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Challenge

As the Northern Cyclones youth hockey program expanded from a small organization of mostly local skaters—almost all of them high school graduates—to a five-team junior hockey league with student athletes from across the U.S., providing educational support became a priority. The family-owned program is committed to college and career preparation for long-term success both on and off the ice. Many of its players will go on to play hockey in college or in semi-professional leagues around the world, but for many others, the sport will not be their primary focus as young adults.

Solution

The Northern Cyclones partner with Apex Learning Virtual School (ALVS) to offer a private online high school option for families whose student athletes live near its rinks in New Hampshire, just north of the Boston metro area. The flexibility of ALVS courses accommodates the skaters’ busy practice and travel schedules. And the Northern Cyclones’ Director of Learning and Academics, Janet Sisson, is able to monitor students’ progress 24/7 via an online dashboard.

Implementing Edmentum

It is rare for a rural high school serving only 200 students to be able to offer courses in anthropology, sociology, advanced math, and multiple foreign languages, but through its virtual program partnership with EdOptions Academy, those are only a few of the options that Telstar High is providing. During the vetting process, students and parents are given access to the course catalog, and they are given the opportunity to come up with a plan in collaboration with school staff.

“We have found that the students actually like having a plan and hold themselves accountable,” Mr. Raymond said. “They often tell me when they are falling behind and what they plan on doing to catch up.”

Telstar High’s online course program takes communication seriously. Students are in regular contact with teachers, and teachers communicate with parents and guardians often, all in an effort to make sure that the school’s resources are being used wisely and that students are best positioning themselves for success.

Telstar High’s staff has been impressed with the depth of knowledge and pacing provided by EdOptions Academy’s courses and excited about how well-organized the syllabi and tutorials are. If students are struggling, either online or in-person, often all they have to do is retrace their steps to find their learning gap and take ample notes from there to guide continued learning.

Result

ALVS integrates seamlessly into the educational side of the Northern Cyclones program, offering a diverse and challenging array of courses plus the support and scaffolding to ensure that student athletes can handle the academic rigor. Families who are balancing the cost of ice time, room, and board appreciate the financial options ALVS offers. Most importantly, the college acceptance rate for ALVS students is 100%.

According to Sisson, “Setting them up for college and the work world with a good GPA is important to us. And we started asking who could help us do that?”