4 Ways Calvert Learning Adapts to K–5 Student Needs

Classroom needs and district expectations often necessitate a unique course experience. Calvert Learning, Edmentum’s project-based, digital-first curriculum for K–5 students, is designed to engage young learners to think critically and apply what they learn to real-world situations. The courses are streamlined for students to learn in virtual or blended environments, both on and away from devices. When it comes to student performance and success, educators have the flexibility to manage courses and provide visibility to school districts and learning guides—the parents, guardians, or family caregivers who support the students at home. 

As part of an ongoing commitment of releasing and improving features, Calvert Learning is constantly being enhanced to adapt to student needs. Here are four features that can be useful in supporting school elementary students: 

1. Record Online and Offline Attendance

Attendance is an important component when it comes to students and progress monitoring. Having access to the students’ timestamps for logging in and out of the platform reveals a lot, but is it capturing all the work a learner does? 

Because Calvert Learning curriculum is built using the research-based PLUS framework, which prioritizes project-based learning, it is possible that students will be tasked with working offline to hone their skills and apply learning. For those activities, teachers (and family learning guides) can record the offline learning time in the Calvert Teaching Navigator (CTN) so that it is accounted for in students’ attendance reports. With students having the ability to work at their own pace for any amount of time and still getting credit toward attendance, they are also effectively hitting required attendance policies. 

2. Create Custom Activities Alongside Core Subjects

Calvert Learning features a comprehensive digital curriculum in English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and much more. Teachers also can supplement specific activities either to deepen standards coverage or enrich learning for specific students. They have the option to add the date created to custom activities, which ensures easy tracking in reports. Administrators, teachers, and family learning guides can review student progress and performance more accurately and comprehensively. 

3. Omit Lessons from Student Schedules

Having the ability to adapt course offerings is a helpful feature to respond to individual student needs or to simply comply with scope and sequence district mandates. The omit lessons feature provides the teacher with the ability to remove lessons at the individual student level, course level and class level, allowing teachers to make bulk changes in each section. This prevents students from viewing the content anywhere in the Calvert Learning platform, as well as excludes the lesson from course grading so that it does not count against them. Educators gain more control over how they use the omit-lesson function to restrict access to content, and students can focus on the accessible lessons and activities to continue learning. 

4. Adjust Pacing to Help Students and Educators

Being able to skip around, moving ahead and back to certain lessons is an added convenience for educators and students. The adjust-pacing tool represents an important evolution of the previously launched skip-lesson feature. Whether students join the class midyear, need to makeup assignments, or must retake lessons, adjust pacing allows teachers to drill into a specific student’s course experience, looking at all components of a course in sequence.  

With the 2022–23 Calvert Learning enhancements, teachers can easily make changes in bulk for each section, such as granting retakes that move students backwards or omitting lessons to move students forward. These enhancements will save educators time and help make the right choice for each student’s unique path through a course. Altogether, these features support K–5 teachers and students by delivering a flexible curriculum experience they can count on. To learn more about how your students’ needs can be met with Edmentum’s trusted digital curriculum, check out our blog post, Calvert Learning Best Practices: 6 Frequently Asked Questions Answered.