program.
Academic achievement through content mastery is the cornerstone of Utah Virtual Academy and the K12â curriculum. UTVA understands that children do not learn at the same rate or in the same manner. The program offers families flexibility in scheduling and instructional strategies. UTVA focuses on mastery of lesson objectives, encouraging families and students to spend the time needed daily and throughout the year to reach mastery of most lesson objectives.
It is the goal of UTVA to allow students to advance to the next course level at any time of the year up to the end of March. Should time permit, our goal is for each student to complete 100% progress in each course. With this in mind, mid-year course promotions are not ordered until a student has achieved at least 90% mastery of a course.
Sufficient progress in all courses is expected before course level advancement in one area may be considered. Students must be on grade level in language arts and math before being considered for promotion in other subjects. Work samples also must be current and teachers may request additional samples for verification of mastery. Advancement of a student from one course level to the next requires the approval of UTVA administration. K-8 teachers will submit the proper paperwork to obtain course level approval.
Utah is a “force promotion state.” This means students will be promoted to the next grade level at the end of each school year. Due to this policy, students are strongly encouraged to complete their curriculum at least to the minimum requirements for promotion, thus preparing them for the next school year.
Parents will discuss their end of the year course promotion concerns with their homeroom teacher. Teachers can escalate the concerns to the Principal as needed. Homeroom teachers list course promotions at the end of May each year. This will trigger return materials information from K12, and prepare to send materials for the next courses ordered.
K-8 students are automatically promoted to the next courses based on the Utah Core Standards, and K12 course progression. Students completing their 8th grade school year will meet with a high school counselor to prepare for 9th grade. There they will learn state and K12 requirements, as well as choose appropriate classes for the next school year.
Your student is encouraged to assess out of curriculum already mastered. In doing this, your student takes the lesson, unit or semester assessments and if he/she achieves a score of 80% or higher, the student may move on to the next lesson/unit. As a student assesses out of the
curriculum, learning coaches will mark the “assessed out” lessons in the unit as skipped and move on to the next unit. When a student encounters a unit in which he/she is no longer mastering the objectives, at 80% or more, he/she should begin working through individual lessons in this unit.
It is important while doing this the student is completing a minimum of one unit test or lesson each day, with an average of 5 lessons a week. If he/she assess out of a unit on Monday, this would count as one lesson and he/she would start on lesson 1 of the next unit on Tuesday, and on. Students are given credit for the lessons skipped towards course promotion, but skipped lessons do not count toward progress goals and report card grades. To ensure continual growth, consistent progress at an average rate of 5 lessons per week is needed to meet progress goals.
For all students that are newly enrolled after the school year has begun, the student will start their course work where the class is currently at in the pacing guide. It is understood that the student has already received instruction for all previous lessons while enrolled at the previous school. This will help the student to be ready to participate with Class Connect sessions and not fall behind. This ‘skipping forward’ will automatically take place by the homeroom teacher upon initial contact. There are few exceptions to this rule. Please discuss such exceptions with your homeroom teacher.
UTVA teachers monitor student progress based on the Online School (OLS), class attendance and participation, teacher graded assignments (work samples), and other required assessments.
Progressing in a course is different from promoting in a course; final course promotions and marks are determined by the teacher. Within the UTVA program, every child can progress through the curriculum at his/her own pace as long as he/she is meeting the minimum progress requirements.