Home | Middle & High School Instruction (Grades 6–12) | Synchronous Instruction, Grades 6–12

Synchronous Instruction, Grades 6–12

Synchronous instruction diagram: Live instruction is delivered to all students. A mentor is present, and each student interacts with the VVA instructor individually

For synchronous instruction of VVA courses in a school setting, live instruction is delivered to all students simultaneously. Each student interacts with the VVA instructor individually, and a mentor is present to support students and interact with the VVA instructor as needed.

Select Enrollment

Students Choose Courses and Instructional Times

Virtual Virginia’s Select enrollment options allow students in grades 6–12 to choose not only their VVA courses, but also the meeting times for their daily synchronous instruction. Select enrollment supports part-time and full-time online learning needs across the Commonwealth.

2024–2025 Select Schedules

View the complete 2024–2025 Select schedules for courses and available instructional times by following the links below (via Google Sheets):

2023–2024 Select Schedules

View the complete 2023–2024 Select schedules for courses and available instructional times by following the links below (via Google Sheets):

Note: You may download the Select schedules linked above to your computer. In each document, click File, then Download, and then the file type you want. Please note that the Select schedules are subject to change, so you should always consult the links above for the most accurate, up-to-date information.

Teenager taking notes while using a laptop

Select enrollment allows a full-time student to create a personalized schedule of courses from VVA’s catalog and allows a part-time, in-person student to enroll in one or more courses at times that align with their daily schedule at the local school. Additionally, school divisions facing teacher shortage areas can use Select enrollment to ensure their students have live access to Virginia-certified educators during the school day.

Note that for most courses, each time-based section requires a minimum of 40 enrollments. If a course section doesn’t meet this minimum, then any students enrolled in that section will be offered their next choice of time-based section. Courses with typically lower enrollments may have fewer time-based sections, and in some limited cases, there will be only one time-based section available.

Students are expected to attend all synchronous sessions for the time-based section in which they enroll. However, synchronous sessions are recorded, and recordings are posted in the Virtual Virginia courses. All students are responsible for the content presented during the synchronous sessions.

Asynchronous Option

Virtual Virginia acknowledges that not all students in grades 6–12 may be able to attend scheduled synchronous sessions during the academic year. Therefore, VVA offers an asynchronous option for students in grades 6–12 who need increased flexibility in their schedules. Designated school counselors and division/school coordinators may request an exception to attending synchronous sessions for students in good standing. For more information, see Asynchronous Instruction, Grades 6–12.

More About Secondary Instruction

Virtual Virginia promotes meaningful interactions between K–12 learners and instructors through time-based or task/product-based measures of attendance. A meaningful interaction is defined as two-way engagement with a student and staff that allows some sort of feedback or input from the student on successes and challenges.

For secondary students (grades 6–12), interactions with teachers or appropriate school staff are structured to support daily engagement through a variety of formats, including daily synchronous instruction sessions, synchronous 1:1 instruction, email communications, assignment feedback, and engagement in a course discussion board, in addition to logging in to the VVA learning management system.