Collaboration is the name of the game. Our departments work hand-in-glove to be sure that teachers everywhere who use our courses have the tools they need for their students to succeed. Take, for instance, standards crosswalks.
What, you may ask, is a standards crosswalk? Maybe you’re envisioning a crossing guard stopping traffic so schoolchildren can pass from one side of the street to the other. If so, you’re close.
Basically, standards crosswalks are reference tools for educators and parents to efficiently compare the changes between different versions of common core standards. They are the education departments’ crossing guards for getting us from one set of standards to another.
Chief Academic Officer, John Theis, tells us that, currently, we are manually creating national to state standards crosswalks. Thanks to a collaborative effort with our IT team, the process will soon be automated, saving valuable time for our academic team to tackle the many other projects underway to grow our clients and adapt to their ever-changing needs.
“This is education -- one size does not fit all,” he said. “No two districts or students are identical, which is why we’re focused on developing solutions that address our clients’ requests and requirements. We also recognize that each day brings new challenges, so we remain adaptive in our approach to creating client capabilities.”
Among the solutions Theis’ team is developing:
- Integrating STEAM, aka Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics. The team is taking a look at our courses and determining where we can leverage the STEAM framework to weave it into our curriculum.
- Building upon our existing online accommodations for special education students.
- Exploring Career and Technical Education. CTE, formerly known as voc-ed or vo-tech, is making a comeback for a lot of kids who are not buying the notion that they need a college degree to make it in this world. LLS wants to make a major leap into offering a full CTE curriculum to acknowledge the fact that High-Paying Trade Jobs Sit Empty, While High School Grads Line Up For University.
In addition to these developing projects, the talented academic team is continually enriching our courses. Right now, 27 classes are in enhancement mode, which includes resequencing, updating existing and creating new content, adding interactivity, and integrating it all so that they provide the best possible student learning experience.
