Dallas City Wire

In the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, schools across the country had to scramble to find distance-learning solutions, but with the summer to prepare, many districts have managed to adjust, adopting new tools and methods to continue educating pupils.

At Tipton Durant Middle School, a part of Dallas County Schools, Principal Victoria Calhoun recently addressed parents in a letter discussing the technology they are using to keep students engaged. She wrote that they include Zoom and Google Classroom to enable educators to interact with students and their families, as well as the “rigorous coursework” afforded through the Acellus online learning platform.

Acellus is a program marketed as a learning accelerator and alternative for situations where in-person instruction may not be possible.

"Backed by scientific research, Acellus delivers online instruction, compliant with the latest standards, through high-definition video lessons made more engaging with multimedia and animation," the company website states.

Tipton Durant has been using Acellus since 2019, Calhoun told the Dallas Republic. For the current school year, they were able to switch the entire school to the fully accredited Acellus curriculum.

“Acellus is being used as our primary curriculum,” Calhoun said via email. “Teachers follow the Acellus course syllabus. They also provide instruction and offer special lessons to students.”

Remote-learning students do all their coursework through Acellus, though teachers are still available to assist them and their families, she said.

Calhoun said she is particularly pleased with how Acellus continues to challenge students in a positive way, even those who aren’t in the classroom.

“The rigorous coursework sometimes leads to a productive struggle for students, which in turn allows students to grow academically,” she said.

In addition to Acellus permitting Tipton Durant to continue keeping students on track with their core classes, Calhoun said that it also enables them to offer students more electives than they would otherwise be able to, such as STEM programs. They also make use of Acellus for college and career explorations classes.

“Acellus works for our school because it provides us a rigorous curriculum that will help us engage our students,” Calhoun said. “The curriculum offers great opportunities for students to achieve some level of academic success.”

Yet, Acellus isn’t just for school districts. 

For those struggling with hybrid schedules, or who simply don’t want their children to return to in-person schooling yet, homeschooling may be a viable option. The overwhelming majority of peer-reviewed studies conclude true homeschooling yields some of the best academic and socialization results.

Acellus also offers both the online, fully accredited Acellus Academy and the non-accredited – but less expensive – Power Homeschooling.

A comparison of the two versions by How Do I Homeschool states that the key differences between the programs are accreditation and price. 

Acellus Academy is an online school and has accreditation, whereas Power Homeschool does not. However, the academy option costs $249 a month, compared to $25 per month for Power Homeschool.