The Blended learning option offers flexibility and personalization that can benefit students in multiple ways. At Orange Lutheran High School (OLu), Blended learners have the freedom to pursue other passions and earn their high school diploma within a Christ-integrated environment.
However, most parents are only familiar with the traditional pathway of attending class in person, often assuming it to be the only and most effective learning option.
When it comes to deciding whether or not Blended learning at OLu is the right choice for their child, parents may have doubts about the results of OLu’s online learning platform. They may have questions like, “Will Blended learners perform as well as their on-campus peers?” or “Will the transition from in-person to Blended learning negatively impact their academic performance?”
Learn more about how OLu helps students transition into our Blended learning program.
According to OLu’s Assistant Principal - Faculty and Academics, Jenny Lark, in the annual analysis of grades comparing OLu’s Blended learning students with full-time on-campus learners, few differences are found.
“If we compare Blended students’ cumulative GPAs to fully on-campus students, our results show that our students perform just as well academically as on-campus students do,” says Lark.
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At OLu, even students who do not attend classes on campus full time have equal access to on-campus support and earn a high school diploma that is of the same quality as that of their on-campus peers.
Here’s how we assess the academic performance of Blended learners at OLu.
Blended learning assessments
Although the way the course material is delivered is different across the learning options available to students at OLu, students are assessed in the same way regardless of whether they are Blended learning students or on-campus students.
As mentioned by Lark, OLu reviews the results of all students, regardless of their chosen learning option, and can compare this data to provide our students with the best education possible. Year after year, students in the Blended learning program at OLu consistently earn similar grade results as their on-campus peers. Almost all OLO courses mirror the academic content they would learn in a traditional classroom setting but are instead delivered in a convenient and flexible format.
“We assess Blended learning students the same way as on-campus students, which is just based on their course grades in particular classes. This way, parents wouldn't have to expect anything different in terms of report cards. Everything will look the same as if they were on campus full time,” says Lark.
Orange Lutheran’s Online (OLO) programs are designed to meet the highest national standards for quality online courses. OLO’s online instructors are held to the same high expectations as our on-campus instructors.
Discover 7 reasons why OLu is a top private school in Orange County.
When it comes to assessments, our teachers and instructors invest a great deal of time and effort in formulating critical thinking questions that encourage students to think deeply and demonstrate their understanding of the subject matter.
“Our teachers are working to shift more toward authentic assessments where students really have to be able to demonstrate their own knowledge and skills, as opposed to maybe answering a multiple-choice question,” says Lark. “Our teachers have put a lot of time and effort into developing those higher-level critical thinking questions, where even when students have access to resources, like we do in our jobs every day, they have to be able to apply that higher-order thinking to do well on the assessment.”
Blended learning examinations
Examinations at OLu are conducted and proctored on campus. This means that all students will have to visit our campus to take their final exams. If, however, the student is from an OLu partner school, they will be able to give their exam at the partner school with a designated proctor.
All of OLu’s learners also receive identically formatted report cards. Parents will find that there is no difference between an on-campus class and an online class. Even when transcripts are sent to colleges and universities, the assessments and grades will look the same for all students at OLu as though they were all on-campus learners.
At OLu, we want our students to thrive in the academic setting of their choosing. Learn more about how OLu supports Blended learners here.
Blended learning and universities
At OLu, we are proud of our student's accomplishments, often best represented by the list of universities our students have been accepted to.
[Check out this list of schools our Blended learners have attended]
