HOW IT WORKS
Middle School
What is my role as a parent?
Middle school is a time when students become more independent, taking on more responsibility and ownership for their learning and working more directly with their teachers. But parent involvement is still critical to student success. As a parent, you (or another responsible adult you choose) serve as your child's Learning Coach.
While teachers set the pace of instruction, the Learning Coach helps their student stay on track. Parent/Learning Coach involvement is essential and averages anywhere from 5 to 15 hours a week. The initial 4–8 weeks can be intensive as your family settles into a routine.
Expectations for Completing Schoolwork
In middle school, student learning changes to a semester-based approach where students are required to earn a passing grade of 60 percent or above on their assignments and online lessons. Due dates are assigned to lessons to encourage consistent, steady progress for academic success.
While online lessons can usually be completed at any time of day, students are required to attend teacher-led, direct-instruction, online synchronous Class Connect sessions. During Class Connects, students receive online instruction from teachers and have opportunities to interact virtually with classmates.
Attending Class Connects and completing coursework according to the assigned pacing schedule, will help set up your student for success.
Working with Your Teacher
To help students prepare for the transition from elementary school to high school, and because of specialization in instruction, middle school students take their core classes and electives with subject-specific teachers. Students are assigned an advisor who serves as a homeroom teacher.
In addition to Class Connects, teachers may offer support or small group sessions to assist students. Middle school teachers work with families to ensure students are progressing academically as expected. Parents/Learning Coaches are encouraged to contact their child's homeroom teacher any time they have questions or concerns.
Email is the primary form of communication between the school and families. Learning Coaches and students are required to check and respond to emails daily.
Attendance
Attendance is logged Monday through Friday. But academic progress can also be achieved during the weekends. Middle school students are expected to spend about 4–7 hours on schoolwork per school day. For more information on attendance requirements, please review the attendance policy in our Student and Parent Handbook.
What happens if there's a system failure or power outage?
Don't worry. We have a plan. In the event of outages or other difficulties, follow the instructions in the ISPA Plan for System Failures and Power Outages [PDF].
Grades
Middle school uses the following grade scale:
Students receive:
Computer-graded and teacher-graded assignments including:
- Online or paper-based practice sets
- Quizzes
- Exams
- Threaded discussions
- Presentations
- Assessment grades
- Quarterly progress reports including narrative comments for each subject area
- Quarterly grades resulting in a cumulative final grade:
- End of quarter report cards will only be provided for students enrolled 5 weeks prior to the quarter's end.
- End of quarter report cards will only be provided for students enrolled 5 weeks prior to the quarter's end.
Grade Level Promotion
To be promoted to the next grade level, students must pass three out of the following four courses with a score of 60 percent or higher:
- English/Language Arts
- Mathematics
- History
- Science
As the parent, you, along with the teacher and principal, will have input into promotion decisions. It's possible that a student will only need to repeat a subject rather than a whole grade. And in some cases, students will be encouraged to retake that subject over the summer through a credit-recovery course. When possible, students may complete summer course through ISPA. In some cases, students will need to complete summer work at programs in their home school district at their own expense if a fee is required.
Assessments
Our testing is purposeful and meaningful, and drives our instructional practices to best serve the individual needs of your child. In addition to quizzes and tests within online courses, students will take Star360 assessments upon enrollment and several more times throughout the school year. Star360 assessments in math and reading provide information regarding academic strengths and weaknesses and student growth in both of these subjects. Students in all grades will take the Star360 assessment at the start of the school year and/or upon enrollment, and again at several interim points through the year. Each assessment will take about 20–30 minutes. These assessments will be taken virtually. Star360 is adaptive and adjusts questions to your child's learning level based upon responses. A student report will be sent to each Learning Coach.
Middle school students may also work within USA Test Prep. USA Test Prep is an assessment tool that aligns with Pennsylvania state academic standards. USA Test Prep is used for instruction and assessment across subject areas in grades 6–10. The grades for these assignments will be available in your student's gradebook within the appropriate course and are an integral part of the course. Your student can use this program from any computer with internet access.
State Testing
The annual Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) is a standards-based, criterion-referenced assessment, which provides students, parents, educators, and citizens with an understanding of student and school performance related to the attainment of proficiency of the academic standards. These standards in English/language arts (ELA), math, and science identify what a student should know and be able to do at varying grade levels.
Based on their grade level, students will take the following PSSAs:
PSSA |
Grade Level |
ELA |
3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th |
Math |
3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th |
| Science | 4th, 8th |
Individual student scores are provided only to their respective schools and can be used to help teachers identify whether a student needs additional educational opportunities.
School scores also provide valuable data to schools and districts to inform discussions and planning around curriculum and instruction improvement.
Learning Coaches are responsible for ensuring their student participates in mandatory state and benchmark testing. Failure to attend testing will result in accrual of unexcused absences and could result in truancy action.
