LANSDALE — On Tuesday night, the North Penn School Board’s Education Committee had a meeting to discuss the virtual learning plan for secondary students.

High school students will be given two different options on how they would like to approach the first marking period: asynchronous or synchronous. All students in the secondary levels are automatically signed up for the synchronous learning option; however, middle school students will follow a block schedule.

Synchronous Learning Bell Schedule for High School Students:

1. 8:00-8:40
2. 8:45-9:25
3. 9:30-10:10
4. 10:15-10:55

     Break/Office Hrs: 10:55-12:00 

1. 12:00-12:40
2. 12:45-1:25
3. 1:30-2:10
4. 2:15-2:55

Students will be expected to sign in at specific times through Canvas and teachers will take attendance. There will be 40 minutes of live sessions and 5 minutes to transition to your next class. Lessons will be recorded for students to review if they cannot attend the live lesson.

Class structure can vary from teacher to teacher.

• 10-15 minutes of class discussion to begin class. Then, time could be allocated to students to work on an assignment or group work. Towards the end of the period, the class will regroup for a discussion. 

Or 

• 30 mins of teaching with leftover time to start homework or other assignments. 

All students will have a break from 10:55 AM to 12 PM. That breakout session in the middle of day serves as an opportunity for students to go get support for whatever subject they need, to make up missed assignments, or to work in small groups for projects. All students are also still scheduled for lunch and could have it before or after the break session.

North Penn will continue the traditional grading structure for online learning, but changes have been made for how students will be graded. Tests and quizzes will still be administered, but the administration recognizes that it might be difficult for some students to sit down and take a math test in front of their computer screen and perform the same as to taking the test in a classroom setting. For this reason, genuine assessment of content mastery will take place, meaning that students are graded by various means: small groups, a teacher could “interview” students to see how much they understand a lesson, essays and/or presentations. 

For asynchronous learning, students will work independently with the North Penn Virtual Academy through Edgenuity.

Edgenuity uses North Penn teachers and the content will be aligned to NPSD curricula. Office hours will be provided, and students can still participate in clubs and activities if they choose this option.    

Those who plan to choose the asynchronous option must contact Mr. Galante ([email protected]) and copy their guidance counselor. 

As for the North Montco Technical Career Center, there is no concrete news. They are working with 500 school districts so they have to try their best to align with every district’s reopening plan by taking into account who is in-person, who is online, and who is hybrid.