Enrollment Requirements

Mead Outdoor School (MOS) operates under the rules of Washington State's Alternative Learning Experience (ALE) program laws in WAC 392-121-182. ALE rules enable public school students to pursue a more flexible educational schedule in an individualized setting but require all learning be supervised by a certified teacher. MOS is a public education option where some or all of the instruction is delivered outside of a regular classroom schedule.

MOS students are public school students of the Mead School District in an alternative setting. MOS students are NOT considered homeschooled students under WA state law. Homeschoolers provide home-based instruction and fall under a different set of laws including RCW 28A.200.011(1) and RCW 28A.225.010(4).

Our teachers meet the ALE documentation requirements by tracking and documenting student progress and achievement by completing the following:

Written Student Learning Plan (WSLP): Each student must have a WSLP, written by the teacher in collaboration with the parent, that outlines the course goals, curriculum materials used on-site and at home, and acceptable progress for each student.
Weekly Student/Teacher Contact: Each student must receive a minimum of one hour per week of instruction from a certified teacher to complete regular weekly contact requirements. If a student is absent, contact by phone or email must occur during the school week (Monday-Friday).
Monthly Progress: A monthly progress report must be completed for each child by a certified teacher.
Annual Assessment: Each student must receive a formal assessment during the year. This is accomplished through the district and state-mandated assessments such as the MAP and SBA.

Written Student Learning Plan (WSLP)

The WSLP is an annual requirement, which guides student learning and details the learning goals and performance objectives within each area of study. The teacher will develop the WSLP and personalize it to reflect the student's learning goals. The student learning plan must include the following:

beginning and ending date for the learning plan
30 hours per week that the student will engage in learning activities to meet the requirements of the learning plan. This includes approximately 5 hours per subject in Language Arts (reading and writing), Math, Science, Social Studies, Health and Fitness, Art and other electives
description of how weekly contact requirements will be met
list of the essential instructional materials used on site and at home
description of specific learning goals, performance objectives and anticipated educational activities related to each subject of study
timeline and methods of evaluation for each subject

Weekly Contact

ALE Law requires students and mentor teachers to make weekly contact either through attendance or two-way electronic communication. Contact between the parent and teacher does NOT meet this ALE law. If a student is absent, we will reach out to the student for alternate contact.

We use a secure Google Classroom to share online assessment tools, content in the core areas of science and social studies, novel pacing guides, highlights of program content, photos of activities, etc. Between Parents and Teacher, EMAIL is our primary means of communication.

Assessments and Evaluation

Mentor teachers are required by law to assess and report student progress monthly. Most often, data is collected at school, from short assessments, highly effective online learning programs, and through student portfolios of work from home. Three times per year students participate in district required MAP and DIBELS assessments on site. All 3rd-11th grade students participate in the Washington State SBA each spring.

Monthly Progress

Parents and teachers evaluate student progress on an ongoing basis. We may look at the quantity and quality of work that is being completed at home and at school.

This can be done in a variety of ways: writing activities, projects, discussions, daily assignments, demonstrations, tests and quizzes, online program data, formal district and state assessments, etc. These assessments determine a student’s progress toward or mastery of grade-level standards by helping us answer the following questions:

How do we know they are “getting” it?
How well are they understanding the concepts?
What learning is happening at school and at home that supports the learning of the power standards?

Families will curate and share with MOS staff a student portfolio with selected parent-scored work samples that show academic growth. Also, once per month families are invited to camp to share learning from all areas of their educational plan. We want our students and their families to be proud of their achievements and progress!

For students who are not making overall satisfactory progress at any time during the year, we will be required to implement an Intervention Plan. The goal of an intervention plan is for the mentor teachers to help you determine where your child requires support and give you a variety of tools and strategies.

Students with a level 1 in ANY subject will be required to have an intervention plan.
Students with a level 2 in two or more of the core subjects (language arts, math, science, or social studies) will also be required to have an intervention plan.

Potential interventions may include:

A 30 day review written by the parent with details about the schedule, content, and instruction at home
Increased time in online learning
Increased sharing of work samples from home
Tutoring - through Connection time, an extended AM/PM session at camp, or an MLO tutoring session at the PLC on a non-MOS day
Required regular meetings with the mentor teacher, student, and family
Focused skill workshops in small groups (parent workshops, student Connections, opportunities to observe instructional strategies, networking about curriculum, give and receive support, encouragement, and problem-solve any intervention needs, etc.)
Modify the student’s learning goals and performance outcomes
Modify the number of courses being taken in WSLP and the scope and sequence of the learning goals and objectives

Each level is defined below for the purposes of tracking monthly progress:

Level 4 - Consistently demonstrates concepts and skills of standard taught this month. Meets all attendance and time requirements. Frequency of cooperative behavior is nearly all the time. Requires no teacher support when demonstrating understanding. Demonstrates a thorough understanding of content taught. Makes no major errors or omissions when demonstrating concepts or processes taught. Scores 90% or higher on measured assessments.

Level 3 - Usually demonstrates concepts and skills of standard taught this month. Meets most attendance and time requirements. Frequency of cooperative behavior is most of the time. Requires limited support by the teacher when demonstrating understanding. Demonstrates a general understanding of content taught. Makes few major errors or omissions when demonstrating concepts or processes. Scores 80% or higher on measured assessments.

Level 2 - Sometimes demonstrates concepts and skills of standard taught this month. Meets some of the attendance and time requirements, but may have some absences. Frequency of cooperative behavior is some of the time. Requires moderate support by the teacher in order to demonstrate understanding concepts and skills. Demonstrates a partial understanding of content taught. Makes some errors or omissions when demonstrating concepts or processes.Scores 70% or higher on measured assessments. Interventions implemented at this level.

Level 1 (UNSATISFACTORY) - Seldom demonstrates concepts and skills of standard taught this month. Seldom meets attendance and/or time requirements. Frequency of cooperative behavior is seldom. Requires considerable support by the teacher to demonstrate learning of concepts and skills or is unable to demonstrate learning even with a high level of support. Demonstrates limited understanding of concepts, skills, and processes taught. Makes frequent major errors when demonstrating concepts or processes. Scores <70% on measured assessments. Failure to provide evidence of learning in the home environment. Interventions implemented at this level.