Weeks of Welcome – The Compass Experience is the Scholar Experience

By August 17, 2022 Blog

Compass Charter Schools welcomes back our scholars and welcomes new scholars with our Weeks of Welcome, Monday, August 22 through Tuesday, August 30! The Compass Experience is the Scholar Experience. We believe that every scholar has the potential to thrive and be successful if they are supported in the right environment. Every child is unique and deserves choices in their educational journey.

With our different programs, families can tailor their education to what works best for them. We intentionally match scholars and families with virtual, at-home, and in-person learning programs that support their lifestyle and vision for success. This includes coordinated academic, social-emotional, and college & career readiness support.

As Rebecca MacAlpine, our Director of Engagement, shares, “Knowledge is power, and power can be transferred into positive and successful academic experiences.” Compass responds to each scholar’s unique needs, dreams, and background while preparing them to pursue their goals after graduation. We are scholar-centered in every aspect.

The Compass Weeks of Welcome (WOW) is a high-level orientation for new and returning families; it is a deep dive into our programs and departments and provides learning coaches and scholars with social hours. The purpose of WOW is to get our families excited and prepared for the upcoming school year.

WOW Schedule: Register here.
Monday, August 22, 7-8 pm – Back to School Night for the Online Learning Program
Tuesday, August 23,10-11 am – Online K-8 Orientation
Tuesday, August 23,1-2 pm – Online 9-12 Orientation
Tuesday, August 23, 7-8 pm – Back to School Night for the Options Learning Program
Wednesday, August 24,10-11 am – Options Returning Family Orientation
Wednesday, August 24, 2-3 pm – Options New Family Orientation
Thursday, August 25, 10-1 am – IT Department Open House
Thursday, August 25, 2-3 pm – Assessment Department Open House
Friday, August 26,10-11 am – Engagement Department Open House
Friday, August 26, 2-3 pm – Special Education Department Open House
Monday, August 29, 10-11 am – Scholar Success Department Open House
Monday, August 29, 2-3 pm – English Learner Department Open House (English)
Monday, August 29, 7-8 pm – English Learner Department Open House (Spanish)
Tuesday, August 30, 10-11 am – Counseling Services Department Open House
Tuesday, August 30, 2-3 pm – Attendance Department Open House

We share a little about each of our featured departments:

Our Online Program utilizes Accelerate Education as our curriculum partner, along with several tools that provide rigorous instruction for scholars in an online learning environment. We offer a virtual education with caring, dedicated teachers who provide weekly live online classes. In addition, teachers offer a weekly Q&A session to provide added support when scholars need more help with their work. Our online courses are supported by subject-specific credentialed teachers, just as you would find in a brick-and-mortar school. Our teachers genuinely want to see each scholar succeed in our online program.

“Our Online Learning Back to School Night is an excellent way for our new and returning families to kick off the 2022-23 school year,” shares Janae Smith, Director of Online Learning. “During this meeting, the Online Learning Program is reviewed, plus all of the other great support offerings. This year, we are excited to share with our high school families a new, live tutoring support provided by Paper.Co. To learn more, don’t forget to register for the Online Learning Back to School Night through ParentSquare!”

Compass’s Options Program is our home study program for grades K-12. Our program allows parents (learning coaches) to be fully involved in all aspects of their child’s daily education. Parents are fully committed to selecting and implementing the appropriate curriculum from the approved community provider list. Learning coaches create a compelling learning environment every school day. According to the scholar’s personalized learning plan, they provide challenging lessons and experiences for learning. 

In our Options Program, scholars and learning coaches work with their assigned, credentialed supervising teachers (STs) to develop a custom personalized learning plan for scholars. Families connect with their ST throughout the year to discuss assigned work, manage progress, and review samples and activity logs. In addition to the academic support, each scholar is allocated instructional funds. Our options team will highlight all these details in their back-to-school nights and family orientations.

Our Information Technology (IT) Department works tirelessly to ensure that every scholar has access to a computer and technology necessary to succeed. Our experienced team supports our scholars and staff with any and all technology-related issues, questions, and concerns. IT will share more details in its open house on Thursday, August 25.

Our Assessment Team is here every step of the way to help scholars excel and partake in all the necessary testing. “The Assessments WOW will detail the specifics of each of the assessments we have at Compass,” shares Beth Sneyd, Assessment & Data Coordinator. “I’ll share the alphabet soup of the assessment acronyms, explain why we administer each test, and how we do and don’t use the scores. Resources shared will include access to practice and training tests for CAASPP, ELPAC, and websites to help parents understand the score reports for CAASPP and ELPAC.” Join the assessment team on August 25. 

Our Scholar Engagement Team offers a plethora of exciting activities to bring scholars together and build a strong Compass community. Engagement truly brings the scholar’s experience to life and enhances their experience. “We’re so excited for you to join us at our Engagement Department Open House,” shares Rebecca MacAlpine, Director of Engagement. “We look forward to sharing with you all about our offerings such as back-to-school picnics, field trips, virtual scholar workshops, scholar clubs, scholar recognition, scholar celebrations, learning coach academy, and more!” Join Engagement on August 26.

Our Special Education Department provides support services in an online environment for scholars with IEPs, (Individualized Education Plan.) Special Education Instructors offer services in a virtual online format. IEP services for speech, occupational, physical, and psychological therapies are provided by specialized contractors sent by Compass to provide assessment and therapy services. Learn about our incredible SPED services at their open house on Friday, August 26.

Scholar Success is our number one priority at Compass. Our Scholar Success Department works diligently to support all scholars, in all areas, including academics, tutoring, social-emotional, college & career, and special education support. Compass has developed a robust framework for MTSS (Multi-Tiered Systems of Support) that focuses on differentiated and scholar-centered learning. Our MTSS program aims to ensure that each scholar achieves academic, behavioral, and social-emotional success. Learn more about scholar success in our open house on Monday, August 29.

Compass provides the highest quality of English Learner Support Services. English Learners (ELs) are scholars who are developing their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills in English. Regardless of language literacy background, ELs must acquire fundamental reading, academic language, and conversational skills in English to succeed academically. At Compass, our EL Coordinator works closely with our teachers to ensure the academic curriculum is accessible to scholars to meet grade-level standards and gain English language proficiency. In addition, scholars are provided with designated English Language Development (ELD) instruction utilizing the Lexia Learning curricula and small group instruction through virtual support sessions. Learn more about all the EL department on Monday, August 29.

The Compass Counseling Department provides a comprehensive school counseling program that empowers all scholars to reach their fullest potential and promotes success by focusing on academic, social/emotional, and career development, one scholar at a time. At Compass, we believe that every scholar has a right to a credentialed school counselor. Join the counseling department for more details on August 30. 

And our Attendance Department is a critical part of our scholars’ success. Successful attendance plays such a critical part in every aspect of school and life. In this session, our Attendance Coordinator will detail the dos and don’ts of attendance, the importance of attendance, and more. Join us on Tuesday, August 30.

We look forward to seeing you at WOW! If you are interested in learning more about the Compass Experience, please check out our website or enroll today! 

About Compass
Compass Charter Schools’ celebrates 10 years as the Gold Standard in Virtual Education. Serving thousands of scholars throughout California, we support each TK-12 scholar and learning coach with in-house counselors, talented accredited teachers, and a staff of excellence. As the only Purple Star School in California and one of the few online AVID programs in the nation, Compass is beyond unique and impressive. Rise and Soar with our Firebirds – Enroll today!

Compass Core Values
Achievement | Respect | Teamwork | Integrity | Communication

Do you have a Compass story to share? Contact Kimberly Aguilar, Community Relations Coordinator, at kaguilar@compasscharters.org!

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