Success Driven by Live Teacher Support
VLN’s educational platform was designed to improve student outcomes by leveraging live, state-certified teachers to guide the academic efforts of our online students. This pairs the very best aspects of the traditional classroom experience with the flexibility of the online learning environment, and ensures each student receives the specific support they need. The foundation of VLN’s educational model is the several layers of live teacher support we offer students every day.
Authentic Assessments
VLN differs from many online learning platforms by including a wide array of assessment types that are graded by live teachers. These include vocabulary exercises, short answers, essays, fill-in-the-blank questions, and extended projects. For our younger K-3 students, VLN provides physical worksheets for additional skills development. In addition, VLN requires students to show their work in order to demonstrate mastery of the material.
Live, Daily Homeroom
Mirroring the classroom experience, VLN students participate in a live homeroom session each day (in alignment with the school/district’s calendar). This time allows for instructors to share any important school announcements, review weekly deadlines, and take attendance. Homeroom is a great opportunity to drive student engagement.
Live K-3 Daily Lessons
Each day, students in kindergarten through third grade are offered a live, synchronous lesson directly following homeroom. The primary focus is Language Arts and Mathematics, complemented by Friday Fun Day. Daily lessons include guidance from the teacher with the ability for students to ask questions, as well as for students to begin completing their weekly assignments in a monitored environment. For our younger students, this is a vital addition to their online learning regimen, allowing them to engage with live teachers daily, and increasing their engagement throughout the day.
Individualized Learning Plans
Student performance metrics are provided beyond the student level extending to a parent/guardian and to key school personnel. A central performance metric for each student is an Individualized Learning Plan (ILP) that is communicated weekly on all levels. The ILP measures more than a student’s current grade, it also addresses the number of missing assignments, and the average score earned on submitted work. This better illustrates a student’s strengths and opportunities and aids the teacher’s plan to challenge the student.
Importantly, each full-time student’s ILP is reviewed weekly in conjunction with the student’s actual performance. Instructors review factors including assignments completed, and grades received to formulate the best strategy to help each student reach their full academic potential.
VLN teachers maintain an ILP for each student, providing a weekly snapshot of the progress in each course. This includes identifying the current overall grade, highlighting the average score earned on submitted work, and providing a list of any unsubmitted work. Our teachers can review this report with students individually in weekly meetings, and will engage additional learning resources, if needed. To provide all stakeholders an accurate weekly picture of each student’s performance, we email ILPs to the students, their families, and school personnel.
One-on-One Progress Meetings
VLN students have a progress meeting with their teacher each week to review their progress, receive positive feedback, and strategies for improvement based on their ILP. In the weekly progress meetings, instructors help students seek out the resources they may need to address specific subject area challenges. These weekly sessions are critical to ensuring students do not fall behind and have a positive academic experience.
Office Hours
Office Hours are offered twice a day, Monday through Friday. These sessions are designed for course-specific questions or tutoring. Our live teachers can provide expert assistance for students stuck on a homework problem, and can provide guidance understanding a learning concept, or planning a course essay.
Additional Live Support
For additional help, VLN offers two live sessions for more intensive support: Guided Math Practice and Writing Lab. We offer Guided Math Practice to secondary students in Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry, and Real-World Math Applications. These live sessions include a concept review and example problems, then allow students to work on their assignments while teachers are available to field questions on the spot. Our Writing Lab is the prime place for students to get help with writing related issues including grammatical structure, formulating a report topic, and learning how to properly cite sources.
Resource Room
VLN’s Resource Room is specifically designed to assist and support our special education students. Students can receive help in areas including clarifying assignment directions, reviewing a student’s learning schedule or general help in all the student’s courses. Resource room sessions are critical in identifying if course rigor may need to be adjusted in a particular situation.