Academic Program For
Non-Standard Learners
The ‘Students Overcoming All Roadblocks’ program meets the needs of learners who benefit most from flexible learning strategies. Not everyone learns in the same manner. SOAR responds to non-traditional learners by offering a Personalized Academic Learning Strategy (PALS). The PALS plan may include personalized education strategies, accommodations, and/or modifications.
Who participates in SOAR: Students grades 3-12 who demonstrate learning challenges exhibited by one or more of the following:
- are identified by PVCS Administration and Teaching Faculty as academically at risk
- are consistently behind the pace established in the mainstream classroom
- may have a diagnosed learning challenge that is acting as a roadblock to their academic success
- may have low standardized test scores
- would benefit from personalized instruction in core subjects, such as reading, math.
- may benefit from accommodations or modifications in class instruction, assignments and testing.
What Does SOAR Do?
Coordinates a solution for the student that results in a PALS plan. The PALS plan is implemented in 2 ways:
1) tutoring in core subjects
2) specialized part-time classroom assistance in a dedicated space, utilizing the PALS.
SOAR students:
- are academically motivated and recognize their responsibility in the learning process.
- recognize that course work, including modified assignments, must be completed on time.
- understand that failure to complete course work can result in a hold on additional modifications.
SOAR parents:
- actively support the administrative and education decisions established by PVCS
- hold students responsible for completing coursework on time
- expect students to demonstrate the strongest possible academic effort
When Do SOAR Students Meet?
Tutoring is scheduled immediately after school hours on weekdays. Part-time class occurs during normal school day hours in 1-2 hour blocks.
Where Does SOAR Take Place?
All SOAR education events occur at PVCS, your home for personalized academic excellence. The PALS plan is executed both in the large, mainstream classroom and in the SOAR classroom.
Why: because every student should ‘soar on wings like eagles.’
SOAR may:
- provide accommodations such as: test alterations that accommodate learning difficulties, verbal testing, audio testing, alternative sites for testing, reading assistance, preferential seating, technology innovations, and more.
- provide dual instruction: where a second teacher supports the primary teacher by developing and delivering personalized educational instruction tailored to work around student’s learning challenges.
- provide modifications that alter the course content to match the academic level of the student
