Mission
Friendship Online Academy’s mission is to “provide a world-class education that motivates students to achieve high academic standards, enjoy learning, and develop as ethical, literate, well-rounded and self-sufficient citizens who contribute actively to their communities.” Part of the Friendship Charter Network, which has been in operation since 1998, Friendship Online Academy has served as the only school in Washington, D.C., to have authorization to operate virtually for the last ten years. This history allowed them to accelerate learning throughout the pandemic and has now enabled them to offer part-time and course-access options to students in local, partner systems.
Demographics
Friendship Online Academy has two virtual campuses, one for students in grades K-8 and one for students in grades 9-12. The K-8 campus’ student population is approximately 88% Black, 5% Latine, 2% white, and 3% multiracial. The high school campus, Collegiate Academy Online, serves a student population that is approximately 98% Black and 1.5% Latine. The Online Academy predominantly serves students pursuing nontraditional schooling environments, receiving disability services, experiencing severe medical needs, dealing with personal safety concerns, existing under the care of the government, or experiencing challenges maintaining in-person attendance.
Experience Overview
Friendship Online Academy is available to all D.C. residents and uses a lottery system for enrollment. In the K-8 school, students engage in core content areas, music, art, health, physical education, world language, and chosen electives. The high school offers core content areas, dual enrollment, and AP options with students gaining more agency in their course selection during their junior and senior years. Both elementary and secondary students have homerooms or advisories so they have opportunities to build relationships with a core group of students. Both programs offer in-person opportunities to engage in learning and foster a sense of belonging. These may include science labs, field trips, and monthly school-wide events.
Friendship Online Academy is a high-quality virtual program. Every student has an online learning coach that supports relationship-building and individualized instruction. Teachers drive learning with pedagogy that offers alternate pathways to mastery, including project-based learning, and highly differentiated small-group opportunities. Every student and educator receives the technology they need to thrive in the online classroom, and the school offers a summer orientation and bridge program to set the foundation for self-directed learning.
Learning In Action
Every course offered by Friendship Online Academy includes a blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning, allowing for needed flexibility to complete assigned coursework. Typically, students complete about an hour of independent work per day, per course and engage in live lessons in all core subjects, including languages and the arts. In high school, students have live instruction daily, two days per week, devoted to grade-level rotations through ELA, math, social studies, and science. Additionally, students have the opportunity to engage in office hours, small-group instruction, AP prep, dual enrollment workshops, and targeted intervention every Friday. Students also participate in clubs and extracurricular activities throughout the year, either in person or online.
During the summer, students and families prepare for the school year by participating in two-day boot camps to learn how to use online tools. New high school students complete a five-week bridge program to build durable skills, such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and executive functioning to ensure their success with self-directed learning throughout the year. Each summer, about half of the student population participates in these programs.
Teaching In Action
High school teachers use Edmentum for course materials and begin every student with grade-level learning, which is then scaffolded or accelerated based on students’ needs. Teachers administer and use the NWEA MAP assessment to strategically differentiate and plan flexible small-group instruction. Teachers are well equipped to use multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) for students who need modifications to the curriculum or may be experiencing life events that require a temporary change of pace.
Teachers also regularly connect with a designated learning coach at the student’s home, which is usually a parent, grandparent, or older sibling. Together, they build a network of support to facilitate student success throughout the year and ensure they have opportunities to meet in person through open houses and other events. Educators at Friendship Online Academy also offer monthly parent professional learning based on identified needs. During these times, teachers reinforce learning norms and support families in progress monitoring.
Exponential Learning Initiative: Accelerating Understanding via Evidence
The Learning Accelerator (TLA) launched the Exponential Learning Initiative in January 2024 with funding from the Walton Family Foundation to examine how virtual and hybrid school models support learning acceleration. As one of the six sites chosen for the project, Friendship Online Academy participated in collaborative research design sessions with TLA and our partner, Mathematica, to deeply understand the strategies and practices core to Friendship Online Academy that may be driving learning acceleration. This Theory of Change model documents the traits of the learners, the strategies and practices core to the Friendship Online Academy model, beliefs about how the learners develop core foundational skills, and the outcomes students intend to achieve.
During the 2024-25 school year, TLA will study these anticipated causes of learning acceleration including how students are:
Equipped to learn;
Assisted, encouraged, and guided to learn;
Accountable for and show ownership over learning; and
Invested in the learning model.
Conditions for Success
Community and Culture: Friendship Online Academy takes a very intentional approach to building school culture through in-person events, weekly town halls to celebrate student progress and achievements, and offering uniforms to build a shared school identity even though most students learn from home. Previously, student voice drove the identification of a new school mascot and the selection of their motto,
Technology: The school has a full-time technical support specialist who helps students and families with accessing needed technology and learning platforms. Every family receives a laptop, printer, and headset. Internet hotspots are also provided on an as-needed basis.
Professional Development and Learning: Every teacher receives a laptop, greenscreen, chair, desk, and prescribed background to create a professional learning environment for every student. The school provides regular training and support to make sure educators are well-equipped to deliver high-quality instruction using these resources. Friendship Online Staff participate in weekly Early Release Fridays to work with other content teachers or spend time digging into norms on online pedagogical practices.
Communications: Friendship Online Academy sends online newsletters and weekly progress reports to families to ensure they are up to date on their students’ learning.
Other Key Highlights
As a part of Friendship Online Academy’s model, every student takes an AP course in ninth grade which sets them up for additional AP and dual enrollment opportunities as they matriculate through high school. In addition, students at every grade level have the opportunity to choose between language courses in Chinese, French, German, Latin, and Spanish.
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