Yes! We have a way to have high school summer school. We would have loved to get back to face-to-face teaching, but since we can’t right now, we’re thankful for an option that we expect to be reasonably workable for our students.
Summer school this summer will be offered through a partnership with an online school, Sevenstar.
What is Sevenstar?
Sevenstar says it “is a leader in online Christian education and currently serves students worldwide with high-quality learning solutions. Our online courses for 6-12 graders are rigorous and exceed all US national standards and recommendations. We support your mission to deliver a biblical worldview education. Sevenstar desires to glorify Christ, and our curriculum encourages students to learn how to process information and think critically in the context of a biblical worldview.”
Sevenstar serves a relatively wide “stripe” of Christianity—some aspects of their biblical worldview may vary somewhat from BJA’s.
We actually learned about Sevenstar several years ago through a school that uses it extensively.
What courses will be available?
Sevenstar is working with BJA to provide these courses for our students this summer:
- English 9 (Sevenstar: English 1)
- US History
- English 11 (Sevenstar: English 3)
- English 12 (Sevenstar: English 4)
Here are the course descriptions.
What are courses like?
Sevenstar’s courses are fully online and typically involve the student reading in relatively short amounts, then responding to that information. They do not typically include video lectures.
BJA’s summer school classes involve approximately 150 hours of class time (including chapel and breaks) plus significant homework time each day. Sevenstar requires a minimum of 120 hours of participation in a course total. As students yet again learn a new system while also learning course content, this should be a help.
What about cost?
- $685 for the full (one-credit) course; $545 for one semester (half-credit) only
- For tuition-benefited students, we are disappointed that we cannot provide our usual free-tuition summer school. However, we were able to work out a reduced rate for tuition-benefited students: $345 for the full (one-credit) course; $295 for one semester (half-credit) only.
- Summer school will be billed to a student’s regular school bill. BJA will pay the cost to Sevenstar. Tuition is not able to be refunded should a student cancel after the class begins.
What about oversight?
Sevenstar’s teachers are not only subject matter experts but also work to keep the student on track to complete the course on time.
BJA’s Academic Office will also have access to information—and may get involved if needed.
Parents will need to be involved as well, helping the student create the personal structure needed to complete the course, monitoring as needed, providing a tutor if needed (Sevenstar’s teachers are delighted to answer student questions but are not expected to become personal tutors), and proctoring two tests. The two tests, a mid-course test and a final exam for the course, require very basic proctoring: no notes, no Googling, etc.
What are the dates for summer school?
All students registered for summer school will begin on Monday, May 18.
For convenience or because a student needs time flexibility, parents may choose the regular 6-week summer school schedule (complete by Friday, June 26) or a 10-week schedule (complete by Friday, July 24).
Students may complete the course (including required 120 minimum hours) faster than this schedule—the scheduling provides a minimum pacing to complete on time. Sevenstar allows BJA to ask for a change in the originally planned schedule for a student if needed—contact our academic office if something occurs.
On Memorial Day students will not have target due dates and instructors are not required to respond, grade, or conduct office hours.
What are the risks for my student?
Sevenstar prides itself in a very high success rate—including relatively high grades—for their students, including students with learning disabilities, even a disability in reading. Material is deliberately not given a sense of time pressure. For example, semester exams are not timed; therefore students may take their time working through exam questions before submitting the exam for grading.
Potential high-risk situations for success in these courses are those where a student has a diagnosis involving low executive functioning and where a student usually needs an adult to be standing over him in order to do the work.
How do I register?
If you would like your student to register, please complete this form by Monday, May 4, at 5 p.m.
What device should my student use?
Students will be able to keep their BJA Chromebooks for summer school.
Questions?
Please contact the academic office with any questions.
Comments are closed.