ASCEND
An accredited high school diploma program, in partnership with Global Village School.
United by a shared mission of helping students grow and develop into confident and successful scholars, responsible global citizens, creative and forward thinkers, and stewards of the earth and humanity, All Minds Academy and Global Village School have partnered to create ASCEND, a one-of-a-kind program that offers students that communicate best by spelling or typing an accessible, flexible, and accommodating pathway toward earning a fully accredited high school diploma that will prepare them for college and other life goals!
From admissions to graduation, students and families work directly with All Minds Academy advisors who are exceptionally qualified to support our student population. Upon successful completion of all graduation requirements, students will be issued their accredited diploma by Global Village School, in partnership with All Minds Academy.
Follow the links below to learn more!
MATERIALS
All Minds Academy courses require minimal technology set up, and no materials prep by the communication partner. All materials are accessed through Google Classroom or Google Drive. Each student is provided a personalized video link that, when opened on the same device and browser, goes right to where it left off the last time.
Most lessons are accompanied by a set of guided notes that align with the video. These notes provide a scaffolded and systematic way for the student (and communication partner) to follow along with the teacher and are important for completing assignments.
All lessons also include a required set of spell-friendly assignments and typically, an answer key for checking work, when applicable. The assignments include a variety of types of questions and activities. As courses progress, the assignments gradually increase in complexity and within reason, require more extensive responses. Read more about our progression of communication requirements below.
PACING
With a few exceptions, most full credit courses within the core academic subjects (Math, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies) come with around 40 lessons each that cover a full year of content comparable to a typical honors level high school course. Each course is online and self-paced.
Each lesson includes a pre-recorded, instructional video featuring one of our experienced educators with credentialing in that subject area. Typically, videos run around 30-45 minutes. On average, most students complete one lesson per week, working on it in small chunks throughout the week. At this rate, courses can quite reasonably be completed within the access period of 12 months for 1-credit courses and 6 months for 0.5 credit courses. Ultimately, each student and communication partner must find a rhythm and pace that works best for them.
GENERAL PROCESS FOR IMPLEMENTATION
Partners and students determine an optimal location and time of day to work on assignments. Ideally, a regular schedule is best, but each student can do whatever works best for them.
We recommend using two devices, one for playing the video, and one for completing notes and assignments. The partner begins playing the video, pausing as directed (roughly every 3 - 5 minutes of video) to fill in notes and complete certain parts of the lesson assignment. This process continues until the video has finished playing, all the notes are filled in, and all the assignments are completed. Some students may be able to finish an entire lesson in one, longer sitting. Others may need to break it up over multiple days. If at any point, the student or partner needs assistance, all they need to do is reach out to the teacher or advisor through Google Classroom or email and we will help them in a timely manner.
Before submitting the assignment, the communication partner does an initial round of comparing student answers to the key, if applicable, and gives the student an opportunity to add any comments or questions to the assignment for the teacher to view. The lesson is submitted via Google Classroom.
EVALUATION
Student comprehension and progress is evaluated by the teacher through their submitted work. We do not require (or currently offer) other graded assessments. The teacher reviews each lesson assignment and provides personalized comments, suggestions, feedback, and encouragement (text and voice). Sometimes students may be asked to revise and resubmit assignments. Meanwhile, students may move on to the next lesson while the current assignment is under review. After the teacher returns the assignment with no additional revisions requested, the lesson is marked complete.
Once the teacher confirms that all assignments have been completed satisfactorily, the student earns the credit for the course and issued a completion grade of "pass". The teacher provides a brief commentary about the student's progress and engagement in the course for their records.
Communication REquirements
We understand that communication partnerships need time and plenty of practice to develop, so we have designed our program accordingly. Students who are admitted have demonstrated that they have at least the baseline requirements to enroll in first year courses. These courses accommodate a range of communication while also allowing opportunities for those with more developed communication skills to express more. As the course sequence progresses and sometimes within individual courses, the assignments will gradually require more openness and fluency of communication. Students who are working toward developing communication skills for these courses will work with their advisor to determine a plan for becoming ready.
Courses listed below are marked with an asterisk to indicate requirements for communication openness and fluency
* = Baseline for admission: Students must at least be able to communicate answers to questions that have a limited range of possibilities and sometimes be able to provide short phrase or possibly sentence responses. Supplemental questions that require longer form responses are optional.
** = Students are expected to communicate answers to questions with a wider range of possibilities more regularly and with broadening depth. Many questions within assignments will still be formatted for shorter responses.
*** = Students are required to provide deepened responses to open-ended reflection and synthesis questions that involve a reasonable amount of writing. Courses will include a balance of activities and assignments of this nature as not to create a barrier to course completion, though students should expect to spend more time and energy on assignments.
Graduation RequirementS
Courses below are 1 credit each, unless noted. See course descriptions for prerequisite and open enrollment status.
LANGUAGE ARTS
min 4 credits
* Genre Studies 1
* / **Genre Studies 2
** World Literature
*** American Literature
* U.S. History
* U.S. Gov't (0.5 cred)
** World History
*** Cultural Geography
** Global Citizenship 1
*** Global Citizenship 2
*** Global Citizenship 3
4 credits recommended for college bound students
* Algebra 1
* Geometry
* Algebra 2
* Precalculus
** Adv. Statistics
** Calculus
Science
min 2 credits
* Biology
** Chemistry
* Health (0.5 cred)
* PE is self-documented
*Spanish 1
Spelled Communication
(self-documented, 1-2 cred)
Elective credits can be academic or non-academic and can be earned in a variety of ways with proper documentation, review, and approval of the advisor.