Welcome Letter

Dear CVA Families:

The Courses Project Team has worked hard to develop a catalog of curriculum options to guide you in choosing materials and developing learning plans for the 2012-13 school year for your children. In arriving at our recommendations, we examined and included many favorites that our families know and love, but we also went further, discovering exciting resources that have traditionally been available only to large institutions. Here is the criteria we applied to the curriculum selection process:

1. The curriculum package meets 80% of the Common Core Standards or 80% of the state standards.
2. The curriculum is well-rounded. (Comprehensively developed and well-balanced in a range or variety of aspects: a well-rounded scholar; a well-rounded curriculum.)
3. The curriculum is student-friendly, while still maintaining a balance of rigor and relevance.
4. The curriculum is parent-friendly, while still maintaining a balance of rigor and relevance.
5. The curriculum includes a variety of educational approaches, specifically in terms of learning modalities.
6. The curriculum is research based and coincides with best practices.
7. The curriculum contains a variety of assessment tools and strategies.

Columbia Virtual Academy believes in choice, personalization, flexibility, and control, and we tried to uphold that mission statement. We think we succeeded!

As you search our new catalog, take the time to explore your many options. Under most courses you will find a wide variety of primary curriculum sets. By clicking on each title you can read a summary description and a list of specific items that are included with that set.  For students who need more support, supplemental materials are also available. And as always, children who are working above or below grade level will have access to the curriculum and courses that are just right for them.

Take a look at these selections, conduct your own research, and talk to your CVA teacher. As you develop a clearer picture of what you might want to use for your children, make a note of items you are interested in. Together, with your CVA teacher, you will develop your children’s WSLPs. As classes and curriculum choices are added to the WSLP, materials are automatically scheduled to be ordered and shipped. (NO MORE REQUISITONS!) CVA will begin ordering and shipping your materials, starting in early July, so that you will receive them before the start of school.

Some families might be concerned that their children will be required to use only the materials in the new CVA catalog. This is not the case. As always, CVA supports family choice in education. While we can only fund the materials we have assembled in the catalog, families are always free to purchase their own curriculum at their own expense. Additionally, if after receiving your materials, you decide that they are not a good fit for your child, you can return the materials to CVA and we can provide you with an alternate choice from the catalog. Click here for more info.

Finally, we will want your feedback. Our team invested a tremendous amount of time and energy identifying, investigating and recommending curriculum, but in compiling thousands of items, we have doubtless fallen short of perfection. The Courses Project team will want your ideas and suggestions for additions or modifications to next year’s offerings. We view this catalog as a working document that must reflect the needs of the CVA community. In the coming months we will be developing a method by which we can collect your feedback in such a way that we can track and follow up on it in a consistent and effective manner. We look forward to your input.

Your Courses Project Team:

Rod Armbruster, T.O. Bakken, Loren Finley, Mandie Frizzell, Karen Gallagher, Wendy Logue, Lisa Tanner