EPGY is surveying the SSA's this year regarding our groups. If you participate or plan to participate in EPGY OE with my group please give me your feedback.

Additional service offerings that you would find desirable:
Direct access to EPGY technical support
Ability to add tutorial services as needed
Social networking site monitored by EPGY instructors
None of the above

Which time ranges for course access are most desirable to your parent group?
3 months
5 months (current option)
6 months
10 (current option)
12 months

SSA?

School Support Associate

http://epgy.stanford.edu/school/openenroll/info
Students in School Open Enrollment are supported in their coursework by their parents, who assume the role of a tutor. The course software continually assesses student progress and provides extensive reporting tools to assist parents in monitoring the progress of their children. Parents can quickly and easily identify areas of challenge and assist their children accordingly. Technical support for the courses is available primarily through the School Support Associate, who is trained by EPGY staff and acts as a liaison with EPGY. There are also a range of self-help guides and tutorials available on the School Open Enrollment website. School Open Enrollment works most effectively when parents are actively monitoring their children’s coursework and maintain a close working relationship with their School Support Associate (SSA). More information on support can be found here.

EPGY?

EPGY


(I've run a group open to members of this board and The Well Trained Mind for the last few years. :))

I would love to understand all the constructs and infrastructure underlying this question. As a parent who has been using EPGY (just for math) for a little over six months, I still find EPGY somewhat mysterious. I gather from the question and followups above that there are parent groups in something called open enrollment (presumptively "OE") who have access to something called School Support Associates ("SSA"s, I gather--thanks, Bostonian!). I have been paying at least some attention to discussions of EPGY on this site and it seems most of them have to do with whether one can form a parent group online to benefit from enrollment deals/discounts and how it compares to other (usually math) programs. So this question seems to assume a level of familiarity with EPGY that I don't think most people here have--but if they do, I would love to be brought up to speed, because I have been trying to understand what is offered in case we end up homeschooling in the next couple of years.

I have been a group leader and SSA for an online group for EPGY for the last few years. It has always been, and will continue to be open to anyone who wants to enroll from the Davidson Forum and The Well Trained Mind. I am not here as often, I now homeschool my all my children so much of the discussion regarding PS situations is no longer relevant to my situation. I try to post to update others about it each year and many people find me on the WTM after searching old posts here regarding EPGY.

Years ago a group of us got together when EPGY was first started the OE (Open Enrollment Program)so that we could enroll our children. I took the training from EPGY, and became the SSA for the group. EPGY OE offers the same math and language arts program that is offered in the individual program with the parent acting as the tutor/teacher and an SSA acting as a liason with EPGY. The OE program is a significant cost saving (currently it is $135 for 10 months of access to both program, math K-Intro to Algebra and LAW 2-6)for those with younger children that would not have the need the tutor or the certificate of completion offered in the individual program. I have continued to accept students since that time. This year EPGY sent out a survey requesting input from the families involved in the OE program, that is the point of the post, looking for input.

Parents who wish to enroll a student have been asked PM me here, or on the WTM under the same username, supply the parent full name, student last name, and an email address that I can contact you at and I will forward the registration information to you. As before, students of parents active on this forum and on WTM are given priority over those who just happen across these posts while searching online. You can also search on the EPGY OE site to see if a group already exists for your area. HTH. To date our group has brought this program to over 300 students.

You have had 300 students through your group! I had no idea it was so many. Thanks again for organizing it.

3 of the 300 are mine. We've been pretty happy with it, having tried a number of other options (Khan, IXL, Aleks). I am talking about K-7 Math -- our guys haven't gotten to the Algebra yet and Language Arts ... well, let's just say that is much harder to teach with software.

To answer your questions:

1. The current time options are fine with me. We are long term users, so will pick whatever is the least $/month.

2. I wouldn't mind the ability to adjust the software settings (session length, "gifted settings") without bugging the SSA.

3. It would be nice if they made logging in and out easier for situations where different kids use the same computer. A user name and a password one could change, for instance, and not needing to go to one specific screen to have the account switch actually work.

4. I personally wouldn't use the tutoring, but I know others that might.

5. The social networking seems like a bad idea to me, or at minimum something that should be easy to turn off.

6. One thing to absolutely keep is the lack of "game-ification." Getting a question wrong is no big deal in the current software -- making it into a big deal is counterproductive with many kids.

7. It would be nice if they could provide a little more transparency into how the software decides to serve up what questions. I noticed one child was getting a few questions that were harder at level 5.2 than my other child (at 5.7) had ever gotten. Does it bring in enrichment questions when a child is doing especially well on something? Is the idea that this might be used by schools and kids might not be allowed to go beyond grade level, so sneak in some harder material when you can?

Thanks uppervalley and those who PM'd thoughts on the survey. They have now been submitted to EPGY. I will be interested to see what changes they may bring to the program in the future.

Hi melmichigan,

I'm new here, but I've been reading the forum for a while and I remembered you mentioned you have a group for EPGY? I'd like to do open enrollment -- not sure if I've missed a deadline?

My son (almost 7) has already taken Accelerated 2nd Grade math (thru CTY) this summer, and with us transitioning to homeschool from public school this month, I'd love for him to take a few more courses in math, and also try out the LAW courses.

Please let me know if it's not too late, and if not, what I need to do. Thank you!

- Thestr0ng1

I like the 10 month option. I have chosen the 5 month option before and that one goes by so quickly, it seems pointless.

I don't care about the tutorial services, but access to technical support would be good!

My dds have gotten a lot out of EPGY. It gives me some sense of relief too knowing that if we don't do what I have planned for that day/week/month, if they only work on EPGY, they are getting something worthwhile.