Students in online school have more control over their schedules, and this flexibility helps many students to better manage their time. However, some students may struggle with subjects that are harder for them to understand. They may put off working in these subjects and focus on the easier lessons. At Global Advantage, there is a plan in place to help students to change their habits, fill learning gaps, and become successful over time.
Awareness of Strengths and Weaknesses
As students begin the school year at Global Advantage, they are assessed in Math, Language Arts, and Reading. Based on these results, a student’s support team already knows where the student excels and where they may need intervention. Each student can work with their assigned Life Coach to form a plan to complete their courses - even the most challenging subject areas. Based on the assessments, students can also be assigned to prescriptive courses to fill learning gaps.
Exact Path Courses
Some students come to online school with deficiencies in certain areas. These can be identified through the beginning of the year assessments. Not only can specific deficiencies be detected, these gaps can actually be reduced or eliminated through a program called Exact Path. Global Advantage’s curriculum provider, Edmentum, offers prescriptive lessons in Exact Path, a supplemental curriculum that focuses on filling these gaps in learning. For instance, if a student struggles with long division, supplemental lessons in this area are assigned alongside the regular grade level math curriculum. As the student strengthens basic skills, they will begin to improve in their grade level course as well. As Exact Path lessons are completed, students earn “trophies” to show that they have mastered certain skills and they also earn credit towards graduation.
Time Management
Each Global Advantage student is assigned to a Life Coach, who will have all of their assessment results, course schedules, and other important student information. When they meet with the student, they can help them to make time management plans that will allow them to spend more time on more challenging material, to tackle harder subjects right away, and to take a break with some easier material too. Life coaches can offer small rewards for completing lessons they know are challenging. Life coaches help their students connect with available resources such as live online lessons with curriculum teachers, help sessions, and tutoring. They can guide their students to take more time in harder subjects that need remediation and move quickly through content they find easier.
Global Advantage is able to meet students where they are at when they begin online learning and support their growth both in areas in which they naturally excel and those areas in which they struggle.