TVAH High School Newsletter

Dear Student and Learning Coaches,

Welcome to Texas Virtual Academy at Hallsville! We are so excited to have you with us as part of our first year! Thank you for trusting us with your children and their education. Please see some important information below.

This Week's Class Connect Session Schedule:

We will start the week off with a Pep Rally and Welcome Assembly, and then your student will begin his or her Orientation Week with our advising team. No academic classes will meet this week, although your student will have Orientation Sessions with his or her classroom teachers on Thursday and Friday. Please check your class connect schedule for invitations to these sessions. Your student will NOT need books or materials during this first week.

Readiness Testing:

This week, your student will be assigned Readiness Testing in most of his or her classes. These tests will take place with the advisors and on your own in USA TestPrep or in the classroom system. Our MAP assessments give us a baseline to measure your student's growth for the year, and will take place again at the end of the school year. Our USATestPrep and classroom Benchmarks are designed to assess how much your student already knows about the content in that class, so we can customize the level of support your student needs and individualize his or her instruction. They are not expected to know any of the information on these benchmark assessments -- they are ONLY to determine their background knowledge. Please make sure your students complete these tests by Friday, August 31st. If you have Readiness Tests assigned, they are very important and I encourage you to complete them. The outcome will determine your student's class schedule beginning September 10th.

Next Week's Class Connect Schedule:

Monday, September 3 is a student and staff holiday. Therefore, all Monday classes will meet on Tuesday for this week only, and your student may have some schedule conflicts. Please have your student go to the live class that he or she feels they will need the most help in, and you can watch the recording of any other class that occurs at that time. Our teachers will be working to analyze the data from our benchmark assessments and will invite students to regularly scheduled classes beginning the week of September 10th.

If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact your teacher or advisor. I am also available to help and support, feel free to contact me as well. I know we will have an amazing year together at TVAH!

Shelby Newman, TVAH High School Principal

On Friday, August 17, we were happy to meet several TVAH parents and students. We look forward to meeting more as the year progresses. We want to thank all of the parents, students, and staff who attended.

Over the years, we have found that students who have been exposed to the course material in their classroom AND attend live class connect sessions have greater success in the online setting. Please make sure your student is reading/working through the content in their classroom before attempting any assignments.

How your Class Connect Schedule Works:

On September 10th, your student's regular live class schedule will begin. Students are assessed on a quarterly basis (benchmarks or readiness), and the data captured on those assessments is used to determine how much progress your student has had with state standards (TEKS). Depending on their performance on these readiness assessments, they will be assigned live class (Class Connect) sessions to help target their specific needs. If, for example, a student demonstrates some gaps in knowledge that may cause them to struggle in their Math class, they will attend a General Math Session on Monday and may be scheduled for 2-3 additional Math sessions for the rest of the week. We will re-assess students after the first quarter of the semester, and if your student has progressed through the standards, then that student may only see 1 whole group session and 1-2 additional Math sessions on their schedule in Quarter 2.

TVAH High School Principal

Shelby Newman has been with K12 since 2015 and has served in several different roles, including classroom teacher, department chair, and assistant principal. She is passionate about student engagement and success, and works to make sure that students are given the individual support that they need to be successful in their current classes, as well as in the future. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas State University and Masters degrees from Dominican University and Liberty University. She is a native Texan and lives in New Braunfels, TX.

Email: shnewman@tvahallsville.org
Website: tvah.k12.com/
Location: 1955 Lakeway Drive, Lewisville, TX, United States
Phone: 830-282-0788