How It Works

How Online Elementary School Works

Who can attend?

The Destinations Career Academy of New Mexico (Destinations) elementary program serves students in grades K–5 who reside in New Mexico.

What are the costs?

Because Destinations is part of the public school system, it’s tuition-free. Enrolled families receive the K12 curriculum, and eligible families receive a loaner computer and printer.

What’s my role as a parent?

As a parent, you (or another responsible adult you choose) serve as your child’s Learning Coach. You’ll work with your child’s teacher to help record student attendance, monitor mastery of online lessons and assessments, and review student work.

Parent/Learning Coach involvement is vital to your child’s success, especially at the elementary level. The typical Learning Coach time commitment in grades K–5 is 4–6 hours a day. The initial 4–8 weeks can be intensive, as your family settles into a routine.

  • Grades K–2: Parent/Learning Coach daily involvement is critical and approximately 10–15 percent of this time is online.
  • Grades 3–5: Students have some independence, but parent/Learning Coach involvement is essential for about 70–80 percent of school time and approximately 15–25 percent of this time is online.

What will my child study?

Coursework is a mix of online and hands-on work, which caters to a wide variety of learning styles. Unit and course assessments are built in to each subject, and easy-to-use online planning and progress tools keep you and your student on track.

K–5th graders take courses in the core subjects listed below. Beginning in grade 3, they also take a self-guided elective course in music or a world language

letters is bubble

ENGLISH / LANGUAGE ARTS

calculator icon

MATH

experiments icon

SCIENCE

raise hands icon

HISTORY

musical note, violin and paintbrush icon

ART

Working with Your Teacher

Teachers provide individual and small group assistance via online synchronous sessions called “Class Connects.” Students are expected to attend all required Class Connects and meet with their teacher to receive course assistance, tutoring, and instruction. Class Connects vary by grade level and are scheduled by your teacher.

boy in virtual class

Mastering Lessons

In the elementary grades, students are required to show mastery of each lesson by achieving 80 percent or better on all lesson assessments. If your child is having difficulty mastering a lesson, let their homeroom teacher know as soon as possible. Teachers offer many support sessions to help students gain mastery.

Attendance

Attendance is logged Monday through Friday, but academic progress can be achieved during the weekends as well. K–5 students are expected to spend approximately 4–7 hours on schoolwork per school day.

  • Grades K–2: Estimate approximately 4–5 hours of productive schoolwork 5 days per week
  • Grades 3–5: Estimate approximately 5–7 hours of effective schoolwork 5 days per week

Assessments

The school year begins with benchmark testing to measure students’ baseline knowledge and these results will drive individualized instruction. Mid-year and end-of-year benchmark testing will also occur to measure each student’s growth toward mastering all state standards. Our testing is purposeful and meaningful and drives our instructional practices to best serve the individual needs of your child.

State Testing

Destinations students must comply with all New Mexico-mandated testing requirements.