Attendance is based on work completion per week (a week constitutes Sunday through Saturday). Staff will record attendance the Monday after the previous week. Students must complete at least one required assignment per week to be considered present. Assignments may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Discussion Post: Students contributing to or responding to an online discussion prompt.
• Assignment: Students submit an assignment in Seesaw / Schoology or other digital means.
• Test/Quiz: Students submit a digital test or quiz.

In the spirit of transparency and a shared vision of safety for all students, ISD 728 will utilize a monitoring application for parents/guardians called GoGuardian Parent. This new app gives parents and guardians the opportunity to monitor their children's browsing activity done on Chromebooks or when signed into Chrome browser with their student account. The app only works on smartphones and tablets at this time.

This optional parent app provides simple reporting for insight into their children’s activity. This aids parents in accountability with their children and nurtures continued responsible browsing habits at school and at home by:

• Providing a bird's eye view of students' browsing habits.
• Facilitating a collaborative role with school educators based on a student's best academic interest.
• Encouraging parents to engage with their children's online activity.
• Creating a path for open and honest conversation around topics that occur in a child's browsing behavior.

• Top 5 summary of student browsing - apps, extensions, documents, and websites visited.
• Teacher interactions - showing how often teachers locked screens, blocked sites, and opened and closed browser tabs on their students' classroom devices.
• 30-day view of websites, videos, documents, apps, and extensions.

Please know that your child will continue to receive special education services, accommodations, and modifications as outlined on their current Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). How these services will be provided may look different. For example, starting March 30, 2020, services will be delivered through an alternative method that may include technology, phone calls, and/or printed resources. 

Your child’s case manager will be in contact with you by the end of the day March 27, 2020 and will discuss your child’s Individualized Distance Learning Service Plan. This will be an addendum to your child’s IEP. Please let your child’s case manager know if you need access to a device or internet. We will work closely with you and try to accommodate your child’s needs.

Google Meet will be one of the primary video conferencing tools used to host live class sessions in communication with students during Distance Learning Days. If your child is unable to attend a live session, the classroom teachers will provide a recorded version of the video conference.

• In some instances, teachers may host a synchronous (live) class experience via Google Meet. In order to avoid conflicts with other classes, staff will use the times below when scheduling synchronous (live) sessions.

• When possible, staff may record these sessions and publish for students to watch at a later time.
• Refer to these tutorials that describe how to join a video conference using Google Meet or Schoology.
  
  

• E-5 Teachers will post daily expectations in Seesaw or Schoology by 9:00 a.m.

• 6-12 Teachers will post daily expectations in Schoology by 9:00 a.m.

• The expectation is for all staff to be available by email or phone (via voicemail) from 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
• Staff will respond to all communication requests in a timely manner (within 24 hours) during scheduled hours via phone (Google Meet) or email. Teachers may communicate outside of office hours as needed.

Teachers, principals, and other licensed professionals will be available by email or phone (via voicemail) from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. There are two (2) ways you can contact your child’s teachers:

1. Send staff an email to their school email address. Staff contact information can be found in the ISD 728 Staff Directory.
2. Call your child’s teacher and leave a message on their school voicemail. All voicemails are forwarded to staff members email. If you request a call back from your child's teacher, please leave your phone  number and a specific time for a return call.

Staff will respond to all communication requests in a timely manner (within 24 hours) during scheduled hours via phone (Google Meet) or email. Teachers may communicate outside of office hours as needed.

Teachers will utilize Google Meet Internet Calling if there is a need to call parents on a Distance Learning Day.  As a recipient of a Google Internet Call, the incoming number will have a number and Caller ID from out state.

You can access My ISD 728 Rapid Portal at my.isd728.org to access familiar classroom resources, including apps for distance learning. To help prepare for Distance Learning beginning Monday, March 30, 2020, please help your child practice logging into the above website. These apps are available from most internet connected devices available in your home, or optionally from a school issued Chromebook you connect to your home internet.

Students may not be familiar with their login information or how to navigate to the Rapid Portal and will need your helping hand, especially for Grades K-2. The next few days will be an opportune time to get your student(s) familiar with this process.

See Rapid Portal Student Login Directions

• Lincoln Elementary School
  600 School Street, Elk River, MN 55330
  Door 2
  
  
• Zimmerman Elementary School
  25959 4th Street West, Zimmerman, MN 55398
  Door 1 (flagpole entrance) 
  
  
• Prairie View Elementary/Middle School
  12220 80th Street NE, Otsego, MN 55330
  Main Entrance
  
  
• Rogers High School
  21000 141st Avenue, Rogers, MN 55374
  Door 9

ChromeDepot Online
Having trouble connecting to wifi? Unable to sign in to my.isd728.org? Other issues?
   Try the available How-To docs.

Grade K-5 Parents and Grade 6-12 students or parents can call (763) 241-3490 or visit www.isd728.org/LetsChat for assistance. Support is available 8:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. M-F.

To help protect students against harmful and inappropriate online material, as well as to keep a “scholarly” focus when learning online, ISD 728 uses online services provided by GoGuardian. This web-based protection operates both when in school and at also at home for school managed accounts (i.e. when a student is logged into Chrome or a Chromebook with their school email address). Visit here for more information about what is filtered.

While filtering takes place both at school and at home, parents play an important role in supervising their child's internet access and usage. Parents are encouraged to discuss rules for appropriate internet usage, and reinforce lessons of digital citizenship and safety. Please review our technology responsible use guidelines and  visit www.isd728.org/Digital-Health-Wellness to learn more about available parent resources.

We also highly encourage reporting any potential cyberbullying or other sensitive issues by visiting www.isd728.org/Bullying and using the provided Reporting Forms.

Before March 30th, parents will receive information about accessing the new GoGuardian Parent App to see which websites, apps, and extensions a student uses, and to see how often teachers have issued intervention commands, like locking screens or closing tabs. 

Teachers are limited to using GoGuardian Teacher with students in their classes during instructional hours, helping them assess students’ progress towards class assignments and facilitating communication between teachers and students during class time.

School administrators and assigned IT staff receive real time Smart Alerts if a student views explicit content. They can also access to GoGuardian Admin to review flagged or blocked activity and reports.

MCA/MTAS tests for the 2019-2020 school year have been canceled.

The district-provided ACT test that was scheduled for March 23, 2020 has been canceled. Juniors will be provided with an opportunity to take the ACT, free of charge, on October 6, 2020. The October 6, 2020 administration will happen during the school day.

There are two national ACT test dates this summer, June 13, 2020 and July 18, 2020.  These opportunities are not part of the district assessment program so standard ACT fees will apply. Please see the ACT website for more information about these testing opportunities.  Please be aware that the registration deadline for the June 13, 2020 administration is May 8, 2020.

Getting Started

A great resource for learning about this year's AP Exams is Trevor Packer's presentation (click here).

Exam Registration

• Only students who are currently registered for AP exams will be allowed to participate in the AP tests this spring. No additional registrations are allowed. 
• Students who are registered for an AP exam who are unable to take the exam should contact their AP teacher.

Exam Dates

• Exams will be given from May 11–22.
• Students who are unable to take their test on the designated day must work with their building’s AP Coordinator to schedule a makeup test, which will be offered from June 1–5.
• Students can take exams at home or in schools, if they reopen.
• Each subject's exam will be taken on the same day at the same time, worldwide.
• View the full testing schedule (click here).

Exam Format
Most exams will have one or two free-response questions, and each question will be timed separately. Students will need to write and submit their responses within the allotted time for each question.

• Students will be able to take exams on any device they have access to—computer, tablet, or smartphone. They'll be able to type and upload their responses or write responses by hand and submit a photo via their cell phones.
• For most subjects, the exams will be 45 minutes long, plus an additional 5 minutes for uploading. Students will need to access the online testing system 30 minutes early to get set up.
• Certain courses—Art and Design: 2D; Art and Design: 3D; Art and Design:Drawing; and Computer Science Principles—will use portfolio submissions and will not have a separate online exam. All deadlines for these submissions have been extended to May 26, 2020, 11:59 p.m. ET. Teachers and students may receive separate course-specific communications.
• Students taking world language and culture exams will complete two spoken tasks consistent with free-response questions 3 and 4 on the current AP Exam. Written responses will not be required. The College Board will provide additional details in the coming weeks to help students prepare. 

Tips for testing on specific devices will be available in late April.

Exam Scores and College Credit
As usual, students' work will be scored by a network of college faculty and AP teachers, and will be reported on a 1–5 scale. The College Board anticipates releasing scores as close to the usual July timeframe as possible.

The College Board is confident that the vast majority of higher ed institutions will award college credit as they have in the past. They have spoken with hundreds of institutions across the country that support their solution for this year's AP Exams.

Exam Security
Like many college-level exams, this year's AP Exams will be open book/open note. The exam format and questions are being designed specifically for an at-home administration, so points will not be earned from content that can be found in textbooks or online. However, students taking the exams may not consult with any other individuals during the testing period. The College Board will take the necessary steps to protect the integrity of each exam administration, as they do every year.

We're confident that the vast majority of AP students will follow the rules for taking the exams. For the small number of students who may try to gain an unfair advantage, the College Board has a comprehensive and strict set of protocols in place to prevent and detect cheating. While some of these practices are confidential to maximize their effectiveness, students and education professionals can learn more about our security measures (click here). 

At a minimum, test takers should understand that those attempting to gain an unfair advantage will either be blocked from testing or their AP scores will be canceled, and their high school will be notified as will colleges or other organizations to which the student has already sent any College Board scores (including SAT® scores). And they may be prohibited from taking a future Advanced Placement® Exam as well as the SAT, SAT Subject Tests™, or CLEP® assessments. 

Remote Instruction and Practice
On March 25, the College Board began offering free live AP review courses, delivered by AP teachers from across the country. The courses have been viewed more than 3.2 million times since they became available. On-demand lessons (click here) are now available for Art and Design, AP Capstone™, and Computer Science Principles. 

In addition to sharing information about these classes with students, teachers who are providing remote instruction can use AP Classroom for most subjects. The College Board has unlocked secure free-response questions in AP Classroom so teachers can digitally assign relevant practice questions students can take at home. Additional tips (click here) for helping your students practice are available. 

Additional Information
The College Board has added frequently asked questions to their website so you can find answers to important topics, including information for students with accommodations, details about exam fees and cancellations, credit and placement, calculator policies, and more. (click here) Additional updates will be shared through email, online educator communities, and social media.

Questions
If you have questions about the new AP tests, please contact your child’s AP teacher or you can contact the AP Coordinator for your child’s school.

Elk River High School
Rachel Telfer
rachel.telfer@isd728.org

Rogers High School
Shane Noecker
shane.noecker@isd728.org

Zimmerman High School
Tom Kish
thomas.kish@isd728.org

Visit the ISD 728 Covid-19 Resource Website for Additional Information: www.isd728.org/COVID-19.

We know that your schedules are wide and varied. We are here to support you and your child during these evolving times, so please reach out to us as we are in this together.