Is your family new to Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA)? Get answers to the top 11 questions newly enrolled families ask CCA family mentors.
As the family mentoring division at Commonwealth Charter Academy, we provide support to our newly enrolled and struggling families and answer many nonacademic questions every day. Family mentors are available to help learning coaches navigate everything from how to check attendance to how to look at their children’s grades.
What does a parent mentor do? CCA’s family mentors are veteran CCA parents here to help new parents and their learners transition to online schooling through CCA. They’re here for new families all year during their first year and can help out any time a parent has any questions. They can schedule meetings to help parents with more comprehensive support and hold weekly drop-in hours for virtual meetings to answer your questions.
When you first enroll in CCA and become a learning coach for your student, you’ll likely have many questions. While your family mentor is always there to help, we’ve put together a cyber school family mentors FAQ filled with questions parents commonly askour family mentors.
Top Family Mentor FAQs
Here are the top 11 questions CCA family mentors receive:
1. What Services Do Family Mentors Offer?
Family mentors offer yearlong, nonacademic support for all newly enrolled and struggling families. They conduct face-to-face meetings by request for more intensive edio support. Family mentors also host meet-ups so newly enrolled families in the region can get together to create a community. They maintain a Family Mentor Facebook Group as part of the mentoring program. Enrolled families can receive accurate information and support on the Facebook Group, and family mentors host weekly virtual drop-in support sessions to answer any nonacademic questions.
Tip: Check your webmail and family message boards often between regularly scheduled calls for additional resources and information from your family mentor.
2. How Do I Monitor Attendance?
Attendance is recorded automatically when your learner logs into edio on scheduled school days. To monitor attendance, simply click on the attendance tab in your learner’s profile. K-12 learners work toward completing their 180-day calendar for the school year. Learners in grades K-6 must complete 25 hours per week, and learners in grades 7-12 must complete 28 hours per week. Weekly hours are based on completed work rather than a running clock. Learners can complete work on any day of the week.
Tip: Instructional hours must match work completed, so make sure to add field trips and physical education activities to your learners’ calendars.
3. How Does My Learner Access Virtual Class Sessions?
Learners can access live instruction sessions through their student calendar or inside of a lesson in edio. Your learner can also find the access link to their specific virtual classroom in the list of live sessions on the student homepage in edio. This list updates with each day’s sessions and links so learners can access the correct session.
4. What Time Does School Start?
There is no required start time. Choose a time that works best for you and your learners. When creating your schedule, factor in your learners’ virtual class sessions that are scheduled between the official school hours of 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Tip: Working during the daytime will ensure your learners’ teachers are available to help them when needed. If you must split your day between daytime and evening work, save lessons in which your learners are less likely to need immediate help for the evenings.
5. How Do I Submit an Excused Absence?
If your learner is sick, has a doctor’s appointment, or another reason they won’t be able to log into edio at all on a given school day, you can put in an excused absence by providing an acceptable reason why your learner was unable to log in. If your learner misses three or more days, you might need to attach a doctor’s note.
One advantage of online education is that class schedules have a high degree of flexibility. Still, the lessons must be completed within a certain timeframe. Learners can also work on the weekends instead of being confined to weekdays.
Tip: Encourage your learners to try to work ahead so if they have to miss a day of school, their schedules will remain easy to manage.
6. How Do I Balance the Schedules of Multiple CCA Learners and Keep Them Organized?
While balancing multiple learners can be challenging,the following tips can help. Allow your learners to work as independently as they can. This frees time in your schedule, and it teaches your learners valuable time-management skills.
Remember, you are not the teacher. You’re simply assisting your learners with their lessons. Don’t hesitate to reach out to teachers for assistance if your learners are struggling or you need additional academic support. Write each of your learners’ schedules on a whiteboard so everyone can see the day or week at a glance. Knowing what’s coming next helps everyone stay on track and prepared. Color-code your learners’ folders so work doesn’t get lost or placed in the wrong folder.
Tip: Talk to your family mentor for more organization strategies specific to your family’s needs, or speak to your learners’ teachers for academic questions.
7. How Can We Attend Field Trips Without Falling Behind?
Field trips are a great way to promote socialization while reinforcing the curriculum. All field trips align with state standards and cover topics that your students are learning at the time. Field trips can boost understanding of specific topics through hands-on experience. If you are taking your learner on an educational trip, make sure you notify the homeroom teacher in advance.
The best way to stay on top of lessons is to work ahead for the week before the field trip. Do one extra lesson per day, or work on a Saturday so your learners can enjoy the event without thinking about overdue work waiting for them when they get home.
Tip: Lessons on the calendar are not excused for field trips — or sick days. Learners must complete these lessons.
8. Can My Learner Highlight the Textbooks?
Your learners may make marks in any workbooks or readers they have. These are consumables and will not need to be returned.
Tip: Encourage your learners to mark important sections in their workbooks using sticky notes.
9. When Can I See My Learner’s Grades?
You can view your learner’s grades as they’re posted by clicking the “show” button at the bottom of the edio homepage. You can view their current grade based on the work they’ve submitted up to that point. Click on a course to view more detailed grades for each assignment within that course. You’ll also see a “projected grade,” which calculates your learner’s grade if any overdue work isn’t completed by the end of the course.
Tip: Progress reports — report cards —can be viewed anytime. Simply navigate to your learner’s profile and access the “academics” tab to see their current progress. Final grades can also be found here after the course ends.
10. How Do I Know What Work Needs to Be Submitted for My Learner?
Each lesson walks your learners through exactly what needs to be submitted. They will complete various types of formative and summative assessments in edio. Your learner’s overdue items are listed under the “home” tab of a specific course in edio. This is where you can check what still needs to be completed.
Tip: Pay close attention to future projects. These are larger, multiday, or weekly assignments that must be submitted. The lessons leading up to the project deadline will walk your learners through the steps to completion.
11. Who Can I Contact If I Need Help?
You can contact your learners’ teachers through webmail, chat, or phone if you experience any technical difficulties or issues. Many topics are covered with detailed instructions and videos in the “help” section, which can be accessed by clicking the “?” at the top right in edio. The family mentor Facebook Group is a good place to start if you have related questions. For additional inquiries, Natasha Shane is the vice president of family services.
Tip: Some of your concerns or subjects of interest might have been addressed already in the Facebook Group.
Become a Family Mentor With CCA
Are you ready to get started helping learners achieve their best? New CCA families can read about the experiences that existing families have had with our program by visiting our Contact a Parent page. Want to learn more about CCA? Contact us today.
