Toolkit for Administrators in Distance Learning Environments

District Run Virtual Schools

• Compliance with Division 22 Standards: District-operated virtual schools must adhere to Division 22 standards, similar to traditional brick-and-mortar schools. They are presumed compliant unless a deficiency is identified and are allowed to address any issues before potential funding consequences.
  ODE Resources: Division 22
• Compliance Monitoring Processes: The outlined processes—ongoing coaching, maintaining a complaint process, and adhering to appeals procedures—apply to virtual schools. Districts must ensure these processes are in place for all their schools, including those that are virtual.

Virtual Public Charter Schools

Exemptions from Division 22 Standards: Virtual public charter schools must comply with Division 22 standards unless specifically exempted in their charter contract or through a waiver as per ORS 338.025.
Oregon Legislature

Special Interpretations for Virtual Charter Schools:

• Instructional Time (OAR 581-022-2320): Virtual schools are required to meet annual instructional hour requirements. They can include synchronous online sessions, asynchronous learning activities, virtual teacher-student interactions, and online coursework completion in their instructional time calculations. It’s essential to have clear systems to track and document this time.
• Assessment (OAR 581-022-2100): Virtual schools must ensure secure testing environments, provide physical locations for state assessments, verify student identities during tests, document testing protocols, and maintain test security, even in remote settings.

Eligibility for Remote Testing:

• Instructional Model Alignment: Students enrolled in schools that primarily offer remote or online instruction are eligible for remote state assessments. Conversely, students from schools that predominantly provide in-person instruction are generally expected to participate in assessments on-site, even if individual students receive instruction remotely.
  Oregon Government
• Parental Consent: For a student to participate in remote testing, explicit consent from a parent or guardian is required. The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) provides a Parent/Guardian Remote Testing Permission Form, which districts must collect prior to testing. 
• School Improvement (OAR 581-022-2305): Improvement plans should be adapted for the online environment, incorporating virtual-specific metrics, addressing engagement and participation, focusing on online learning effectiveness, and tracking virtual attendance patterns.
• Personnel Evaluations (OAR 581-022-2410): Evaluations should consider online teaching observations, virtual classroom management, digital communication skills, remote student engagement, and online curriculum delivery.
• Individual Student Support (OAR 581-022-2030): Support strategies must include virtual intervention methods, online tutoring options, remote special education services, digital accessibility considerations, and technology support.

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Budgets

Plan ahead, create practice budgets with the “best” and “worst” case scenario. For many online schools, budgets take into account the shifting and changing of student numbers through the year. Plan ahead for those shifts by tracking your school enrollment data, and taking a look at yearly average trends, numbers, and shifts. Determine if you see a pattern in enrollment, platform/curriculum costs. Create a practice budget prior to the start of the next year, to wiggle the numbers. This can help with any foresight about planning for staffing, contracts, and when to penny pinch. Some programs are fully funded, others rely on enrollment numbers and charges for the bottom line. Meet with your school or district budget specialist to determine your budget, how you receive funds, plans for funding the next year, and what action items need to be addressed in this year’s budget.

Questions/considerations:

• Know your vendor contracts. Are you billed per student? Per course? Do you have a package deal?
• Don’t let your school/program be an afterthought, ask about your budget, do not assume that you are funded.
• Do you have any funded grants? Federal, State – what are the requirements or deliverables to receive funds?

Distribution/Return/Accountability

• Courier services, pick up events/appointments or mailing service supports the distribution of devices
• Most schools will track and label with specific device numbers a form of tag or label system
• In most SIS databases there is a place to track which devices and tag numbers that are assigned to students. A database can also be tracked in a spreadsheet.
• Return – providing a return deadline/date and end of year celebration can encourage families to bring their devices back for repair/cleaning/reimaging.
• Determine as a school if you will charge for broken, lost, stolen devices or plan this replacement into the budget.
• Fees/Charging families may result in a process that includes using collection agencies in the event families do not pay for tech replacement. Having a plan/documented process  in place ahead of time will help with this process. Some schools plan to absorb costs, and not charge for replacement devices. Consider requesting a deposit that can be refunded at the end of the school year (or waived if the family qualifies for free and reduced lunch).
• Plan/budget on replacing devices overtime as they reach their circulation date (between 3-5 years – most school tech departments support this process). Build a replacement plan into the budget.
• Label devices with program information, and the tech support hotline.
• Support device access by whitelisting any and all platform or program components prior to the start of the school year.
• Hotspots and Data
• Most hotspot plans charge – determine by hotspot carrier which hotspot and carrier provide the best plans and data management services.
• Provide a hotspot user agreement – that only school devices may connect to the hotspot.
• Some programs provide or require internet access as a point to support attending the program – determine this process/expectation for your school.

State & Remote Testing

(creating impediments for opting out, smoothing barriers to testing)

The State of Oregon requires students in selected grades to take the Smarter Balance test to demonstrate their mastery of math, English, science and social studies (optional). Families have the option to “opt-out” of testing for their students and it is no longer considered a requirement for a high school diploma. The challenge for districts and schools is that they are still held accountable for participation and demonstrating learning growth while communicating the opt-out option.

To support students with test anxiety, quiet rooms with a smaller group of students, frequent breaks, snacks and a positive atmosphere help students with finding the testing environment less stressful.

Resource:  SBAC Opt-Out Script

Online Proctoring

Securely, Vault

Stand and Delivery

Questions/Comments

• For students who are full-time virtual, one school added the students to teacher rosters for testing and they were assigned the day and time on campus for that cohort of students.
• In my experience students spend more time with the state tests with online proctoring, increasing staff time needed.
• Attendance needs to be taken to ‘count’ for being present.
• Provide a variety of headsets and chargers, bring backups for all digital components.
• Bring supplies: pencils, sharpener, highlighters, paper, snacks, etc.
  • Review any allergies or medical needs for students prior to testing (i.e. allergies to food, scents, and blood sugar management or other medical necessities)

Crisis Prevention Planning

Questions to ask about crisis prevention:

• What is your schools or district’s current crisis prevention plan?
• How does this plan apply to virtual students?
• What virtual components and responses differ from in person components?
• Do you need to develop/add a virtual component to the current school or district plan? Who needs to be a part of this process?

Take into account virtual student crisis prevention/action may be prompted through data collection by reviewing student search history, data from in person lab times, virtual lab written or verbal information/discussions/responses, or responses to online assignments.

• ODE School Safety and Prevention System
• Adi’s Act
• NEA School Crisis Guide
• CPI Training
• Safe Oregon

Time Required

The time required to onboard teachers in virtual environments is much greater that of traditional teachers due to the need to train in specialized platforms, program/school procedures and expectations, and community-building.  

How to provide

Questions:

• How will your PD be delivered?  In-person, synchronous/online, asynchronous, hybrid
• How will you build community in the virtual environment among colleagues? 
• Do you have a shared virtual workspace to share ideas?

Once a month, instead of holding a traditional all-staff meeting, I organize a menu of Professional Development (PD) options based on topics suggested by the staff. Teachers with expertise in these areas lead the sessions, creating a peer-led learning experience.

We meet on Zoom, and each teacher selects the breakout room for the topic they want to explore further. To ensure accessibility and ongoing learning, all sessions are recorded and placed into a shared Professional Development folder. This allows teachers to revisit sessions later or catch up on those they couldn’t attend.

This approach has been highly successful because it fosters greater engagement—teachers feel more invested when the sessions are led by their colleagues. Additionally, the PD sessions are meaningful and relevant, as they align with the interests and needs of the participants. By recording and archiving the sessions, we also create a growing library of resources that teachers can use to support their professional growth at any time. This model not only enhances learning but also strengthens collaboration and shared leadership within the team.

During the planning phase of the school calendar, building in dedicated Professional Development is critical to the success of the year. One area that had a large impact on buy-in for my teachers was to provide a survey or a discussion time that covered potential topics that they wanted to discuss. I created a PD planning committee who also took one training a month and shared their knowledge with their peers. They chose a topic and taught their peers something that worked well for them in the classroom content, virtual sessions, etc. Teachers were excited to be a part of the learning and over time, it naturally built in more collaboration within the teams of teachers. The exciting part as an administrator was hearing the cross-conversations that would happen between different cohort teachers (i.e. elementary to middle school or high school, etc.). They thoroughly enjoyed being able to share about what they had learned (positives and challenges); plus at times, being ‘teacher guests’ at their virtual class meetings.

New teachers meet weekly as a PLC with their mentor to address questions, receive training that is relevant to their position, annual goal writing in a new teaching environment  and to get additional support for school initiatives. These meetings are not attended by their supervisor to help foster an openness to ask questions.  

Oregon Required Trainings: Mandatory Trainings

How to Provide

Questions

• How will your PD be delivered?  In-person, synchronous/online, asynchronous, hybrid
• How will you build community in the virtual environment among colleagues? 
• Do you have a shared virtual workspace to share ideas?

Once a month, instead of holding a traditional all-staff meeting, I organize a menu of Professional Development (PD) options based on topics suggested by the staff. Teachers with expertise in these areas lead the sessions, creating a peer-led learning experience.

We meet on Zoom, and each teacher selects the breakout room for the topic they want to explore further. To ensure accessibility and ongoing learning, all sessions are recorded and placed into a shared Professional Development folder. This allows teachers to revisit sessions later or catch up on those they couldn’t attend.

This approach has been highly successful because it fosters greater engagement—teachers feel more invested when the sessions are led by their colleagues. Additionally, the PD sessions are meaningful and relevant, as they align with the interests and needs of the participants. By recording and archiving the sessions, we also create a growing library of resources that teachers can use to support their professional growth at any time. This model not only enhances learning but also strengthens collaboration and shared leadership within the team.

During the planning phase of the school calendar, building in dedicated Professional Development is critical to the success of the year. One area that had a large impact on buy-in for my teachers was to provide a survey or a discussion time that covered potential topics that they wanted to discuss. I created a PD planning committee who also took one training a month and shared their knowledge with their peers. They chose a topic and taught their peers something that worked well for them in the classroom content, virtual sessions, etc. Teachers were excited to be a part of the learning and over time, it naturally built in more collaboration within the teams of teachers. The exciting part as an administrator was hearing the cross-conversations that would happen between different cohort teachers (i.e. elementary to middle school or high school, etc.). They thoroughly enjoyed being able to share about what they had learned (positives and challenges); plus at times, being ‘teacher guests’ at their virtual class meetings.

New teachers meet weekly as a PLC with their mentor to address questions, receive training that is relevant to their position, annual goal writing in a new teaching environment  and to get additional support for school initiatives. These meetings are not attended by their supervisor to help foster an openness to ask questions.  

Oregon Required Trainings: Mandatory Trainings

PLCs

Like PLC’s in traditional settings, PLS’s in the digital setting are most effective when they are data driven, and focused is on student outcomes. Effective PLC’s need to adopt a continues learning mindset grounded in measurable program growth.

PLC’s inquiry cycles may include the following:

• Instruction methods
• Standards based curriculum planning
• Researched and effective teaching and learning strategies, 
• Attendance & Engagement
• Inquiry strategies
• Barriers to student access 
• Family engagement

Setting up norms for PLC’s include supporting active participation in the PLC process: norms may include:

1. Establish Clear Expectations
   • Define the purpose and goals of the PLC.
   • Clarify roles (e.g., facilitator, note-taker, timekeeper).
   • Set expectations for engagement, response times, and meeting frequency.
2. Promote Respectful and Inclusive Communication
   • Use professional and positive language.
   • Encourage equitable participation—ensure all voices are heard.
   • Foster a safe space for sharing ideas and constructive feedback.
3. Set Technology Guidelines
   • Choose and standardize communication platforms (e.g., Google Meet, Zoom, Slack).
   • Define response times for emails, messages, or discussion boards.
   • Ensure accessibility (e.g., captions, readable fonts, inclusive design).
4. Maintain Professionalism and Confidentiality
   • Respect privacy—do not share personal or sensitive information outside the group.
   • Keep discussions focused on professional learning, avoiding off-topic debates.
5. Be Efficient and Solution-Oriented
   • Start and end on time.
   • Stick to an agenda and set action steps.
   • Use shared applications(Google Docs, Padlet, Trello, Miro) for collaborative tracking.
6. Encourage Reflection and Continuous Improvement
   • Regularly review norms and adjust as needed.
   • Gather feedback on what’s working and what needs improvement.
     

• Consider joining communities dedicated to virtual education research such as the Digital Learning Collaborative https://www.digitallearningcollab.com/

When I first started out as a teacher in my hybrid/remote program, I felt pretty isolated.  I had no colleagues in my small district, and all of the professional development felt obsolete/irrelevant.  That changed one day when I reached out to a neighboring district who had a similar program and was a little bigger. Soon, we grew farther and wider and now I have a network to lean on when I feel stuck or have questions. We use email, quarterly meet-ups, and more to stay connected. I’m no longer in a silo!

PE

Using the resources provided in the Oregon.gov  PE Laws and Regulations and PE Toolkit, what specific steps will you take to:  

1. Ensure that students meet the required instructional minutes for PE as per Oregon law, considering the virtual environment?
2. Provide equitable access to physical activity opportunities for students with disabilities or limited physical activity options at home?
3. Monitor and assess student participation and progress in PE to comply with reporting requirements?
4. Engage families and caregivers to support physical activity at home, leveraging the tools and strategies outlined in the PE Toolkit? 

Some ways that students can demonstrate their physical skills can be through submitting recordings of them performing specific skills; photographs showing participation in group activities; participating in a live session where the group is working out together (Zoom, Google meets, etc.) and the teacher is able to verify participation. 

Your District School Board may have a policy around awarding PE credit for participation in athletics. Gyms can often provide a printout of the student’s check-in for arrival to their facility. Coaches, instructors and instructors programs like gymnastics, karate, dance, and swim can provide verification of attendance to practice or instructional sessions.

Health

• Oregon Health Education Standards are outlined in the Health Standards Adopted 10.19.23
• 2023 Health Education K-5 & 6-12 Learning Progressions (at Oregon.gov)
• What strategies will you implement to address sensitive topics like mental health, sexual health, and substance use prevention in an age-appropriate and inclusive way?  How will virtual teachers to ensure they are prepared to deliver health education effectively, especially in areas like trauma-informed instruction and culturally responsive teaching?
• Guidance from Erin’s Law Toolkit for Distance Learning ensures that child sexual abuse prevention and suicide prevention education is effectively delivered.  How will you address potential concerns from families about topics related to Erin’s Law, ensuring the importance of these lessons is communicated effectively?

Virtual Versus Hybrid Learning

The Oregon Department of Education uses the term “Remote Learning” as an umbrella for several models and states that “instructional models may be primarily online (using internet-based platforms and technology), paper-and-pencil (non-internet based), or a combination of both.”

“Remote is inclusive of online, virtual, and non-internet based models.”  Remote learning is an applicable title when a student receives less than 50% of their instruction in-person in a brick and mortar setting from a licensed teacher.

Schools and programs may be 100% virtual, or hybrid, allowing students to come in for part of their instruction in a brick and mortar setting.

Within a hybrid setting, there are also multiple options, including:

• Students come in to receive synchronous instruction with a cohort
• Students come in to receive support from a licensed teacher but are working asynchronously
• Students come in to participate in synchronous classes held with traditional students
• Each school and program should clearly define their offerings based on what will best serve their student population.

Curriculum Adoption - Digital Instructional Materials

Instructional materials used as the major instructional vehicle, or the substantial and ongoing component of instruction, for any content area on  Oregon’s Instructional Materials Adoption Cycle must be approved by the Oregon State Board of Education or adopted by the district’s local school board through an independent adoption process. As outlined in OAR 581-011-0087 Digital, Electronic, or Web-based Materials and Media, “Instructional Material may include digital content or software in a format such as electronic and internet or web-based materials or media…Contract, review, and evaluation process involving digital, electronic, or web-based materials and media shall be the same as print materials.” 

When conducting an independent adoption, districts must provide their local school board with the information in sections 1 through 7 of OAR 581-022-2350 to inform the local school board’s review and independent adoption of instructional materials. The information required is: 

(1) The subject, category, and grade level(s) in which the instructional materials will be used;
(2) The title of the instructional materials;
(3) The publisher of the instructional materials;
(4) The copyright date of the instructional materials;
(5) The date on which the district intends to install the instructional materials for use in the school system; and
(6) A statement that a completed criteria checklist showing the degree to which the instructional materials meet the criteria established by the State Board of Education is on file in the district office. (Criteria checklists for the specific subject/category are available from the Department of Education.)
(7) A statement of assurance that the independently adopted instructional materials will comply with the most current National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) specifications regarding accessible instructional materials.

If the digital instructional materials cover multiple subject areas, each subject must be evaluated separately using the corresponding adoption criteria. Schools and districts must take special consideration when adopting instructional materials for remote and online learning models to ensure they are culturally responsive and meet the requirements for accessibility. Additionally, many digital materials currently available allow for very limited modifications or teacher flexibility. Oftentimes these materials are not designed for an Oregon student audience and will include specific references to other state contexts that may not have relevance to students. These are important considerations when evaluating instructional materials. Please refer to Digital Instructional Materials: Requirements and Recommendations. The rules related to instructional materials adoptions do not apply to public charter schools. Therefore, each public charter school may establish their own criteria and rationale for selecting the instructional materials for their instructional program. (ORS 338.115) (Resourced from the Remote and Online Learning Policy FAQ)

Digital Instructional Materials Adoption Toolkit: Adoption Toolkit oregon.gov

To think about: When selecting curriculum for adoption that is from an online content provider, find out if they have teachers certified in the state of Oregon should you ever need to use their instructors or teachers of record.

Modifying Courseware to meet Oregon Standards

1) it’s probable that components will need to be added as new standards come into play (i.e. social studies standards for Oregon are very specific to our nine indigenous tribes) and 

2) it’s permissible to delete components and adapt coursework to your student populations.  Digital curriculum is more similar to the textbook than the classroom, and teachers are right to both add content beyond the district-adopted curriculum AND skip sections of the text as needed.  

Some curriculum providers make allowances for teachers/schools to add elements into the workflow of the course.  That’s fine–that would be like a teacher-created addendum glued into the textbook.  Other curriculum doesn’t allow for easy modification, and in those cases the teachers need to augment the provided curriculum with what’s needed for Oregon classrooms.

When I was new as a remote administrator, my students were struggling to complete the workload that came preloaded in our purchased curriculum.  As I checked with teachers about how long it was taking students each week to stay current I saw that we indeed had a problem–the curriculum was requiring too much time.  When I went to a regional gathering of remote-learning administrators I mentioned what was going on, and they helped me realize that the purchased curriculum is akin to a textbook with chapter quizzes, and that it’s normal for brick-and-mortar teachers to have students skip a textbook chapter here and there, to spend additional time and focus in a different place, etc.  Some administrators who had used our online curriculum recommended having the teachers go through and trim it down to 70-80%, then add in the Oregon-specific pieces to tailor the curriculum to our student population. 

Career and Technical Education (CTE)

Career and Technical Education (CTE) embraces education, passion, and curiosity to fuel the future for Oregon students, helping students acquire technical skills, professional practices, and academic knowledge critical for career success in high-wage, in-demand careers.*

1. Identifying and building high quality programs of study (pos) that support high-wage, in-demand careers:  
   1. Career clusters: Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Systems; Arts, Information and Communications; Business and Management; Health Sciences; Human Resources; Industrial and Engineering Systems
   2. Researching high-wage, high demand careers that are supported with local industry
   3. Building or purchasing curriculum that supports the building of employability skills
   4. Meeting industry standards for employability – helping students finish a program ready to walk into a career
   5. Students must earn 3 high school credits in the program of study, complete a work-based learning experience and participate in a Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) to be considered a CTE completer. 
2. How to fund CTE programs: Perkins, M-98, and build into general budget:
   1. Perkins: Identify if sponsoring district part of collaborative through local ESD or direct recipient:
      1. How will funds be allocated to virtual schools to support building and establishing a program of study?
   2. M-98 Grant: Biennium grant that is more flexible than Perkins because it is locally funded
      1. CTE component of M-98 that supports development of:
         1. Programs of study
         2. Professional development
         3. Purchase of equipment
   3. Long-term support of viable CTE programs will need to receive funding from the general budget
3. Partnering with local community colleges and industry
   1. Work with local community colleges to create dual credit class opportunities for students
   2. Identify community college certificate programs that enhance student’s skill development
   3. Partner with local industry to establish internship opportunities and experiences
4. Recruiting students and qualified staff
   1. Recruiting and hiring qualified CTE instructors
      1. Hire directly from industry with plan in place for licensure
      2. Review current staffing to identify potential CTE instructors
   2. Ongoing marketing to students to attract them to CTE POS
      1. Field trips to industry locations
      2. Guest speakers
      3. Participation in regional career fairs and events (ie: Portland Workforce Alliance)

Questions to consider:

1. What are the approved programs of study in our district and region?
2. Are there staff members with industry experience? If not, can staff gain approval to begin the certification process.
3. Who are the regional and state CTE contacts that I can use as a resource? 
4. What local organizations can create opportunities for internships/volunteering?

Vendor-provided courses provide instruction for certificates, however you must arrange for the student to take the certificate exam. 

Resources:
*ODE CTE website
Credit Options: Applied Academics
High Quality Programs of Study
CTE Regional Coordinators
Oregon CTE Group Resources

Credit Recovery

• When CR courses are not NCAA eligible
• Utilizing proficiency options to demonstrate mastery of the standards

ODE Credit Options

Potential Models for Credit Recovery

Student works from home 100%, fully online no in-person 

1. Student enrolled into an online course 
2. Online teacher is also remote – they are HQ for all students enrolled in the course
3. Online teacher is responsible for:
   1. Course design and logistics
   2. Tracking student progress
   3. Weekly conferencing and goal setting with student
   4. Scoring offline assignments
   5. Family communication
   6. Communication with counselor
   7. Assigning final grade and reporting 
4. Online School/Program adds final grade to student transcript
5. Online Teacher participates in required professional development for online teaching
6. Online Administrator supervises Online Teacher

On-site Teacher/Mentor assigned to credit recovery period – this is a model where the student has a credit recovery period in their building – the teacher who is in the room for credit recovery is also the teacher of record for the students in the room (as long as they are licensed appropriately).

1. Student assigned to study hall/ credit recovery period at home school
2. Teacher is HQ for all students in the class (e.g. all of the students are recovering English credit and the teacher is HQ in Language Arts)
3. Online Teacher is also In-Person Mentor during credit recovery period
4. Online Teacher/ Mentor is responsible for :
   1. Customizing courses to meet student needs
   2. Tracking student progress
   3. Weekly conferencing and goal setting with student
   4. Grading off-line assignments
   5. Communicating with parents
   6. Communicating with counselor
   7. Assigning a grade and reporting
5. School Building counselors adds final grade to student transcript
6. Online Teacher/ Mentor participates in required professional development for online/blended teaching
7. Site administrator supervises Online teacher/mentor

On-site teacher uses online curriculum for content recovery – this is a model where the student is enrolled in an online course (provided by the district) and the building content area teacher is the teacher of record

1. Student is in core class who have failed first semester (or quarter)
2. Student continues in core while recovering missed content/ proficiencies (e.g. Student fails Biology 1, stays in Biology 2 while working on Biology 1 online)
3. Teacher in course where student is enrolled is responsible for:
   1. Customizing courses to meet student needs
   2. Tracking student progress
   3. Weekly conferencing and goal setting with student
   4. Grading off-line assignments
   5. Communicating with parents
   6. Communicating with counselor
   7. Assigning a grade and reporting
4. School Building counselor adds final grade to student transcript
5. Site administrator supervises teacher/mentor

On-site Mentor and District Virtual Teacher – this is a model where the student is concurrently enrolled at a school and an online program. There is the teacher of record who works remotely and a classified employee who is the Mentor in the credit recovery period with students

1. Students assigned to study hall/ credit recovery period
2. Supervised by classified staff or teacher
3. HQ teacher is an Online teacher and responsible for:
   1. Customizing courses to meet student needs
   2. Tracking student progress
   3. Grading off-line assignments
   4. Communicating with parents
   5. Assigning a grade and reporting
4. Virtual teacher is supervised by Online administrator
5. Mentor is site-based and is responsible for:
   1. Tracking student progress
   2. Weekly conferencing and goal setting with student
   3. Communicating with parents
   4. Communicating with counselor
6. Mentor is supervised by site administrator

Course Design

• Importance of understanding Universal Design for Learning
• Using Quality Matters Rubric for online courses
• Templates + consistency supports learning
• Breaking self-paced learning into smaller pieces or chunks for students to engage with
• Adapting “canned curriculum” that has already been vetted by districts to include more local learning
• Teachers recording videos and humanizing courses is critical to building relationships – students need to see their teacher’s face, not someone else’s from YouTube
• All courses in a program should follow the same outline/template for the course to bring down the cognitive load on navigation for students

Virtual ORS/OARs

The time required to onboard teachers in virtual environments is much greater that of traditional teachers due to the need to train in specialized platforms, program/school procedures and expectations, and community-building.  

Parent notice to district of students intent to attend a Virtual Charter

OAR 581-026-0305, 2. A parent must provide notice to the school district in which the parent resides that the parent intends to enroll a student in a virtual public charter school.

Upon receiving the notice, a school district may choose to do nothing further until receiving notice the student is enrolled in the school or if more than three percent of the students who reside in the school district are enrolled in virtual public charter schools not sponsored by the district, the district must provide notice to the parent. Best practice would be to give this notice to districts via email and CC the virtual charter. This notifies both schools and provides a record of the beginning of the timeline relating to enrollment. Virtual charters are allowed to provide guidance to parents in this manner when they are approached by families interested in enrolling.

District 3% Cap of students to outside Virtual Charters

OAR 581-026-0305, 2, (b) Does not approve the student for enrollment in the virtual public charter school and provide a copy of this rule and OAR 581-026-0310 to the student and a list of two or more other online options available to the student.

District are  REQUIRED to give two  virtual options to families, and a lack of doing so would fall under grounds for accepting the appeal. In strict legal terms districts cannot deny a student access to a virtual education, they can only have a say in which virtual options the family may choose from once they have reached 3%. If a district has their own virtual school and a full-time program, they could restrict it to those, but they have to have two options they will allow the family to attend in their denial to the parents. To deny student enrollment based on the 3% cap districts must adopt policy on how they determine their percentage in non-district virtual charters. If they do not have a policy adopted they must have one prior to denying students. The policy must set a consistent time schedule. it is only required annually, but may be determined more often as long as it is consistent.  For instance districts may choose October 1st yearly, or the first week of each month as long as it is stated in the policy. They need to determine the number of students that reside in the district and are not registered as homeschooled, or in private schools. Only if the number of students currently enrolled in virtual charters outside the district is greater then 3% of the total residing in the district may they choose to deny further enrollment.

Notice of disapproval to attend Virtual Charters & appeals

OAR 581-026-0305, 3. If a parent does not receive a notice of approval or disapproval from a school district under subsection (2) of this rule within 14 days of sending the notice of intent to enroll to the district, the student shall be deemed approved for enrollment by the district.

Parents may appeal the districts decision through the state charter school specialist Kate Pattison within 10 calendar days of the denial. Information on appeals can be found here on ODE’s web page. Schools may inform families of their right to appeal and guide them on required information needed, as well as responsibilities of denying district.

List of students attending Virtual Charters

OAR 581-026-0305, 6. A virtual public charter school shall send a list of students to each school district in which a student who is enrolled in the school resides.

The list shall be sent monthly when the virtual school is in session. These lists should be sent on a consistent timeframe and serve as notification that students have maintained enrollment in the school. These should be maintained as information for appeals, or as part of the ADM error correction process should they be needed. Districts need to assign a responsible party to receive these lists, or they are to be submitted to the superintendent if they have not assigned staff. These lists do not replace the notice to resident districts of unenrollment which is required separately when a student is unenrolled.

Special education for children with disabilities attending Virtual Charters

581-022-0103 (5). School districts and public charter schools must provide services for students who experience disability in accordance with IDEA and applicable Oregon Administrative Rules.

It is the responsibility of the district that sponsors the virtual charter to provide services under IDEA. The district may agree to transfer services to the charter under contract, but they will remain the LEA of record. If districts elect to have the charter provide services funds from the weighted ADMw should be allotted to the charter. Either way these services are better served by staff imbedded in the school with relationships and a working knowledge of virtual instruction.

Senate Bill 13 (SB13)

In 2017, the Oregon Legislature enacted Senate Bill (SB) 13, now known as Tribal History/Shared History (TH/SH). This law directs the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to create K-12 Native American Curriculum for inclusion in Oregon public schools and to provide professional development to educators. It provides information to educators and students on the tribes in Oregon including their past and current presence, sovereignty, history, tribal governance, identity, lifeways, language, treaties with the United States, and genocide, federal policy and laws.

These lessons need to be taught as they are provided from the ODE source, not altered.  Many of us use a program for our education (Edgenuity, Edmentum, etc.).  How do we adhere to SB13 within the structure of a packaged curriculum?

Other Questions worth asking:

1. Which courses are required to integrate with SB13?
2. Has your curriculum been modified or augmented to cover Oregon Standards?
3. Is there funding available for professional development? 

Resource: Senate Bill 13

Title1

This content is found under special populations.  Should it be here instead?

Artificial Intelligence in virtual ed, academic integrity

• Update (continuously) existing User Technology Agreement to address expanding influence of AI as it relates to learning
  • Example: User Technology Agreement
• Support proactive education for staff and students around the use of artificial intelligence – How do we use this in education? 
• Outline and train staff on clear processes and procedures for academic discipline related to the inappropriate use of AI, include this process in your user agreement. 
• Review board policies and actions around AI, Academic integrity and academic discipline to ensure the user technology agreement aligns with them.
• Stay up to date on AI advances and impact on virtual learning – DLAC, ODE Digital Learning Resources,

Staffing Needs

If possible, try to hire staff with credentials that allow for flexibility to meet the needs of the school while being able to shift teaching responsibilities as needed. Also  provide professional development opportunities to add highly qualified endorsements to interested teaching staff, especially in the areas of math, science and CTE.  Note: If a virtual school is also registered as an “alternative education” school, then the HQ licensure requirements can be set aside as any teacher in alt-ed can teach any subject per ODE rules.

BUT HOW MANY?

It’s the question everyone wants an answer to: “What is the optimal student-teacher ratio in an online/hybrid environment?”  

Here are some answers.

Job Descriptions

Smaller remote or hybrid schools have fewer staff who wear many hats.  However, it’s important to establish roles and responsibilities for each area of need to ensure things don’t get overlooked. By providing explicit job descriptions a single individual can wear several hats, but each hat has its own definition/responsibilities.

• Sample Job Description Documents 

The description linked below is for a Student Success Coordinator position: one who monitors student progress and coordinates with staff and families to ensure success in online curriculum. This position is highly recommended (and too often overlooked) as part of a virtual team.  

• Sample Student Success Coordinator description

Job descriptions may include something about the flexibility required of working in online learning environments (we nearly always need to fly the plane while we build it).

Remote Staff

What if not seeing staff members in a building meant…

• They each have a fully scheduled, supported, remote working environment.
• They are receiving consistent/supportive check-in’s from their school staff and administrators.
• They are a part of a comprehensive learning team (PLC) that supports virtual teaching and learning.
• Trust is and has been built, to build a school that stands on transparency to support the best practices for student success.

The greatest challenge with staff who are remote?  For us it has been the problem of how to connect them together as a team with colleagues and peers. In the first few years of being an online teacher and then moving into administration, the isolation was the hardest aspect of working in this environment. Finding a peer or someone to connect with who is facing the same challenges I was, that felt astronomical. Consider creating a weekly time to get together virtually or with those near you (in person)to connect. Not another meeting, but a time to socialize and also share challenges you are facing.

Sometimes when people learn I’m a virtual teacher it conjures an image of someone just sitting at home, drinking coffee and folding their laundry.  Nope!  They are planning, prepping, creating, calling, conferencing, organizing.  Their job is not easier than that of an-in person staff member.  Often in virtual it takes more time to prepare that video recording of the read-aloud than it does to just read it aloud.

A challenge to prepare for if you have staff that do not live in the same area as your students: “snow days there, but not here.”  About half my staff lived and worked two hours north of our district and the students we serve. Their area experienced a hazardous winter storm that took out power and internet for several days in a row. My teachers could not work and often had difficulty communicating via text or phone. This caused layers of problems for us locally.  Our students could still work and learn, but they did  not  have access to their teachers for several days. Our teachers were not prepared to be out of contact for several days, so additional asynchronous lessons were not available. Contractually, how do we handle their inability to work due to a natural disaster when all the other teachers in the district could work? Needless to say, it forced us to come up with a plan for such events, but it was a very stressful few days!  

Self Care

As an administrator, self-care is something that we struggle with ourselves. We give and give to others until we run into the wall. Challenging aspect of administration is to remember that we need to take care of ourselves, too. We always attempt to model for those that we serve. However, we forget self-care because we often see others as needing us more. As an administrator, I found that I gave so much of myself to others (including my family) that when someone asked me what I did for fun or in my spare time, I had no answer. Somehow I got lost in the hustle of serving others. I had to re-learn what I liked to do as I lost my personal self-identity. I knew who I was as an administrator, a leader, a parent, a teacher, etc. What I did not know was how to do something just for me anymore. That seemed selfish. What I learned … it is selfish to not remember to take care of me, too.

Requiring in-person in the contract (F2F trainings, parent contracts, outings)

Remote staff need plenty of lead time if you are asking them to travel to the office for face to face meetings and training. Publish the school calendar as early as possible and communicate, multiple times, when mandatory in-person meetings are scheduled and where.  

Check your contract language, board policies for remote/telework/hybrid workers. You may find remote work is not mentioned, but you don’t want to be found in violation of an existing policy.

My first F2F event was daunting and a bit nerve-wracking. I did not know what to expect and I only knew a handful of people. The one piece that helped me the greatest was knowing I had one person to meet up with who I knew and had already connected with virtually. I was so thankful they had created and fostered a sense of belonging for me as a new staff member coming into the F2F event.

Interviews

• Interview process may include a video instruction example – have the candidate record a short 1-2 minute video doing a demo of something (ex: making a sandwich).  They can pretend to do the activity – the purpose is to get a sense of their comfort level with both synchronous instruction online and comfort/ability with technology tools.
• Interview process may also include a tech survey – this will help with your own planning of PD to get a sense of where your staff may be starting with their technology skills

When I was hired in my first online teaching position, the administrator traveled  to me to perform the second interview. I had provided the video instruction sample and gone through an interview on Zoom, but having the administrator take the time to meet me in person was validating and allowed him to highlight the importance of being a virtual teacher.  I will never forget that interview. My administrator made me laugh and smile, giving me the feeling that what I was about to do was of the utmost importance in serving children and families in this new role.

Substitutes

Finding substitute teachers for online learning programs may be challenging.  Where does your school get subs?  More importantly, WHEN does your school get subs?

At what point does a staff member need to call it in and ask for help?  How do you support a staff member to go on leave for a period of time, giving another person access to sensitive information in a way that won’t compromise the staff member when he/she returns to work?  How do subs login to the courseware and online tools they need to have access to? Consider setting up substitute logins, and work closely with your district IT team for best practices around these multiple-platform logins.

When it’s determined that a substitute will be needed, it’s appropriate to indicate if a sub will be doing the student-facing and/or the backend/admin side of a teacher’s work.  In synchronous environments, especially in elementary grades, substitute teachers need to be able to pick up the controls of a classroom at an hour’s notice, guiding students in their synchronous lessons.  In asynchronous classrooms, long-term substitutes are going to need to handle the normal avalanche of student/parent communications, grading student submissions, and asking for help from the others in the teaching team where questions arise.  None of this is as easy as it is in a brick and mortar venue, in any respect.  

Other teachers are often asked to pick up communication when a staff member is out for a short period of time. This is important to keep students progressing asynchronously in their curriculum as they often stop when they struggle and cannot connect with a teacher. Shifting students to other sections or assigning classes to another teacher temporarily can be helpful as an alternative to bringing in a sub “from outside.” Often the students know these teachers more and adding some extra students to a virtual classroom is less negatively impactful than in an in-person school.

Retired teachers are traditionally a great resource for temporary assignments, however in a fully virtual environment they may become overwhelmed with the number of tools and platforms that are required. 

Some virtual schools allow teachers to use pre-recorded lessons, such as those created with tools like Nearpod or Curipod, to cover their synchronous classes when they need to be absent. However, it’s crucial to clearly define expectations for teacher absences, whether for a full day, a partial day, or even hourly time off. Setting these expectations early in the year helps ensure that staff understand when a pre-recorded lesson is sufficient and when a substitute or another team member will need to step in. Clear guidelines help maintain instructional continuity and minimize disruptions for students.

Questions worth asking

Mindset and Approach

1. How does the teacher demonstrate a “Facilitator in the Frame” mindset rather than a “Sage on the Stage” approach?
2. What strategies does the teacher use to engage students in collaborative and active learning during live sessions?

Live Session Observations

1. Are live sessions structured to maximize the short synchronous time available?
2. How effective are the teacher’s transitions between activities during live sessions?

Professional Habits

1. Does the teacher consistently log communications (e.g., phone calls, emails) in a timely manner?
2. How reliable is the teacher’s attendance at staff meetings, IEP meetings, and other required events?
3. Are grading practices timely and aligned with school expectations?

Lesson Preparation

1. Are all necessary resources (e.g., slideshows, polls, interactive tools) prepared before live classes?
2. Does the teacher provide clear lesson objectives at the start of each session?

Student Interaction and Relationships

1. How does the teacher build meaningful relationships with students?
2. In what ways does the teacher incorporate student interests into lessons?
3. How do students know their teacher values and cares about them?

Instructional Effectiveness

1. How well does the teacher implement IEP accommodations during instruction?
2. Does the teacher use available data to tailor instruction, form small groups, and address learning gaps?
3. Are students given multiple opportunities and formats to demonstrate mastery?

Classroom Management and Communication

1. How does the teacher monitor and manage the chat to keep it focused and appropriate?
2. Does the teacher communicate effectively using various methods (text, email, video)?

Student Outcomes

1. Are students consistently engaged and productive during live sessions?
2. How does the teacher ensure all students have opportunities to succeed and feel supported?

• NSQ (National Standards for Quality Online Teaching) https://www.nsqol.org/the-standards/quality-online-teaching/
• Oregon Connections Academy: ORCAP GenEd Teacher Evaluation Rubric
• REACH (River’s Edge Academy Charter School) Teacher Evaluation: FOLDER
• ORVA 2017
• Meets SB 290
• Aligned with InTASC
• iWalk Observation 
• 5D Instructional Model

My teachers need to be thinking about:

Better practices synchronous vs asynchronous

When teaching a class that is 100% asynchronous, keep these recommendations in mind:

• Online students benefit from the feeling of community, but community is built on interaction.  See if you can create discussions that are semi-synchronous, maybe having them close after a week of being open rather than open continuously with no sense of timely contribution and response.
• Students should expect that their work and progress is recorded in a timely manner.  What does your policy have to say about grading?

When teaching on-site students and online students synchronously, help the virtual students form meaningful connections with each other.  Try to get an aide or a parent to monitor the digital platform with a view toward facilitating the interaction of the online students.  One aim is to foster their socio-emotional development, but another is to prevent them from sliding into a passive “lurker” mentality.  Online students need to be contributing via text, or (especially if there is an adult facilitator and the classroom teacher can be released to work with students on-site) verbally.

• My students loved our weekly art lessons together.  Each week a different student would choose our topic and we used several guided websites to create art. They loved showcasing their work at the end! 
• Every Friday we have field trips or hikes for all grades.  Occasionally, we join another class from our sponsor school.  The kids love coming in to spend time together.
• We had virtual tours of far away places that allowed students to experience ‘life outside’ their small community.

Resource: The Distance Learning Playbook, Grades K-12: Teaching for Engagement and Impact in Any Setting 1st Edition: by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie 

Teaching/Learning Paradigms for remote environments

We used to think of teaching and learning in terms of presentation and evaluation.  In eLearning that paradigm has to shift, because the slide from “sage on the stage” to “my face on your screen” is SO easy. 

As our teachers are to shift away from face-on-screen presentation as their primary mode of teaching, what do we shift TO?  If you are using a curriculum that comes ready-made and students are never synchronous with their teachers, then any presentation is already embedded into the software in the form of video content, text, etc. Students explore the content at their own pace and prepare for evaluation, and the teacher’s role is to facilitate rather than present content. If they have scheduled synchronous class sessions the risk increases that they will fall into the trap of filling the time (and their students’ screens) with their own talking heads. Facilitation, rather than presentation, needs to be the virtual teachers’ primary role, and this expectation needs to be implicit in the culture and explicitly stated by administrators.

As teachers flip their role from presenting to facilitating, students may need to flip their expectations regarding evaluation.  Although most available curriculum uses traditional quizzes/tests for evaluation, in many cases these have been compromised and the correct answers can be found online.  What it means is that a student’s learning in an online environment can no longer be legitimately measured by questions that can be Googled or artifacts that can be created by AI.

Students need to demonstrate their learning, using modern tools to complete authentic projects.  The axis of presenting/evaluation has changed, especially in remote learning, to one of facilitating/demonstrating-learning.

Teacher vs Course Creator?

Teacher Role re: curriculum creation

Caution your teachers from trying too hard to augment the curriculum they were given.  Teachers with a lifetime of classroom/F2F experience tend to want to create more content to “personalize” the presentation, but that road leads to teacher burnout and may backfire as students perceive the additional content as an added burden.  Instead, help your teachers see themselves as facilitators/ shepherds/ guides/ sherpas (choose a metaphor that can inform the jargon of your school, perhaps?).  

They can also be curriculum creators.  It’s a separate job, and usually schools pay teachers a curriculum rate to create classes during the summer.  But when teachers get confused and try to be course-creators while their classes are in session, they can lose sight of what their primary role as teachers should be.

SEL- Making connections and building relationships with students 

It starts with us, trauma informed care and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) starts with the adult first. We first have to know our own backgrounds, experiences, actions and reactions to know how to move forward with kids successfully in their ups and downs.

 Anecdote: I had a student teacher that was struggling with classroom management. It took some time to realize that something was not happening – she could not tell the kids no.  It was wreaking havoc! This led to a supportive conversation where she informed me that she had a challenging history with one of her own parents – she was not allowed to say “no” ever…you can imagine the trauma behind that. When we step into the classroom, we have to first acknowledge our own experiences, background and learned response – and continue learning new and different ways to respond because each of our students, just like each adult, brings their own, unique self to the classroom. 

Resources
Social and Emotional Learning : State of Oregon
​​Oregon’s Social Emotional Learning Standards
Trauma Informed Oregon
ACES Oregon Study

Frameworks: Casel Framework, TSEL Framework

There are many ways to build relationships with and among students, and it can be more challenging when done virtually.  You can use some of the above guidelines, as well as many others to find ways to connect students.  A few ideas for building community include:

• Journaling, responding to each other’s writing
• Group discussions online following a prompt
• Assigning peer editing for essays and projects
• Weekly or monthly zoom or in-person group meetings, field trips, etc

Cohort creation (student connectedness)

Helping remote students form a sense of belonging.

By fostering connection, promoting shared values, and maintaining consistent communication, school leaders can create an inclusive, supportive virtual environment where everyone feels valued and part of the community.

Here are some ways school leaders can foster connection and community:

• Host virtual meet-and-greet sessions, morning meetings, or advisory groups to help students and staff feel connected.
• Encourage teachers to regularly check in with students through personalized messages or small-group sessions.
• Promote shared values through virtual assemblies, newsletters, and school-wide celebrations.
• Recognize student and staff achievements with shout-outs, awards, or spotlights during meetings or via digital platforms.
• Create opportunities for peer collaboration through breakout rooms, discussion boards, or virtual clubs.
• Use your student council to incorporate fun, engaging activities like virtual spirit weeks, talent shows, or game nights.
• Regularly communicate through video messages, emails, or virtual office hours.

Accountability

While some families choose virtual or hybrid learning as the best choice, sometimes students land in a virtual or hybrid setting due to issues in previous settings, and are required to enroll in a virtual or hybrid setting.  It is essential to form a relationship with families to understand their reasons for enrolling in a virtual or hybrid program, as well as establishing procedures and expectations that will help ensure their child is successful. One avenue is to establish an agreement document which lists expectations and requirements, which is discussed in depth with the family and student, and which is signed by all parties. 

Example document:   Learning Partnership Agreement .

Best Practices chart

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b7gxx0fmF_SMm1N6vEbCSxY7Dx6Fc0BISPpbiYva9q8/edit?usp=drive_link

On Day One

1. Who are my students?  What do they need?
2. Who are my staff members, and what strengths and challenges do they bring to the team?
3. How will I establish trust and build rapport with students, staff, and parents?
4. Do I have a clear vision for this school year?
5. What are the most immediate operational challenges I need to address?
6. What kind of leader do I want to be in this role?
7. How will I manage my own well-being to stay effective and focused?