The Parent's Role

The role of the parent or other responsible adult varies from K-8 to high school. In K-6, you as the parent (or other responsible adult), working in conjunction with an experienced iCademy teacher, serve as a “learning coach” to your student, helping facilitate progress through the daily lessons and working to modify the pace and schedule according to your child’s needs. A teacher is assigned to your student and communicates with you via e-mail, telephone, online meetings, or even face-to-face, in many cases. A suggested lesson plan is provided to you each week, which updates automatically as your child progresses. You can vary the lesson plan to accommodate your child’s pace or abilities: for instance, some kids do better when they can concentrate their Math studies for longer hours per day but fewer days per week. Other parents use their children’s favorite subject as a reward to give the children a break periodically from tougher subjects.

In grades 7-8, the parent works closely with K12 International Academy instructional staff and student; however, the K12 International Academy feels strongly that students need content-specific teachers to ensure they master the more challenging concepts presented in the core subjects, such as Algebra. So the K12 International Academy ensures teachers are seasoned in every subject to support and provide guidance to students as they prepare to transition to high school.

In the K¹²9¹² high school program, students are expected to be more accountable for their daily progress and time management. They have one subject-specific teacher for each subject studied. These teachers are responsible for reviewing all student work and providing instructional feedback. Teachers work together on a teaching team, and employ a cooperative team-teaching approach. The student is expected to move at a more consistent pace with her or his “class” in each subject, though there is room for flexibility. The parent still plays an important supportive role to help the student stay on task and to help ensure the student is following through on his or her assignments—but the student is expected to start managing his or her own time and schedule more directly.

Read more about the parent's role in our K¹²9¹² approach to high school curriculum.