How Online Learning Works
Elementary School
Who can attend?
The Wisconsin Virtual Academy (WIVA) elementary program serves students in grades K–5 who reside in the state of Wisconsin.
What are the costs?
Because WIVA is a public charter school program, it’s tuition-free. WIVA provides Wisconsin-licensed teachers and all instructional materials for the program. However, students and families will be responsible for providing some consumable materials (such as printer ink and paper.)
What’s my role as a parent?
As a parent, you (or another responsible adult you choose) serve as your child’s Learning Coach. You’ll work with your child’s teacher to help record student attendance, monitor mastery of online lessons and assessments, and review student work.
Parent/Learning Coach involvement is vital to your child’s success, especially at the elementary level. The typical Learning Coach time commitment in grades K–5 is 4–6 hours a day. The initial 4–8 weeks can be intensive, as your family settles into a routine.
Grades K–2
Parent/Learning Coach daily involvement is critical and approximately 10–15 percent of this time is online.
Grades 3–5
Students begin to have increased independence, but parent/Learning Coach involvement is essential for about 70–80 percent of school time and approximately 15–25 percent of this time is online.
What will my child study?
Coursework is a mix of online and hands-on work, which caters to a wide variety of learning styles. Unit and course assessments are built in to each subject, and easy-to-use online planning and progress tools keep you and your student on track.
K–5th graders take courses in the core subjects listed below. Beginning in grade 3, they also take a self-guided elective course in music or a world language.
ENGLISH / LANGUAGE ARTS
MATH
SCIENCE
HISTORY
ART
Mastering Lessons
In the elementary grades, students are required to show mastery of each lesson by achieving 80 percent or better on all lesson assessments. If your child is having difficulty mastering a lesson, let their homeroom teacher know as soon as possible. Teachers offer many support sessions to help students gain mastery.
Working with Your Teacher
Teachers provide individual and small group assistance via online synchronous sessions called “Class Connects.” Students are expected to attend all required Class Connects and meet with their teacher to receive course assistance, tutoring, and instruction. Class Connects vary by grade level and are scheduled by your teacher.
Attendance
Attendance is logged Monday through Friday, but academic progress can be achieved during the weekends as well. K–5 students are expected to spend approximately 4–7 hours on schoolwork per school day.
- Grades K–2: Estimate approximately 4–5 hours of productive schoolwork five days per week
- Grades 3–5: Estimate approximately 5–7 hours of effective schoolwork five days per week
Assessments
Star360
K–5 students must take STAR360 literacy and/or math assessments as WIVA’s district-approved growth measure. Homeroom teachers will provide specific assessment/testing windows that involve administering the STAR360 three times a year (fall, winter, and spring). These assessments are integral to shaping teacher instruction on a more personalized level for students in order to meet our goal of one year’s academic growth in one year’s time for each learner.
State Testing
WIVA students must comply with all Wisconsin-mandated testing requirements. Check the Testing and Assessment FAQs page for a list of tests and the grades in which they are given, as well as the schedule on which they’ll be administered.
Testing Notifications
You’ll receive testing and assessment information from advisors and teachers throughout the school year, as well as in the monthly newsletters and the WIVA Weekly. Please call WIVA Testing Coordinator Katherine Siegmann at 608.838.9482 extension 1111 if you have any questions.