Approved Providers
Red Comet
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Website: www.redcomet.org
Email: jay@redcomet.org
Phone: 972 365 0561
Fax: 866 758 9631
Grades Served: 9-12
OSPI Approval
Approved as an Online Course Provider from the 2011-12 through the 2014-15 school year.
Access
Individual Online Course Purchasing Instructions:
Individual courses from Red Comet are available for schools to purchase in the DLD course catalog.
Overview
Red Comet is an online course provider for students in grades 9-12. In March of 2010, Jupiter Education Services, LLC, a certified Minority Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE), purchased the assets of Red Comet (www.redcomet.org) from its previous owners. The present executive management took control of the operations of Red Comet effective May 01, 2010. The new Red Comet program, accredited by NWAC as of January 2011, provides rigorous online education completely aligned to OSPI’s Educational Technology Standards. This program helps students with multiple barriers in completing their high school education. The mission of the company is to ensure that no student should have to drop out of high school due to economic hardship, or due to issues that prevents them from completing the program at their registered high school. Red Comet has the least expensive online program, and offers excellent scholarship program for students in need.
Red Comet offers two categories of courses: core courses, and advanced courses. The core courses help students who are proficient and less-than-proficient in reading. These courses are completely aligned to OSPI’s Educational Technology Standards, and expose the students to rigorous problem-solving and higher-order thinking. Our advanced placement curriculum covers all of the material outlined by the College Board as necessary to prepare students to pass the AP exam.
Our multimedia instructional content motivates and engages students, provides multiple representations of concepts, and addresses different learning styles. The ability to move at their own pace allows students to take as much—or as little—time to master the material.
The Red Comet online curriculum supports success for all students—from those not prepared for grade-level academic challenges to those capable of advanced course work. Districts will successfully use our online curriculum to meet needs ranging from credit recovery to original credit, from building foundational skills to creating opportunities for advanced course work.
Course Offerings
ENGLISH LANGUAGE COURSES:
o English Semester I – Grade 9 Reading Course
o English Semester II – Grade 9 Writing Course
o English Semester I – Grade 10 Reading Course
o English Semester II – Grade 10 Writing Course
o English 11 – Elective Reading Course
MATHEMATICS COURSES:
o INTRODUCTION TO ALGEBRA
o ALGEBRA 1 – GRADE 9
o ALGEBRA 1 – GRADE 10
o GEOMETRY – GRADE 10
o ALGEBRA 2 – GRADE 11
SCIENCE COURSES:
o BIOLOGY – GRADE 8
o PHYSICS – GRADE 10
o Earth and Space Science – Grade 10
o CHEMISTRY – GRADE 10
o BIOLOGY – GRADE 10
SOCIAL STUDIES COURSES:
o WORLD HISTORY – GRADE 10
o US HISTORY – GRADE 11
o ECONOMICS – GRADE 12
o AMERICAN GOVERNMENT – GRADE 12
o Washington State History – Grade 9
o COMTEMPORARY WORLD PROBLEMS – Grade 12
ADVANCED PLACEMENT COURSES:
o Physics B I for AP
o Physics B II for AP
o Environmental Science for AP
o Biology I for AP
o Biology II for AP
o Physics C I for AP
o Physics C II for AP
o U.S. Government and Politics for AP
o US History I for AP
o US History II for AP
o Calculus AB I for AP
o Calculus AB II for AP
o Calculus BC I for AP
o Calculus BC II for AP
Students
Red Comet offers Credit Retrieval and Credit Recovery to students already enrolled in public or private high school, and to home schooled students. Red Comet is not a full-fledged online high school, and does not grant high school diploma. Once a student successfully completes a Red Comet course, the transcript with grades will be mailed to the student’s school registrar so that it can be included in the transcript issues by the school.
Red Comet currently only offers High School level courses (traditionally students in grades 9-12). Students in Middle School may take some courses towards a High School credit.
Instructional Model
Red Comet courses are self-paced. All our content is online, with all support material and external web links provided in the courseware. Each student will be assigned a State Certified teacher, qualified to teach the course, to help and guide the student. Throughout the course, students have to interact asynchronously with the assigned teacher for all course assignments, projects, term papers, essays, etc. Teachers have posted office hours, traditionally 3 hours per week, when they will be online for students to interact synchronously with the teacher and other students taking the same class. Students have to login to the online meeting, during these office hours, to interact with the teacher.
Curriculum Alignments
Red Comet courses are aligned with the Washington State Educational Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs).
Accreditation
Red Comet is accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) link: http://www.northwestaccreditation.org/
Instructor Certification
Students from Washington State are assigned teachers certified by Washington State to teach the appropriate course content. Most of our teachers have advanced degrees and have several years of experience teaching high-school level courses. Teachers assigned to AP courses have several years experience teaching AP classes.
AP Audit
University of California College Prep (UCCP) developed Red Comet’s AP course content. All our AP classes are on the College Board AP Course Ledger – Authorized Courses
https://apcourseaudit.epiconline.org/ledger/school.php
Courseware Platform
Red Comet uses Moodle as its course delivery platform. Students need high-speed internet access to login to our Moodle platform. Once student signs in, all the help required to complete the course is available to the student on the platform.
Parents, School Administrators, and Teachers all have access to Moodle platform to communicate with the student, and to monitor progress and view reports.
Student Performance and Demographics
Teacher-to-student ratio: 1:45
Course completion rate: 91%
Course pass rate: 96%
Student Satisfaction Survey
Average Student Satisfaction:
4.7 (89 responses)
Sample Comments
(Unsatisfied)
12th grade student enrolled full-time. (May 17, 2011)
The program was very unproffesional in terms of the curriculum. It sounded like my all-american apple pie grandmother was shouting at me.
(Somewhat Satisfied)
12th grade student and parent. Student is enrolled a single class. (May 24, 2011)
Redcommit was no hassle and the courses were easy to navigate around. The Course that I took in Washington state History was easy and I thought to complete it way before due's time. The class was no hassle and I enjoyed the lesson plans.
12th grade student enrolled part-time (two or more classes, but not all of a student's classes). (May 10, 2011)