2020-21 Guidance for Districts with Current Online School and Programs

Guidance for Current Online Schools and Programs Providing Remote Learning Options for the 2020-21 School Year

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, some families have expressed a desire to enroll their student(s) in a fully online option for 2020-21 but do not want to leave the school district or the brick and mortar school. The information below details how a district with an online school or program may support families in the choice to pursue a fully online option during the COVID-19 pandemic while remaining affiliated with the previous school attended by utilizing the current structures in existing online schools and programs. This short-term solution is offered to provide options for families for the 2020-21 school year.

For the 2020-21 school year only, districts with online schools or programs may provide remote learning options for students within the district by utilizing the district online school or program as a response to public health and safety measures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Any student enrolled in a brick and mortar school that seeks to participate in a fully online remote learning option for the 2020-21 school year would remain enrolled in a district brick and mortar school. The student would be scheduled for a full schedule consisting of supplemental courses offered by the existing district online school or program. This also means that accountability for that student’s learning will remain with the brick and mortar school and home district. 

Requirements and Accountability for Students Participating in Online School or Program

Given that these students will remain enrolled in their brick and mortar school, the performance data from these students will be attributed to the brick and mortar school’s 2021 state performance frameworks and federal accountability, including the methodology for identifying schools for support and improvement, equitable distribution of teachers, comparability, and other federal accountability measures. Performance data attributed to the brick and mortar school includes all state assessment achievement and growth data, as well as graduation, dropout, matriculation, and all other relevant attendance and performance outcome data. If the brick and mortar school is assigned a multi-year framework report, then these students’ data will be included in the 2021, 2022, and 2023 performance frameworks and federal accountability. The data from these students will not be associated with any other school, including the online school or program where the student is participating in the supplemental online courses. The district is responsible for understanding the potential impacts of these students’ enrollment at their home brick and mortar schools on accountability at the state and federal levels, just as districts are responsible for determining if the existing online school or program meets the instructional needs of participating students. The request to reconsider process cannot be used to adjust the 2021 performance framework ratings or accountability clock status (e.g., year on clock, on watch) as a result of this online instructional option.  In other words, data from students receiving instruction from an online school or program (either single or multi-district) that maintain home status at a brick and mortar school will not be attributed to the online school retroactively or removed from the brick and mortar school’s accountability determinations.

The brick and mortar school retains the responsibility to ensure that instructional programs meet the needs of students with IEPs and English language learners.  This includes ensuring that instruction is aligned with Colorado Academic Standards and Colorado English Language Proficiency Standards and that online educators meet state and federal educator licensure and qualification requirements, particularly for educators working with students with disabilities or English learners (Els).  Please see district/school obligations in providing services for Els.

For any state and federal data collections, the students described in this guidance must be attributed to the brick and mortar school, not to the online school or program. 

Student October Count and Funding

Students who select this remote learning option, would be evaluated for funding purposes with the same documentations as outlined on the district’s current Authorizer Assurances that are on file with the Office of Blended and Online Learning and the online school or program’s course equivalencies.  However, brick and mortar student taking supplemental courses through an existing online school or program will not need Proof of Colorado Residency documentation as this requirement only pertains to students enrolled in the online school or program. Students will be coded in the 2020 Student October Count data collection as attending the brick and mortar school (i.e., with the brick and mortar school code and applicable funding code) and not as an online student (i.e., not with an online school code and/or funding code).  This Guidance would not apply to continuing online students who were enrolled in the district’s existing online school or program during the 2019/2020 school year.  These students would remain, and be reported as, online students and subject to all funding and audit documentation requirements as outlined in the “Online Schools and Programs” section of the Audit Resource Guide.

To utilize this remote learning option, the district must include a description of the use of supplemental courses provided by the district online school or program as a remote learning option in its definition of educational process as described in the “CDE Policy on Hours and Attendance for the 2020-21 Academic Year” and the “Addendum to the 2020 Student October Count Audit Resource Guide” (see “Adopted Local Policy”). For more information, visit the School Auditing Office Pupil Count website. 

Alternative Education Campuses

Note that online Alternative Education Campus (AEC) schools are not recommended as a remote learning option for students within the district attending traditional schools.  AECs must certify that they serve a high-risk student body and that their methods of instruction are tailored to meet the needs of those high-risk students. Thus, enrolling traditional students in an online AEC is generally not appropriate, and other options for traditional students needing online instruction should be explored. If an online AEC enrolls or serves traditional district students, it may jeopardize the online school’s eligibility to seek an Alternative Education Campus designation. Districts that only authorize an online program attached to an AEC should carefully consider their ability to provide appropriate instruction to both high-risk and traditional student populations and the potential implications for their on-going AEC designation.

For questions related to AEC designation, please reach out to B Sanders, sanders_b@cde.state.co.us
For questions related to online school and programs, please reach out to Renee Martinez, martinez_r@cde.state.co.us