Inquiries regarding enrollment for Waterloo Virtual Academy need to be directed to Educational Services at (319) 433-1800.
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Students are expected to be actively working on their courses a MINIMUM of five (5) hours per school day; therefore, students should work twenty-five (25) hours for a regular five-day school week. The hours run Sunday at 12:00 A.M. through Saturday at 11:59 P.M. While you have the flexibility to create your own schedule, understand that there may be weeks in which you must complete some work on the weekends to meet the attendance requirement. Any idle time by itself is not counted towards your hours. Actively working means that you are making progress each week in each of your assigned classes. Students should make approximately 4% progress each week in each class to stay on target for finishing classes in a timely manner.
August 24-September 5: 25 hours
September 6-September 12: 20 hours (No school on Monday, September 7)
September 13-September 19: 25 hours (No school on Friday)
September 20-September 26: 20 hours (No school on Friday)
September 27-October 3: 25 hours
October 4-October 10: 25 hours
October 11-October 17: 20 hours (No school on Friday)
October 18-October 24: 25 hours
October 25-October 31: 15 hours (Week of Fall Conferences; No school on Thursday and Friday)
November 1-November 7: 25 hours
November 8-November 14: 25 hours
November 15-November 21: 25 hours
November 22-November 28: 10 hours (No school Wednesday through Friday)
November 29-December 5: 25 hours
December 6-December 12: 25 hours
December 13-December 19: 25 hours
WINTER BREAK
January 3-January 9: 25 hours
January 10-January 16: 20 hours (No school on Friday)
January 17-January 23: 20 hours (No school on Monday)
January 24-January 30: 25 hours
January 31-February 6: 25 hours
February 7-February 13: 20 hours (No school on Friday)
February 14-February 20: 25 hours
February 21-February 27: 15 hours (Week of Spring Conferences; No school on Thursday and Friday)
February 28-March 6: 25 hours
March 7-March 13: 25 hours
SPRING BREAK
March 21-March 27: 20 hours (No school on Friday)
March 29-April 3: 25 hours
April 4-April 10: 25 hours
April 11-April 17: 25 hours
April 18-April 24: 20 hours (No school on Friday)
April 25-May 1: 25 hours
May 2-May 8: 25 hours
May 9-16: 25 hours
May 17-May 23: 22.5 hours (2-hour early dismissal on Friday)
Students with Individual Education Plans (IEP) will be assigned an instructional strategist who will be working to ensure that the students’ needs and supports are accommodated in alignment with the decisions made by the IEP team.
Expo Alternative Learning Center is a Positive Behavioral Support (PBIS) school as well as a Leader in Me (LIM) school. As a virtual student, your child will still have opportunities to benefit and participate in these programs (albeit differently than students attending face-to-face). Your student will have the opportunity to earn SOAR Slips for demonstrating Self-Control, Ownership, Achieve Goals, Respect & Responsibility even while working virtually. Students have the opportunity to exchange SOARs Slips for various items within our virtual PBIS Store.
Leader in Me Site
Set up your account:
1. Go to https://www.leaderinme.com/users/sign-up?code=EALC0
2. Enter this Registration code in the box provided: EALC0
3. Fill out the form and click Sign Up
4. You will be granted access to the Leader in Me Online
Students learn through the online learning platform known as Edgenuity. If a student is confused as they work through the components of a lesson, they should review the lesson and take notes.
If after reviewing the material for a second time a student is still struggling to understand, they go to the parent/guardian for help and guidance.
If further assistance is needed, please reach out to the content teacher.
Students should earn at least 60% on all lesson components, including, but limited to: vocabulary, instruction, practices, assignments, quizzes, and tests. If they get to the unit/topic test and the student is struggling, then the lesson(s) should be reviewed and more notes should be taken before attempting the test again. NOTES ARE MANDATORY FOR ALL STUDENTS.
All courses have free movement which allows students to complete everything in the class except for tests and exams in high school courses. Students are able to take the quizzes or tests twice on their own with their own notes. If a student does not pass, staff will identify where the issue or struggle may be and work with the student (email, phone, Google Meet, etc.) before providing a retake. If failure to pass continues, staff will set up a meeting with the student to work specifically on that concept.
If students are unable to progress within the course, please reach out of staff for assistance as soon as possible. If it is outside of school hours, expect a response the next school day. Staff should respond to communication within 24 business hours.
Students will work on courses throughout the year, and when they finish one, their counselor will provide another course to progress learning. High school students are expected to complete a minimum of eleven (11) credits/courses each year in order to stay on track to graduating; middle school students need to keep on track progress as outlined by the progress updates within Edgenuity. If students are behind, they should make adjustments to their schedule to attempt to get back on track. Students are always welcome to work ahead.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE STUDENTS ALLOWED TO USE ANY TYPE OF SEARCH ENGINE, SMART DEVICE, ETC. TO ASSIST ON ANY ASSESSMENTS. Any part of a lesson that counts towards the calculation of the student's grade is considered an assessment. Students are already allowed to use their notes to assist them throughout their courses. If students have any questions, they should contact their advisor.
High school is based on credit acquisition. Students need to earn three (3) credits per quarter. To achieve this, students must complete the equivalent of one (1) credit every three (3) weeks. If students fall short of this target, there will be a parent meeting with staff. After the parent meeting, the student will have two (2) weeks to successfully complete one (1) credit. If they have not met their goal at that time, a further course of action will need to be taken at that time (e.g. meeting with administration to develop the next course of action).
Google Meet is used to provide virtual meeting rooms for content assistance, testing, meetings, etc. Students should make sure the microphone and webcam are working properly.
Proctoring/Testing: All tests (prescriptive tests, pre-tests, topic tests, unit tests, and cumulative exams) in high school courses must be taken with teacher supervision.
Note: During testing, students must have the webcam on and show their entire faces for the duration of the testing session. If staff are not able to see the student, the student will have to take the assessment once the student’s webcam is functioning properly. Students must remain in the proctoring room for the duration of the assessment or the assessment will be reset. Students will receive absolutely no feedback on how they are doing on any type of assessment prior to submitting the assessment for grading.
General Content Sessions: All content teachers are available to answer questions in a larger group setting on instructional days from 9:15 A.M. to 11 A.M. A general content session would be like raising your hand to ask a quick question in the classroom to be able to continue on in your work. If there are several students in the general content session, it may be beneficial to request a one-on-one session with the content teacher.
One-on-One Content Session: Content teachers are available to meet with individual students on instructional days from 11:30 A.M. to 12:45 P.M. Simply contact the content teacher, the teacher will create a Google Meet session and send an invitation to your school email.
Code of Conduct Expectation Survey: All students in the Waterloo CSD are required to complete this form at the beginning of each academic year as active members (physical or virtual) in our schools. (Middle School) (High School)
Learning Style Inventory: This survey informs students, staff, and families how individual students learn best.
Interest Survey: This survey informs students, staff, and families on what best motivates and engages each student.
Forced Choice Survey: This survey collects information about intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcements the student is willing to work towards.
Students completing high school credits who would like to be able to take a modified course (prescriptive assessments, pre-testing, exam-only courses, removed content differing from district face-to-face learning, etc.) must complete the NCAA Division I & II Eligibility Survey and answer “yes” for the final question. Prescriptive assessments, pre-testing, and exam-only courses must be proctored. A student may choose between taking prescriptive assessments or pre-testing; they cannot do both.
Prescriptive Assessment: A prescriptive assessment is taken at the beginning of a course. It consists of one question for each lesson covered in the course. Questions answered correctly will reduce the amount of material the student needs to complete in order to complete a particular credit. The length of the prescriptive exam varies by course.
Pretesting: Pretesting allows students to take a ten (10) question quiz prior to going through a lesson’s material. Students must earn at least 70% on a pre-test to be able to skip the lesson and move on to the next. Passing a pretest does not remove the material from the course, and students are still able to review the lesson materials at will.
Exam-Only Courses: This option is reserved for students who are past their graduation cohort (i.e. class of 2025 and before). Students are able to take the cumulative exam for a given course. If they score higher than 60%, the student has earned the credit.