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Frequently Asked Questions

  • LIVE Curriculum
  • LIVE Teachers
  • Classroom Coach
  • LIVE Technology
  • General
  • Special Education

LIVE Curriculum FAQs

Elevate K-12 launched LIVE teaching in 2014 as the only solution to your teacher shortage that preserves and even enhances the sense of community and levels of engagement you’d expect to find in a traditional classroom environment.

Unlike remote learning, students participate in LIVE classes together, in your school’s classrooms, on your school’s bell schedule. Our curriculum is purpose-built to cultivate community in LIVE classrooms, incorporating collaborative group work and peer-to-peer learning into each lesson. And our LIVE Teachers benefit from a fully supported instructional model, with lesson plans and professional development modules built by Elevate to take the guesswork out of teaching LIVE.

Yes! LIVE classes are full of in-flight checks for understanding, as well as benchmark graded assessments to make sure students stay on track with their peers. In one district, students who took 10th-grade Biology in an Elevate LIVE classroom achieved the same outcomes as students in a traditional in-person classroom taught by one of the district’s best teachers.

Elevate’s LIVE curriculum is written and designed by our in-house Academic Team to align with state and national standards. In fact, we take this so seriously that we partner with an independent third- party organization to audit each LIVE course for alignment, and we work directly with your Local Education Agency to review and approve our entire curriculum (where available).

Yes! LIVE Teachers use standards-aligned benchmark assessments throughout the semester to check for comprehension and make sure learning stays on pace.

Elevate LIVE classes are built using research-backed, industry-leading instructional strategies — and we bring that approach to every aspect of the LIVE class experience.

  • Our curricula and lesson plans incorporate features of Universal Design for Learning, Understanding by Design, Bloom’s Cognitive Domains of Learning, and the CASEL Framework for Social Emotional Learning.
  • Our LIVE Teachers are trained to leverage instructional strategies like Gradual Release of Responsibility and Visible Learning.
  • Our Academic Coaches follow the Danielson Framework for Remote Teaching during formal LIVE Teacher evaluations (which occur at least 1x per semester).
  • Finally, we use best practices from the Technology Integration Matrix to connect each of these pieces into a seamless, hybrid, and synchronous LIVE learning experience.

Elevate LIVE learning emphasizes grade-level mastery and comprehension through regular checks for understanding and end-of-unit assessments. For example, our virtual formative assessments (“QZs”) provide the LIVE Teacher with an immediate, on-the-fly glimpse into how well each student is grasping the material. We also use our summative unit tests and benchmark assessments to assess growth over time and make sure the pace of instruction matches your students’ needs.

Nope – we’ve designed all our curricula with flexibility in mind! The Elevate team works directly with you to fit the pacing and sequences unique to your school or district. Units from any of our 100+ LIVE classes can be rearranged, added, excluded, or even combined to make a whole new class.

Yes! You may work with your Regional Operations Manager at any point in the semester to adjust the pacing of a LIVE class. Your LIVE Teacher will also regularly monitor students’ comprehension and may even suggest certain pacing adjustments to better reflect students’ progress.

The Elevate LIVE Teacher is responsible for grading all Elevate coursework and assessments. Students in most LIVE classes can expect to complete at least two graded assignments per week, and their grades are quickly and easily viewed through an online assessment platform called Otus.

Our teachers get to know your students’ academic and social-emotional needs through both a relationship-centric, data-driven approach. LIVE teachers will regularly use QZs (ie, formative assessments) to capture real-time data about students’ mastery and comprehension of class topics. We coach LIVE Teachers and train Classroom Coaches to use these insights to make on-the-fly changes to the pace of instruction and identify students needing more targeted support or greater enrichment opportunities to be challenged.

We know that in any given general education classroom, there are likely students with disabilities who have an IEP or 504 plan participating in an inclusive setting. While our LIVE Teachers don’t formally get involved in administering or monitoring IEPs/504s, we take several steps to make each LIVE class accessible to diverse student needs:

  • use assessment data and checks for understanding to differentiate instruction;
  • incorporate accessibility features into the Elevate LIVE Portal to provide a supportive and cohesive digital experience;
  • leverage inclusive and SEL-centric strategies to foster a safe and respectful learning environment, and more.

Your staff can work with the Classroom Coach and LIVE Teacher to capture the data you need to inform your students’ IEPs and 504s.

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