What is Options School?|
The Options School is part of the Aurora Public Schools, open to students in grades K-12, and is designed to support parents who choose to school their children at home.
Parents remain the primary instructional provider, with the school supplementing and complementing their efforts. Options is not a religious school; it is a public school. The same separation of church and state exists as required by law.
Families participating in Options School get instruction and most educational materials at no cost. This is possible because, as a public school, Options receives a portion of the Per Pupil Operating Revenue (PPOR) distributed at the state level for each enrolled student. This money is used to pay salaries, to purchase textbooks and curriculum, pay site rental and other cost associated with running the program.
What are the expectations for students?
Students who enroll in Options attend only five to six hours per week and are considered part-time students. Students do not attend more than one day of classes per week. Parents choosing Options still consider home schooling as their primary means of educating their children. In order for Options to receive funding, each registered student must spend a minimum of 90 hours per semester with a licensed teacher hired by Options, for a minimum of 180 hours per school year. These are regularly scheduled hours for classes held at Options School sites.
Students who are 16 years old or juniors in high school may be eligible for up to two, pre-approved classes per semester at a community college or university. The Options School reimburses tuition but parents are responsible for fees and textbooks.
Why would parent choose Options?
Parents choose to place their children in Options because their children can be a part of a classroom experience. They value the opportunity for students to share academic time with their peers. Also, science labs, art, music and other types of classes may be difficult to offer at home. Students are able to participate in group activities such as field trips. Parents may feel less competent in teaching some academic subjects. Parents encourage the opportunity for their students to experience the rigor of regular classroom setting and the accountability that comes from deadlines and the need to demonstrate organizational skills.
The teachers, administrators and support staff for Options are competent, well trained and dedicated to educational excellence. All teachers for Options School are fully accredited and must hold a valid Colorado teacher’s license appropriate for his/her assignment. In addition, teachers are highly qualified as defined in No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Pupil-teacher ratios are far below those in most public schools and teachers are able to give students the personal attention necessary for an outstanding educational experience. Teachers are encouraged to develop on-going communications with parents to ensure school and home are working as a team toward excellent education for each child.
Another very important aspect is that through enrollment with Options, parents have the availability of textbooks, curriculum and testing, paid through Options School. Curriculum is available to parents for their home use for annual check out, including teacher editions, at no cost except for consumables. Parents are able to order cost effective, reusable curriculum, which is non-religious in nature. Many of the curriculum choices are those that are in popular home-school catalogs. Items are returned at the end of the school year.
What is the partnership between Options School and Home Schooling?
Parents connected with Options School consider home schooling their primary means of educating their students. State law relating to home-schooled students requires that each child participating in a non-public home-based educational program be evaluated when the child reaches grades three, five, seven, nine and eleven. Each child must be given a nationally standardized achievement test to evaluate the child’s progress (or a qualified person will evaluate the child’s academic progress). The test or evaluation results, is submitted to the local school district of residence. The purpose is to evaluate the education progress of each child.
Since students in the Options School are home-schooled more than 50% of their time, Options provides students the opportunity to take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) to fulfill this requirement. Options students are not required to take CSAP since they are home-schooled for their primary education (SB 186).
How are students enrolled and where do they attend?
Options school enrollment is over 1500 with students attending sites located from Fort Collins to Castle Rock, Colorado.
Parents interested in learning more about the Options School or enrolling students should call the Options School administrative office at 303-340-0666. Dr. Tom Synnott, the leader and founder of Options or Jan Price, secretary for the school, can answer questions and provide enrollment information. A list of sites will be provided to determine which might be most convenient for the student to attend. Interested parents will be connected with specific site coordinators. The coordinator from each site will work with interested parents to answer specific questions about that site and complete the enrollment process. Also, check out the Aurora Public Schools website at www.aps.k12.co.us and click on schools, go to alternative and click on Options School.
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