New Family Info

Whether you are returning or are a new member of our school community, we're delighted to have you. TOL is a vibrant community where learning meets flexibility, parents and teachers work together, and students thrive! As an at-home learning coach, you play a crucial role in your student's educational journey. Our school's approach relies on at-home learning coaches to assist students in accessing resources and communicating with the school team. Thank you for joining us and dedicating time to understanding your role at Tacoma Online.

We've put together a brief course that you can read or listen to as you learn more about your role and how TOL works.

TOL also has an extensive website with lots of information.

Your student's PACE coach will send you and your student an email shortly before the first day of school. This will have information about when and how to get started. Whether you are starting with TOL on the first day of school or later in the year, these steps should help you get going.

For elementary students, joining the 9AM class meeting will be their best first step. PACE coaches will set up a 1:1 time with students and guardians. Coursework lives in Schoology, which can be accessed easily through Clever or https://tacoma.schoology.com.

For most secondary students, check your email and connect with PACE coach about setting up a 1:1 or when their next whole group PACE meeting is. Edgenuity is where coursework lives. Edgenuity Log-in here is your log in information: Website: https://auth.edgenuity.com/Login/Login/Student Username: 1234567@TPS10.ORG (your student ID# email address) Password: MMDDYYYY (8 digit birthday)

The start can feel confusing at first if this is a new way of doing school for your family. Rest assured that once you connect with you PACE coach and learn to access coursework things will get easier! The learning coach courses will give you a good overview to better understand the ins and outs of our school. Please reach out to TOL staff if you have questions or need any help. We can walk you through it!

Check out this quick video with steps on joining a Teams Meeting.

How to Join a Teams Meeting

ALE students have two important responsibilities that are different than in-person schools.

The first is about attendance and truancy. Each full-time TOL student is assigned an advisor. We call them PACE Coaches. They are here to be your person! They will help you learn the TOL way and excel in your schoolwork. You are required to meet with your PACE Coach every week in a brief videochat meeting on Microsoft Teams. This is how we take attendance. Missing even a few of these meetings counts as truancy in ALE schools and will result in us having to remove you from TOL. Not only are these meetings required for attendance, but they're very helpful to your success so please plan on this.

The second is about making adequate academic progress in your classes at TOL. Every month, your PACE Coach will meet with you to assess your academic progress during a regular weekly meeting. If you're not making academic progress, you will be required to work with your teachers more directly which could even require you to come in-person for extra help. We will work with you throughout this process but if you continue to not make adequate progress, ALE schools like TOL will be required to remove you from TOL to return to in-person learning.

Clever is the launch pad for many TPS apps and tool; it also holds Schoology. To get to Schoology, follow these steps:

1. Open your web browser on the TPS computer

2. Click TPS favorites in the upper left corner

3. Click on Clever.

4. Click on the Schoology tile to open it.

Once in Schoology, students can open their course dashboard. They can find their homeroom course to get started.

Logging into Edgenuity -

• Go here: https://auth.edgenuity.com/Login/Login/Student
• Username: StudentID@TPS10.ORG - this should use your 7 digit student ID. For example, if your Student ID was 1010101, then your username would be 1010101@TPS10.ORG
• Password: Your password is your birthday in the MMDDYYYY format. So, if your birthdate was September 9, 2009, your password would be 09092009

What if I'm lost and don't know what to do?

Go to your TPS Outlook email and look for emails from our staff including your counselor, and your new PACE Coach (advisor) and reply and connect with them. They will help you!

What if I don't see my classes in Edgenuity?

If you were just enrolled in the past couple of days, we may not have your schedule built quite yet. Know that we are working hard on it and we ask your patience. Check back in a day.

American Sign Language Classes are in Schoology, not Edgenuity.

Check your TPS Outlook email inbox for an email from Olivia Wood with login instruction. Questions, email Ms. Wood at owood@tacoma.k12.wa.us

During the first 5 school days of every month, starting in October, PACE coaches will conduct a PLP review during your students' regularly scheduled 1:1 meeting. Families and students will then be sent an email with teacher notes on satisfactory academic progress, intervention plans, and next steps. This email will come from tolrecords@tacoma.k12.wa.us. During October, PLP updates will be sent to families between 10/1 and 10/8.

Please note, if your student is not making satisfactory academic progress, they will require an intervention plan. You will likely be contacted by TOL staff for support.

Because TOL is an alternative learning experience (ALE), ParentVue does not operate the same for attendance and grade reporting. ParentVue Communication is still a great tool to use for connecting with teachers, but the attendance and grade functions will not operate the same for TOL students as for traditional school settings within TPS.

If your student is using the web version of MS Teams, they may not ahve access to all of the available features. Please download the desktop version!

There are two ways to do this:
1. go to the company portal in the Windows search bar, search teams, click install

2. from the web version of Teams, find the 3 dots at the top right by student account, click Get Desktop Version

Downloading and installing can take some time. Please reach out if you have any trouble. See the video below for more help.

TOL students may access clubs through Parks Tacoma at neighborhood buildings.

Parks Tacoma offers Beyond the Bell and Club B for TOL students in person in their neighborhood buildings. Sometimes, we will have TOL only online clubs. Click the button below to learn more about offerings in each building.

Twice a month TOL partners with the Toolbox Laboratory to provide an open makerspace and crafting area for TOL students. THis is a family friendly space. Meetups here are not drop off; families must stay with their students. Typically the will host TOL from 1:00-3:00 on the first Friday and third Thursday of each month. Stay tuned in for calendar updates for any changes.

They are located at 309 Puyallup Ave near the Tacoma Dome. Parking is 2 hour on the street or in the Tacoma Dome park and ride.

TPS students in grades 3-12 can access free tutoring through our Pathway Partnership with Tacoma Public Library. Tutoring services are available every day from 11a.m. to midnight. on the Tacoma Library website.

Students can get live homework help, skills building and writing workshops.

Students and staff can register for all Tacoma Public Library resources using their student/employee ID. Get more information here: Online Tutoring Support - Tacoma Public Schools