Our Online Middle School Program
Middle school marks a period of many changes for students: physical, emotional and educational. In CCA’s online middle school program, students begin to take more responsibility for their education.
Table of contents:
- Independent Online Learning
- Our Online Middle School Courses and Electives
- Easing the Transition Into an Online Middle School
Even though our middle school students are progressing toward more independence in their online learning, their learning coaches remain an integral part of their CCA education. The family component is so important to our online schools that we plan special events for our new middle school students and their family members so this transition in their virtual school goes smoothly from day one.
Independent Online Learning
As the learning coach, a parent still will be responsible for overseeing your child’s education and communicating with teachers about adjustments to coursework.
However, because we expect that our middle school students will take more responsibility for their online learning, we encourage parents to transition into more of a support role at this stage.
Once students enter middle school – no matter where they are located in PA – they will no longer have a single teacher. Your child will begin to work directly with their subject-specific teachers and school counselors.
Students will continue to attend live classroom sessions with an expanded teaching staff in which they communicate with their peers and teachers in a virtual school environment. The lessons are always recorded so, as your middle school student adds more activities to the school day, your family retains the flexibility to view the recordings at any time to complete their work.
All of this means that, as the learning coach, you will have more teachers to interact with throughout the school year. While that’s always appropriate, we hope you will encourage your child to take greater initiative in contacting teachers when necessary.
Our Online Middle School Courses and Electives
We continue to offer a core curriculum of math, science, language arts and social studies in our online middle school program, as all Pennsylvania public schools are required, but we expand the options available to middle school students with honors courses and electives. We also build on skills introduced in elementary school to get students thinking about career planning.
In an era when an increasing number of public schools are limiting course options in middle schools to the minimum requirements, CCA’s virtual school offers a healthy array of online learning choices to spark our students’ interests.
In addition to offering honors options in our core curriculum courses, CCA middle school students can choose from among Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish for their world language options.
CCA students in our online middle school also may choose to take digital art and design, journalism and photography courses as electives.
In the art elective, students are taught about the evolution of art, the basic principles of art and design, and the role of art in politics and society. They also create their own digital art.
The journalism elective teaches the basics of reporting and storytelling, and students produce and edit articles. Photography students will learn the basics of using a camera, how to avoid common shooting mistakes and the tricks for shooting photos like those found in magazines and on social media sites.
Students in our online middle school also participate in hands-on workshops as they research career and college options for their future.
Benefits of Enrolling With Us
Perhaps the greatest benefits of enrolling in Commonwealth Charter Academy are the scheduling flexibility and diverse virtual classes we provide our students.
Take advantage of these benefits of attending an online school:
- Learn at your own pace. CCA accommodates all levels of learning. Our middle school gifted program allows students to complete courses above grade level, but students also may request a slower pace if they need extra attention.
- Diverse school courses. In addition to traditional math, science, language arts and social studies courses, our middle school students have the ability to add a variety of electives, including six world languages, to their schedules.
- Flexible scheduling. In a virtual school, you can take courses in real time or watch the lessons later when it best suits your family. That also gives you the chance to review material whenever you want.
- Robust English Language program. Available to all our students, our English Language program uses National Geographic’s myNGconnect Program to help students who do not speak English as their primary language.
- Family centered education. While middle school students are becoming more independent, our learning coaches remain a vital cog in the online learning environment. CCA provides multiple avenues of support so that our virtual school is a true community.
- Virtual special education program. CCA’s teachers will work with you to assess your child’s needs and determine a customized plan that works best for your family.
As an online school accredited by the Middle States Association Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools, CCA has been recognized as providing a quality education to thousands of students every year. Get more information or enroll online today!
Easing the Transition Into an Online Middle School
Commonwealth Charter Academy recognizes the importance of ensuring students and families from across PA are prepared to make the transition into middle school.
Every spring, CCA’s middle school administrators host a “Springing into Sixth Grade” event at our Family Service Centers throughout Pennsylvania to share what families and students can expect as they move into our online middle school program.
CCA’s “Springing into Sixth Grade” orientation program includes:
- Presentations covering expectations for students, teachers and parents
- Panel of CCA family mentors to answer questions
- Student panel of current sixth graders who present to fifth graders
- Series of video introductions from school administrators
Here is what your family can expect as you move into our online middle school program:
- Each student is assigned a team of teachers for core school courses to ensure collaboration to support student success.
- Students are required to take math, science, language arts, social studies, art, health and physical education, and they can choose from a robust list of elective courses and, if they qualify, honors courses.
- Families will receive a welcome call so they can share their child’s learning style and preferences, and determine the best time for catch-up calls.
Interested in learning more about our online middle school program? Contact a CCA parent to hear about their experience and enroll today!