ENROLLING STUDENTS


All distance education course enrollments are initiated at the resident district. The resident district has ten business days to confirm the student’s enrollment with the distance education program provider. To begin the formal enrollment process, the resident district will notify the program provider of the student’s intent to register with the distance education course.

Assigning Students to a School

If the student is not currently enrolled at the resident district, they will need to be assigned to a school that provides appropriate grade level instruction . If the resident district has multiple schools that can offer appropriate grade level instruction, the district can assign the student to a school using any policy they choose.

This school will be the location of the student’s primary enrollment as reported on the WISE Certified Teacher/Course/Student Enrollment Data Collection (WDE684).

Distance Learning Plan (DLP)

To ensure the needs of all students are met, the resident district is required to complete one DLP for each student participating in a distance education course . The DLP is a student-centered academic contract that details information about each DE course taken by the student, how many Milestones are presented in each course, how instructional support is to be provided to the student, and how the student’s progress will be monitored and reported. 

Statewide WSN program providers will supply the Distance Learning Plan template to the student’s resident district. Districts that partner with a Wyoming postsecondary institution or out-of-state provider will need to develop their own DLP. The Wyoming Department of Education has provided templates  that can be customized to create a local DLP. 

When establishing a Distance Learning Plan for a student, please take careful consideration of the following essential aspects:

  • Student Accountability and Appropriateness – To verify that the course is appropriate to the learning capabilities of the participating student, the Distance Learning Plan is required to document the student requirements and pre-enrollment consultation process.
  • Course Milestones – The Distance Learning Plan must acknowledge the Milestones presented in each course. For statewide program providers, a listing of these Milestones can be found on the WSN website. However, the Milestones established can be modified on any DLP to accommodate the needs of the individual student. For DE courses provided by postsecondary institutions, the Milestone information can be obtained via either the learning objectives listed in the course syllabus or by obtaining a spreadsheet/report of the assignments used by the course grading system. It is the responsibility of the student to provide the course syllabus or learning objectives to the local facilitator assigned as the instructional support. 
  • Instructional Support – All resident districts are required to facilitate necessary instructional support and assist students who are not satisfactorily progressing through the distance education course. The DLP must provide the name and position of the resident school’s liaison and/or the student’s mentor/tutor that provides this instructional support throughout the duration of the course.
  • Monitoring Student Progress – In addition to the required instructional support, the resident district and program provider must establish a clear communications process to allow for the student’s progress through the course Milestones to be monitored. To monitor a student taking a dual-credit distance education course from a postsecondary provider, the student can share course progress directly with the local facilitator that was assigned as the instructional support.

The DLP is completed in collaboration with the student, the student’s parent(s) or legal guardian(s), and the appropriate personnel from the resident district and program provider. The effective dates of each Distance Learning Plan cannot exceed a period of twelve months.

Each student’s DLP needs to be maintained by the resident district (in conjunction with the WDE591) to support attendance and membership records for distance education students. Any modifications to the DLP’s course information that occurs throughout the school year must be documented using the appropriate data policies established between the resident district and distance education program provider.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

In all partnership enrollments, an MOU is the formal agreement between the resident district and DE program provider that outlines fees paid for a distance education program or course, educational support provided to the student(s), required training, and a conflict resolution policy. Initiated by the program provider, and designed for a period not to exceed one year, the original MOU is required to be on file at the resident school district.

Reporting Student Enrollment

The WISE Certified Teacher/Course/Student Enrollment Data Collection (WDE684) is the official collection for student-level demographic and course information. This report includes vital and social statistics on students in Wyoming schools. For distance education:

  • The student’s resident district is responsible to report a non-concurrent (primary) enrollment record for the student on the WDE684 as associated with the student’s resident school within the district. 
  • In a partnership model, the DE program provider’s school district is responsible to report a concurrent enrollment record for the student. Report students as concurrently enrolled in the public brick-and-mortar school associated with the distance education program providing the courses.

If a student participates in another school district’s distance education program as a fulltime transfer enrollment, the nonresident district must (1) formally document the transfer and request of student records by sending written notification to the student’s resident district and (2) immediately notify the student’s resident district in writing if the student withdraws.

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