World Academy Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is World Academy? ○ World Academy is Eagle County School District’s free, proven, online curriculum that comes with local teacher support and opportunities for local socialization and participation in district sports and activities. It provides aligned coursework and structure, plus credits so students can easily transition back into traditional learning when they’re ready.

2. Is World Academy only for high school students? ○ World Academy is available to students K-12.

3. What’s the difference between World Academy and remote learning at our neighborhood school? ○ World Academy is a complete online mode of instruction that is self-directed, self-paced, and features minimal teacher interaction. Parents considering homeschooling should use World Academy to access a proven curriculum aligned to district standards. ○ Remote learning is an option for families to keep students enrolled in neighborhood schools while not being physically in the classroom. Remote learning moves traditional in-person instruction to an online method of delivery. Teachers still lead instruction, interact with students, and communicate regularly with students and parents. Remote schools maintain class schedules as much as possible, take attendance, maintain regular grading practices and assignments of regular school.

4. Who are the teachers and what are their experience/credentials? ○ All of the instructors who supervise World Academy are certified, licensed teachers with experience at your student’s level (K-5, 6-12).

5. What extracurricular activities are available for World Academy students? ○ Students enrolled in World Academy, or through remote learning in their neighborhood schools, can maintain involvement in school sports and activities.

6. How much does World Academy cost? ○ World Academy is free.

7. Is World Academy available in languages other than English? ○ All of the written material can be translated into any language through the platform, but the instructional videos are in English. There are scripts of the instructional videos available, which can be translated.

8. Is World Academy challenging? ○ Absolutely. This program can be differentiated to meet student needs and make sure all students are challenged appropriately. Because it is self-paced, coursework can be made more rigorous, but if a student starts falling behind there is interaction and support from a teacher to help get them back on pace. It’s not as rigid as a traditional school schedule.

9. How do students access lessons? ○ World Academy is completely online, so students need an internet connection and a computer to access their lessons and assignments.

10. What does a typical day look like on World Academy? Do the kids watch videos? Is there a certain amount of time they have to spend online? ○ Students login to their dashboard to access their instructional videos and assignments to work through their classes. Because this program is completely online, it does have a lot of instructional videos to watch, which are divided up similarly to how a teacher would a lesson. There is flexibility as far as how many hours need to be spent online, it’s really about keeping students on-pace with their learning. ○ For secondary students (6-12), there is not as much parent involvement needed. Students log in and watch instructional videos to complete their assignments. There are guided notes to help keep students on track, which can be printed. We typically expect about an hour per course per day for this age group. ○ For our elementary students, courses are customized to be more aligned with the scope and sequence of Eagle County Schools. There is more parent involvement needed at the K-5 level, with parents serving as learning coaches for students. Resources (guided notes and worksheets) can be printed for students to complete while not looking at the screen, and then scanned or photographed and submitted to teachers for grading. We typically expect less than an hour per course per day for this age group.

11. What is the best way to preview the online platform? ○ World Academy uses a program called Edgenuity, which has Elementary, Middle, and High School levels of instruction available.

12. What accelerated programs are offered? ○ Because World Academy is self-paced, the curriculum is flexible and individualized to the student and can be adjusted to be appropriately challenging for students. You can look through the Edgenuity course catalog here. ​ ​

13. What time does class start for World Academy? ○ World Academy is completely online and so students can complete lessons whenever it works for their schedule. There are scheduled times during the day that local teachers are available to support students in World Academy through a virtual meeting. That schedule is not available at this time. ○ World Academy follows the ECS school year calendar. Students will not be assigned work over school breaks, but because this program is self-paced students can catch up or work ahead during those times.

14. How easy is it for a student to transition from in-person instruction to online learning? ○ We’ve always found the transition to be pretty easy to this program due to the Edgenuity platform and its web-based videos, orientation materials, and the human entity of local ECS teachers. The most challenging part of the transition is creating that schedule for students to follow to keep up with their work. ○ Because it’s part of Eagle County Schools, it is easy to transfer between neighborhood schools and World Academy. With World Academy, students transfer at school breaks, such as a quarter or semester.

15. Can World Academy be used even if my child attends a neighborhood school? ○ This is a case by case basis. World Academy can be used by students who remain enrolled in their neighborhood school for enrichment, credit recovery, or taking classes that do not fit in their schedule otherwise.

16. Is it easier to start World Academy and return to school if it opens, or start at neighborhood schools and switch to World Academy? ○ If you’re comfortable with starting with your neighborhood school, that would be the better option. World Academy is always there, but it could be harder to transition back into a normal classroom from World Academy as opposed to starting with your neighborhood school and then transitioning to World Academy.

17. Does World Academy provide Special Education services to students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)? ○ There are existing supports within World Academy that may meet your child’s needs, but the answer to this question varies on a case by case basis. ○ If you have specific questions regarding your student’s access to support services if they were to enroll in World Academy, please reach out to your neighborhood school to discuss your child’s individual needs and determine what the best course of action is for your child.

18. Can a high school student meet with a counselor virtually to pick their class schedule? ○ Yes, we have counselors available to make sure that students are on track to graduate, taking enough and appropriate courses, and are doing well in their coursework.

19. Can high school students take Dual Enrollment courses through World Academy? ○ Yes, Dual Enrollment courses are available through Colorado Mountain College as a World Academy student.

20. What happens if a family loses internet connection? ○ Because World Academy is self-paced, students can touch base with their teacher and let them know they are a little behind on their lessons because they lost internet connection and then we can work to get them back on pace. ○ There is also that level of local understanding as we are all familiar with the internet connection challenges we can face in this valley, and that human level of interaction aids in keeping students engaged.

21. Do World Academy students have access to school district Chromebooks? ○ Because World Academy is part of Eagle County Schools, we have the support of the Eagle County Schools Technology Department. Our Technology Department is planning on providing a device for each Eagle County Schools student, but we will verify that this includes World Academy students.

22. How will World Academy accommodate more students? ○ We need to know how many students are interested in World Academy so we can appropriately meet that need. Schools are connecting with families via surveys to learn the needs of their communities and that way we can adequately prepare for school to start in August.

23. Is World Academy NCAA accredited? ○ Edgenuity, the program World Academy uses, is accredited. World Academy, as a school, is in the process of becoming accredited but is not at this time. Because the program we use is, there are workarounds we can use for student athletes who are interested in continuing sports in college.

24. What is the teacher to student ratio like for World Academy? ○ We do not have a set ratio for World Academy to follow, nor do we have those numbers available at this time. Because the Edgenuity platform does a lot of the grading, World Academy teachers could supervise around 100 students, which is doable.

25. What is the grading like for World Academy? ○ World Academy follows a typical grading system like our traditional schools. Student progress is monitored and supported by certified ECS teachers. ○ Edgenuity is able to grade assignments, which lets teachers interact with more students and give them feedback to support their learning.

26. Is there a deadline for registering for World Academy? ○ There is not a deadline to register for World Academy, but it does help us to know if you are interested sooner rather than later. Please email Troy Dudley ([email protected]) if you are interested in registering for World ​ ​ Academy.

27. How do we register for World Academy? ○ If you’re interested in enrolling in World Academy, please reach out to Troy Dudley, [email protected]. ​ ​