How Edmentum Courseware Is Meeting University of California “a-g” Standards

One of the most important elements to help drive student achievement is high-quality curriculum that aligns to state academic standards. With that in mind, Edmentum has placed a strong emphasis on aligning our courses to each state’s specific standards and made it our goal to become the leader in state course approvals among all online course providers. It’s also why we have so much respect for the California “a-g” standards initiative. This program is an outstanding effort from the University of California (UC) and the California Department of Education to ensure that all of the state’s students gain a solid body of general knowledge across different subject areas, develop strong critical thinking skills, and build the foundation they need for success in post-secondary studies. Here’s how the University describes it:

“The intent of the “a-g” subject requirements is to ensure that students have attained a body of general knowledge that will provide breadth and perspective to new, more advanced study… These courses are to be academically challenging, involving substantial reading, writing, problems and laboratory work (as appropriate), and show serious attention to analytical thinking, factual content and developing students' oral and listening skills.”

Edmentum’s dedicated State Approval team has worked extensively with both the California Department of Education and the UC over the past four years to make sure that our courses are fully in compliance with the “a-g” standards and all other state expectations. And, we’re proud to announce that to date, Edmentum has 176 full-semester courses “a-g” approved by the University for the 2017-18 school year!

Edmentum is working closely with UC “a-g” reviewers to continue developing and submitting dozens more courses for their consideration before the 2017 submission window closes in September. Our Product and Curriculum teams stay up to date on all the latest California and UC “a-g” standards, and we ensure that any new course submitted for review meets all aspects of those expectations. It’s our goal to maintain the largest library of UC “a-g” approved courses of any online provider so we can build upon the trust California districts and educators already have in the quality and rigor of our courses.

In an effort to make sure all of our courses meet California’s expectation that all online courses meet iNACOL standards as well, Edmentum has also expanded our partnership with Certica Solutions. As a 3^rd party reviewer, Certica has closely evaluated over 200 of our courses to ensure they meet iNACOL standards that the UC “a-g” initiative also requires in each course it reviews. Additional reviews for iNACOL content and process standards compliance are also completed on some of our courses by Quality Matters.

Furthermore, our California-based account managers and service team members are dedicated to keeping the lines of communication open with districts to ensure that Edmentum solutions are meeting their needs. They bring this feedback directly to our Product and Curriculum teams so any essential updates and enhancements can be quickly included within our next course(s) revision release.

At Edmentum, we pride ourselves on a strong commitment to investing in alignment with all state standards, including California’s “a-g” initiative. We know it’s worth the time and effort we spend to ensure that we’re continually evolving our online curriculum to effectively meet the needs of today’s learners and educators.

Want to learn more about how Edmentum is helping California schools offer students “a-g” approved options? Check out Salinas Union High School District’s success story! You can also see our complete list of University of California “a-g” approved courses here.