Edmentum, a leading provider of online learning solutions, has received numerous course approvals and certifications from University of California ”a-g”  and Quality Matters review boards for Plato Courseware and EdOptions Academy courses. With many online course providers to choose from, districts use these approvals to confirm course quality and rigor and to ensure the efficacy of courseware products.

“Our courseware’s instructional design has been proven for decades and continues to evolve to meet 21st century learning standards,” said Vin Riera, president and chief executive officer of Edmentum. “These approvals and certifications are an indication of Edmentum’s ongoing commitment to helping our school and district partners improve student achievement.”

Many states use these national certifications and third-party reviews as the first step in the state approval process, an increasingly important consideration for schools and districts implementing online and blended learning programs. Third-party reviewers typically use the iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses as the benchmark for their evaluations. Edmentum uses iNACOL standards in their course design, and recently completed the following course reviews and approvals:

• University of California “a-g” approved 41 courses in math, English, science, social studies, and world languages. University of California “a-g” approved courses are academically challenging; involve substantial reading, writing, problems, and laboratory work (as appropriate); and show serious attention to analytical thinking, factual content, and developing students' oral and listening skills.
• Quality Matters certified that 11 core courses pass a rubric for online and blended course design that has been adopted by dozens of K–12 schools and systems and other academic institutions. The Quality Matters standards for online course design are based on widely agreed best practices and supported by a growing body of research.
• An additional 43 courses have been reviewed by Academic Benchmarks to verify course correlation to national quality standards.

In addition to Edmentum’s ongoing efforts to ensure alignment to state-specific requirements and industry best practices, the company recently released new math and English language arts courses that are mobile optimized and built to state and Common Core standards. These new courses enhance already-approved courses, making them easier to use on mobile devices, incorporate additional interactive activities, and include multiple item-types within their assessments to further improve their 21^st century skills platform.