FAQ

We encourage all families residing in Northern California and interested in the Online Program to apply!   However, John Adams Academy can only enroll students in the Online Program in compliance with the law.

The Academy may only enroll scholars in the Online Program who reside within the county in which the Academy campus is located, or who reside within a neighboring (adjacent) county.

• Residents of the following counties are eligible to apply for the Lincoln and Roseville Online Program: Placer, Nevada, Sutter, Yuba, Sacramento, and El Dorado Counties.
• Residents of the following counties are eligible to apply for the El Dorado Hills Online Program: El Dorado, Sacramento, Placer, Amador, and Alpine Counties.

The application only seeks basic contact information to facilitate the lottery and confirm the scholar lives in a county where the Online Program is available.  We do not ask for a scholar's transcripts, or if the scholar receives special education services, or any other academic information in the application to participate in the lottery or as a condition of enrollment.

John Adams Academy desires to serve all scholars subject to legal requirements and capacity.  Please note, that California Education Code does not allow scholars with exceptional needs/disabilities to participate in independent study unless their IEP specifically provides for participation in an independent study.  We encourage all families, including families with scholars with exceptional needs, to consider and apply to the Online Program if they believe this program will benefit their scholars.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Jessica Sprinkles, Director of Scholar Services at [email protected] so that we may further assist you.

The Academy begins accepting applications for the Online program in January for the upcoming school year through our enrollment system "SchoolMint". Applications received between January 9^th and February10th will be used to determine if a lottery is needed in a particular grade within each campus' Online program. Applicants who apply after Feb 10 will automatically go on a waitlist after the lottery is finished. The lottery will determine not only who gets an offer, but also the waitlist number for those who do not get an offer.  If the grade does not need a lottery because it has a waitlist, new scholars applying will go directly on that existing waitlist. Additional information about lotteries will be emailed to those who have applied to John Adams Academy-Online.  

The grade levels served Online match the grade levels offered at each campus' in-person program.

• •       JAA- El Dorado Hills- Online, TK-12
  •       JAA- Lincoln-Online, TK-12
  •       JAA-Roseville-Online, TK-12

If you as a parent/guardian/family, have the time and desire to be a more active participant and mentor to your scholar(s), and your scholar can thrive in a more self-paced environment, then the online program may be a good fit.

• Consistent family involvement and support.
• A family that sees education as a top priority. 
• Consistent structure at home.
• An inspiring, tidy, quiet work environment.
• Daily follow up by parents/guardians to check a scholar (s) work and understanding of daily lessons. 

Scholars will participate in daily instruction, both recorded and live, for each subject, which will typically take place in the morning. Small group instruction will also be made available. Time spent on schoolwork, both synchronous (live with teaching staff) and asynchronous (independent) will mirror instructional time in an in-person classroom. However, scholars work at different paces so some independent work might take scholars longer or shorter than the average. Below are the approximate times per grade.

ELEMENTARY (TK-6)

TK-Kinder: 2.5 hours a day of core instruction/practice, this time does not include independent/parent reading or structured and unstructured play which is a critical component of a child’s development. 

1st Grade - 2nd Grade: 4 hours a day of core instruction/practice, this time does not include independent/parent reading or structured and unstructured play which is a critical component of a child’s development.  

3rd Grade - 6th Grade: 5 hours a day of core instruction/practice, this time does not include independent reading or structured and unstructured play which is a critical component of a child’s development.  

SECONDARY (7-12)

7th Grade - 9th Grade: 6 hours a day of core instruction/practice, this time does not include independent reading or structured and unstructured opportunities to develop passions and talents outside of school which is a critical component of a child’s development.  

10th Grade - 12th Grade: 7- 8 hours a day of core instruction/practice, depending on what courses a scholar is enrolled in. This time does not include independent reading or structured and unstructured opportunities to develop passions and talents outside of school which is a critical component of a child’s development.  

Yes, all of our core high school courses are approved through the University of California. To view the entire A-G course list please visit:  https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist

The Online Program is a fully online independent study program, and therefore scholars enrolled in the Online Program are generally not required to meet California immunization requirements in order to enroll. 

However, Online Program scholars must meet the California immunization requirements in order to participate in any of the optional in-person enrichment activities or sports. 

If a scholar who is currently enrolled in an Academy in-person program is offered a seat to the online program and is enrolled in the online program, then they are withdrawn from the in-person program and that seat is offered to the next person on the waitlist seeking to enroll into the in-person program. Applications to the online program are subject to lotteries and seats are offered based on capacity.