MADISON — On August 21, classes at Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy will begin. While that date is very near, Therese Milbrath, the assistant superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Madison, said it is still not too late for parents to register their high schoolers for the virtual academy.
“We can take registrations up until that time,” said Milbrath.
Entering its second year
The online Catholic high school was set up last year by the diocese in partnership with Catholic Virtual, a company that has been working with Catholic schools throughout the United States for more than a decade. The company provides both teachers and training for teachers specifically for online learning, curriculum and resources, and technical support.
“The teachers are all over the United States,” said Milbrath. “They do a lot of professional development within the Catholic faith to make sure that they are including Catholicism within all of their courses.”
This training includes learning effective approaches for virtual instruction.
“Virtual learning is a very different approach,” said Milbrath. “It needs to be far more visual because you have to be reaching students.”
Last year, the school had five students. As the school grows, Milbrath said “our hope is that we will find that there are pockets of students within the diocese. We would love to start what we are calling satellite campuses where students can come together one or two days a week.”
Milbrath said these satellite campuses would allow the students to socialize, attend Mass, go to Confession, and “start building a community.”
For now, though, the goal of the diocese is to “offer some assistance to the areas of the diocese where we don’t have a brick and mortar high school.”
Options for students
Students can be enrolled as full-time students or, if home schooled, they can enroll in individual classes.
“We have been doing some work with home school families,” said Milbrath. “They come to us just to take one class. The big ones we see are math, science, and foreign language. The school is filling a lot of needs.”
Even for full-time students, though, the learning environment is different than a typical classroom environment.
“A full load is six classes. You have live sessions twice a week with your teacher,” said Milbrath. “The rest of the time is spent in what we call asynchronous [learning]. You’re working on an assignment. You’re working on tests. There may be videos to watch. It is a rigorous curriculum but it is not your typical school day.”
She said this allows for more flexibility for families to go to appointments that would result in a child missing classroom time and playing catch up.
Special needs support
In terms of special needs support, the academy is able to provide some support as well.
“If the student is special needs, we request the IEP or if they are at a current Catholic School, it would be a service plan,” said Milbrath. “I meet with the academic team to make sure that we’re able to meet those modifications. For some students, they actually thrive in the online environment.”
In regards to the parental time commitment, Milbrath said that parents are the best ones to judge what their children need.
“Some students need more hand holding than others, but some students really just fly in this environment,” Milbrath said. “I had a couple of students last year who finished their coursework early.”
Families need to provide the student with a computer and Internet connection.
The tuition for this academic school year is $5,740.
“We also have financial aid available for families who might need it,” said Milbrath.
For home schooled students looking to take a class or two, the cost is $500 a course per semester.
Milbrath said, “I think it checks a box for a lot of different things families are looking for in education. We are authentically Catholic.”
She also added that students outside of the diocese are also welcome.
For more information about Blessed Carlo Acutis Academy, visit madisondiocese.org/bca or send an email to schools@madisondiocese.org
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