Dear School Partner:

Thank you for working with us to provide online learning options to students in your school district! We are excited to collaborate on this innovative approach to customizing learning. The process outlined below should help to answer questions as families begin to indicate an interest in the Black Hills Online Learning Community (BHOLC) program.

friendsPre-Registration Information

1. Families are able to begin the online application process starting in late April by selecting the enrollment link on the front page of this site www.bholc.org. After that, new enrollments will only be allowed if requested by the school district.

2. When a family completes the online enrollment application, they will be contacted by the BHOLC enrollment coordinator.

    • Families from school districts who have an existing MOU with BHOLC will be advised to continue with the registration and approval process as indicated below.
    • Families from school districts who do not have MOUs with BHOLC will be informed of this and provided with a list of schools that do. Families are always encouraged to remain with their home school district. When that is not an option and they indicate an interest in open enrollment, they are advised to do so with a district that is geographically close to them. Once the family decides to continue with enrollment, they are advised to follow the registration process listed below.

3. Upon completion of the online application process, the family will receive an email with instructions to print and complete the BHOLC Learning Agreement. They are asked to provide this completed form to the school for approval.

Registration Process

  1. The family provides the completed Black Hills Online Learning Agreement to their local school.
  2. The school administrator and any other required school representatives decide whether to approve the application or not. It is advised that schools conduct a screening process to ensure students are a good fit for online learning.
  3. The SDCVE manager for the school then registers the student via the SDCVE website at: http://www.sdvs.k12.sd.us/
    1. Use the school login information. If you do not have this information, contact SDVS.
    2. If needed (grades 9-12), the student should meet with a local school counselor to generate a four-year plan indicating which courses will be taken to meet local graduation requirements and the individual goals of the student.
    3. Once the student is registered via the South Dakota Center for Virtual Education (SDCVE), an email will be generated to BHOLC informing us there is a pending registration in the system.
  4. The BHOLC enrollment coordinator will accept the SDCVE registration, which will also generate an Email back to the school district letting you know the registration has been approved.
  5. Enrollment and registration is complete. Students should be entered into Infinite Campus, with coding to indicate student is taking courses online, by the school.  BHOLC staff will follow up with the family to get them started.

 

All families are asked to complete an orientation to ensure familiarity with the expectations of the program. Students in grades K-5 using the K12 platform are assigned an Introduction to Online Learning course. Grades 6-12 students will have an orientation course.

 

Students in grades K-5 using the K12 platform will have a grade level online teacher who has contact with the learning coach (parent/guardian) throughout the school year. Students in grades 6-12 using the Edmentum option will have a content-based online teacher who provides content area support to the student and a mentor provided by BHOLC who provides engagement support. The person listed as an E-Mentor will also have an account in the Edmentum system so that he or she receives weekly updates regarding student progress and participation.

 

Updated April 25, 2024

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Are courses considered semester or year-long?
    Courses for grades 6-12 are a semester-long, and K-5 courses are year-long. Full-time students in grades 9-12 can take courses equivalent to five to seven full credits. Please refer to our course list for available high school course options. We will let your counselor help them decide what is best to meet their graduation goal and then your counselor or South Dakota Center for Virtual Education (SDCVE) designated contact (usually this is also the counselor) actually enrolls them via the SDCVE system.
  • Do you charge a pro-rated amount for less than a full-time ($3,250 per student) program? Is there a per-course charge option?
    Yes, you can do al a carte classes for the price listed. For example, if you have a student in your regular face-to-face program, they could take a course such as Mandarin Chinese online as an elective.
  • What are the beginning and ending dates for the courses?
    Please refer to the official BHOLC school calendar. However, the flexibility of the online platform allows us to offer classes about any time of the year. Students can accelerate the learning experience if they choose or take more time to go deeper with areas of interest.
  • What about the Smarter Balanced test each year? Do students need to come to our school to take the test?
    Each school is responsible for administering the Smarter Balanced test annually in the same manner you do face to face students. If demographic factors hinder families' ability to travel to your district, BHOLC is willing to provide a meeting space at our office (subject to availability) for a school representative to administer the tests. In the event that a family refuses to participate in testing, please adhere to your standard participation guidelines. BHOLC recommends discussing testing requirements before enrolling students in our program.