Dr. Jane Coughenour Director of Technology and Student Services, McKeesport Area S.D. Mr. Michael Matta Director of Federal Programs, McKeesport Area S.D. 1 Creating an Online Program Using edmentum Courseware

Why Create an District Run Online Program District Owned and District Run  Students can attend both traditional classes and online classes.  Curriculum is aligned to SAS and traditional coursework.  Preparation for College  More Options for Students  Money Saving Investment 2

Who is In the Program?  11 Elementary students Full-Time  13 Middle School students Full-Time  50 High School students Full-Time  12 High School students Part-Time  150 High School students attend a traditional day of school and then complete one or two online courses at home. 3

Cost Reductions - Estimated cost for each student in a Cyber Charter is: - $10, for a regular education student - $17, for a special education student District run program has decreasing cost as more students take online classes. If all of our full-time students in the MASD Online Program were regular education and attended a Cyber Charter it would cost $740, That does not include Special Education or all of the additional course learners. 4

House Bill 759 HB 759 proposes to add three deductions that public school districts will be able to take when funding cyber charter school education:  50 percent of the costs of any “cyber programs” offered by the district  50 percent of extracurricular costs  100 percent of all “district pupil services”  If passed … small cyber charters will have to close within a year and larger cyber charters will have to make drastic cuts to student services and face closure in three years. ~ Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools 5

How to Get Started?  Develop Policies and Procedures  Enrollment  Full-Time, Part-Time, Additional and Recovery and Summer School  Grading and Attendance  Computer Lending Agreement  Assign Staff  Develop Curriculum 6

Policies and Procedures  7

Staff Assignment Administration: Responsibilities divided amongst several Administrators  Central Administrator: Develop Curriculum and Program Policies, Manage Enrollment and Oversee the Online Program  3 Principals: A principal at each level handles day to day operations and works directly with students. Teachers:14 Teachers from various buildings in the district.  2 Elementary  4 Middle  8 High School  Each teacher gets a period or two a day to handle online learning responsibilities. 8

Customization of Courseware using edmentum To match the timeline of the grading period, each Plato course was segmented into grading periods.  It is also an option to scope and sequence the content according to school curriculum maps. This can be done by your staff or our consultants. Customization allows the Elementary Grades to use the same textbook that peers in the brick and mortar classroom utilize. This would also be an option in other grades if desired. This customization of content allows easy movement between the online program and the brick and mortar classroom environment, if a student requires a different placement. 9

Types of Interactions Within the Courseware (Examples)  The following are examples of 21 st century skills covered through the associated activities within Plato Courseware: - Collaboration: Threaded Discussion activities allow for online, real time student discussion using Plato provided prompts, or custom prompts created by a school. - Higher Level Thinking Skills: Digital Drop Box activities allow a student to experience virtual labs, analyze real life math scenarios, and focus writing skills. These activities are done online and sent to a teacher of record for review and grading right in the Plato system. 10

Elementary Courses ple.platoweb.com 11

Interested?  If your district is looking for a content provider for an in house cyber program, let us know! We will be happy to give you more information.  Sales Contact: Lisa Bowser 12