DISTANCE EDUCATION POLICY

American Leadership Academy’s Board of Trustees believes that parents are key to a child’s educational success. ALA is committed to providing all students with a challenging, innovative, and results-oriented education through best practices, innovative models of learning, and technology, to deliver a high quality learning experience for each individual child.

In order to achieve this goal and maintain state standards when contracting with distance education providers, we have established the following procedures:

Table of Contents

STUDENT RECORDS

American Leadership Academy (ALA) will follow all requirements of the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) when sharing and disclosing student records with a vendor of distant learning, and with custody and retention of education data and student records.

ALA evaluates their data storage and transmission security measures with their contractors and has put in place the following internal controls to secure data from theft or misuse, or violation of FERPA.

- - School is in direct control over Contractor with respect to use and maintenance of student records.
  - Contractor is subject to all FERPA laws and all school policies governing 34 CFR §99.33(a) related to the use and re-disclosure of personally identifiable information from education records.
  - Contractor will annually verify parent FERPA rights and permissions, including any changes to the student photo and school directory permissions.
  - Contractor will send an email notification to the School Registrar or any changes to parent or student contact information.
  - School continues to maintain custody of all student records in the event the contract is terminated.
  - All documents are transferred using an encrypted data system with these security features.

1. System uses modern encryption methods to both transfer and store data.

2. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and AES-256 bit encryption.

3. System is regularly tested for security vulnerabilities and hardened to enhance security and protect against attacks.

4. Two-step verification is available for an extra layer of security at login.

5. System is designed with multiple layers of protection, including secure data transfer, encryption, network configuration, and application and user-level controls that are distributed across a scalable, secure infrastructure.

CORE STANDARDS AND LICENSED EDUCATORS

ALA will require that all virtual courses, offered through a vendor are evaluated for compliance with Utah Core Standards, in compliance with R277-700 and are administered or supervised by Utah licensed teachers with appropriate endorsements or concentrations. A team of individuals from ALA, including administrators, counselors and certified teachers will conduct this evaluation.

ALA will assign a team of individuals, including administrators, counselors, certified teachers, and a Special Ed and testing director, to ensure that enrolled students will participate in the SEP/SEOP process and ascertain that students are enrolled in the proper combination of core and elective courses that meet the Utah Core Standards, if seeking a diploma.

ALA will have real time access to documentation detailing student schedules, including actual course description and course providers, in order to grant credit appropriately. Students are to be supervised each week by a Utah Certified Teacher to check on progress, attendance and ensure student success.

ALA will require vendor to provide a list of educators that includes their name and CACTUS number to ensure they are licensed and highly-qualified. All employees who work for the contractor and have association with students will be required to have a background check.

ASSESSMENTS

All students are required to participate in all mandatory state tests. ALA will administer state assessments by a trained staff member and comply with the USOE Testing Ethics Policy and provide assurances that testing security protocols are enforced. Students must be enrolled in appropriate courses in the SIS that generates all required assessments for the specific grade level of the student.

STUDENT MEMBERSHIP

ALA will monitor compliance with R277-419 for all students by reviewing the contractors monitoring and progress reporting protocol and the way they track student progress, on a monthly basis. In order to ensure students are receiving the best education, ALA will review and approve curriculum and virtual courses whether online or purchased from a vendor to meet compliance with R277-700 and Utah Core standards. It is required that ALA will have access to documentation detailing student schedules, course descriptions and course providers in order to grant credit appropriately.

INCENTIVES FOR ENROLLMENT

ALA will monitor contractor to ensure that all items that are required for elementary education are free to all elementary students. No fees will be required in grades K-6.