Education Services Agreements
Partnerships With Schools
VVS partners with schools in other Alberta school jurisdictions (or Alberta Accredited International Schools, AAIS), as well as Private, Charter, Francophone and Out of Province schools to provide distance education to their students through Education Services Agreements (ESA).
ESAs are required as per the Funding Manual for School Authorities in order for VVS to provide services to students who are not included in the Pembina Hills enrollment.
ESAs provide a solution to gaps in programming while allowing partner schools to retain authority and responsibility over their students.
For more information about the purpose, cost, funding implications and set-up of an ESA, please visit the Pembina Hills School Division Education Services Agreements webpage.
Enrollment Deadline Information
2022/23
Grades 1-9 ESA student enrollment is open from August 22, 2022 to January 27, 2023.
Grades 10-12 ESA student enrollment is open from
– August 22, 2022 to April 6, 2023 for 3- & 5-credit courses.
– August 22, 2022 to April 30, 2023 for 1-credit courses.
Registration Information
ESA’s submitted by Alberta Public, Separate or Francophone schools must be submitted by their division and signed by their division
Once VVS has a signed Division ESA, schools within your division can request to be set up as a New Affiliation.
Each school will have their own affiliation account, at which point, contact information for four roles must be provided: a Distance Education Contact, Exam Supervisor, Finance User and Super User. Your school’s designated Super User(s) will then be able to register students directly in VVS SIS (ESA student applications are not submitted through the website application form. SIS How-To documents are found on the SIS Dashboard). For a breakdown of expectations of the four roles listed above, please review the ESA Roles and Responsibilities document.
At the time of registration, Affiliation Schools must provide VVS with any Inclusive Education Information and/or documentation to ensure we are meeting the needs of each student (ie. Current Instructional Support Plans (ISP), Psychological/Psycho-Educational Assessments and/or Medical Assessments).
Course Information
Course & Format: Visit our Course Catalogue for a full list of our course offerings.
– Grades 1-6 course are print-based with some online courses
– Grades 7-9 courses are online or print-based (online recommended)
– Grades 10-12 courses are online
Course Selection: Our team can assist partner schools with placing a student in the appropriate grade level or course. Give us a call at 1-855-974-5333 x5317 or email vvsupport@pembinahills.ca.
Personalized Learning Program: We offer a differentiated, adapted and/or modified personalized learning program for grade 1-9 students who are unable to achieve success in regular programming. See our Personalized Learning page for more information.
Exam Information
As previously mentioned, affiliation schools must provide contact information for an Exam Supervisor. Exam Supervisors are expected to:
– Administer course exams according to the instructions provided by the VVS teacher.
– Take responsibility of all processes associated with writing Alberta Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs) and Diploma Exams, including student registration and supervision.
– Prepare, in advance, to meet the requirements for exams (ensure readiness of software, hardware, and passwords).
– Know and communicate exam timelines and schedules to students.
– Keep exams secure before and after writing.
Materials & Fees Information
Grade 1-9 Fees: $650/per course.
Grade 10-12 Fees: Per the fees outlined in the ESA, affiliation schools are charged $130 per credit (AAIS schools are charged $200/credit).
Materials Fees: Course fees do not cover the cost of textbooks, materials or other required supplies and is the responsibility of the affiliation school to provide. Materials may be purchased from VVS (cost is adjusted for used textbooks; all materials purchased are final sale and not refundable); see the Course Catalogue for pricing.
Shipping Fees: Affiliations located in the Calgary region can schedule an appointment to pick up materials from the VVS Calgary campus or pay a $15 flat rate shipping fee. Those residing outside of Calgary but within Alberta will have materials shipped to them at no cost. Out-of-province partner schools are responsible for shipping fees.*
Extension Fees: A three-month extension is available for $100/course. Please note that courses cannot go beyond the June 15 end date. Please note that extensions requested after March 15 (less than three months before June 15) will still be subject to the full $100 fee.
Refunds: Our refund policy can be found on our Policies webpage in the Refunds for Education Services Agreement Enrollments section.
Course Procedure Information
Course Timelines: ESA students have three months to complete 1-credit courses and six months to complete 3- or 5-credit courses. All 2022/23 courses must be completed by June 15, 2023 and final exams completed by June 22, 2023.
– Note: ESA courses are not semester based.
Reporting to Alberta Education: When a student reaches the midway point of the term, or has completed 50% of their course, we report student learning and achievement to Alberta Education. Applicable to Grade 10-12 students only.
Finalizations at End of Term: Once a student has completed 50% of their course work, their course will be finalized at the end of the term, regardless of how much more of the course the student completes. Applicable to Grade 10-12 students only.
Withdrawals: ESA students must contact their school to request to be withdrawn from a course and any refund will be issued according to our Refund Policy.
SCHOOLS: Click here to sign up!
Have questions?
Give us a call at 1-855-974-5333 x5317 or email vvsupport@pembinahills.ca
Click here to view a summary of the Roles and Responsibilities of Affiliation Schools and VVS.
We have highlighted important dates for ESA students and affiliations below:
August 22 – Partner schools can begin registering their students for 2022/23 courses*
January 27 – Deadline for grades 1-9 ESA registrations
April 6 – Course request/withdrawal deadline for 3- & 5-credit courses
April 30 – Course request/withdrawal deadline for 1-credit courses
June 15 – Deadline to complete all assignments*
June 22 – Deadline to complete all exams*
*Unless otherwise arranged with the VVS teacher or as noted on the course timeline.
Important note! There are different deadlines and important dates for different student types at our school. Students should always refer to their course timeline(s) and ask their VVS teacher if they have questions.
All important dates can also be found on the Calendar page of our website (PDF version also available).
*An active Education Services Agreement (ESA) is required for partner schools to be able to enrol ESA students with VVS.
Vista Virtual School is pleased to be working with so many school partners in an Education Services Agreement. Recently, we have received several questions and requests that we hope the following Q&A will help with.
Please read carefully as many of the answers you seek will be here.
Why do we require a school enrollment in PASI for our school if we are enrolling through an ESA?
Without the appropriate primary school enrollment, Vista Virtual School would end up as the Responsible School in PASI by default. The ESA school (partner school) should be the Responsible School in PASI to ensure appropriate funding is received by them.
Provincial Approach to Student Information (PASI) system (Alberta Education)
We had a school enrollment last year for the student and it didn’t rollover, any suggestions?
Primary school enrollments need to be entered by the primary school. VVS can only enter enrollments into PASI for the courses that your school registers with us at the beginning of each year.
Please contact Alberta Education Student Enrollments and Marks at Studentrecords@gov.ab.ca or (780) 422-9337 with questions regarding your school enrollments.
How do we enter our own school enrolment in PASI?
PASI has instructions here
You may also contact Alberta Education Student Enrollments and Marks at Studentrecords@gov.ab.ca or (780) 422-9337.
Why are our school enrolments in their system not flowing to PASI?
PASI is an Alberta Education managed student information system, and questions about this system are best asked of their Student Enrollments and Marks support team at Studentrecords@gov.ab.ca or (780) 422-9337.
Why do we need to sign a prerequisite waiver form when the student already completed the course with our school and the final grade appears in our system
Alberta Education’s PASI tracks prerequisites required for courses, and will not permit course finalizations without a prerequisite course or a waiver completion. Alberta Education’s preferred process for the waiver is that the principals declare the student has met prerequisite requirements, and the registering schools can do so by completing the waiver form as VVS has no first hand knowledge of this. Once we receive the form, we can submit this in PASI.