Course Codes
Pearson Connexus has a catalog of more than 700 courses available to K-12 students. When selecting courses for your program out of the Pearson Connexus product catalog, you may find one or a combination of codes (listed below) which correspond to features of the course. If you have any questions, contact Customer Support at 844-597-3224 or your Program or Account Manager for additional information.
Most courses are best facilitated by a devoted teacher (either through Pearson Virtual Schools or by the district) proactively working with students. Core courses and many electives require proactive instruction by the teacher, including teacher-graded assignments and feedback on student work.
(GP) GradPoint Courses
These courses are instructionally-designed to allow “student-driven” progress with autograded assignments. “GP” courses feature flexible pacing and brief, consumable content on the screen to help students stay on track. Districts or partners may provide their own teacher of record, or they may wish to have one provided by Pearson Online and Blended Learning. Either way, teachers provide reactive support, helping students when they need reinforcement or if they “get stuck” on a certain concept.
[M] Mobile-ready Courses
These courses are optimized for use on any device, including a tablet, laptop, desktop, or Chromebook. Courses without this distinction will work on most devices, but the mobile-ready courses are responsively designed to adapt from a large monitor down to a 7” diagonal screen – and are even functional on a mobile phone (although this is not the ideal delivery method for online instruction).
[C] Career Technical Education Courses
The Career Technical Education (CTE) courses offer students real-world workforce skill development. CTE courses encourage students to explore and prepare for careers in finance, marketing, psychology, criminal justice, and more. This designation is for customers on the GradPoint instance only.
Instructional Services
Courses are available with Certified Online Teaching (COT) if that level of support is part of your implementation. For more information about Course Teacher Types, please refer to the Teacher Types Guide.
Note: Course titles will no longer display (Offers Instructional Services). The teacher types available to you based on your contract should be the only types that appear in course copy menus. Consult the course sheets provided to your program for more information. If you have any questions, please reach out to your program manager.
Courses with A/B Distinctions (One and Two Semester Courses)
Some courses are designed to be one semester stand-alone courses, while others are intended to be a two semester (full school year) course offering. The A/B distinction indicates the recommended sequence for a two semester course. Courses with no A/B after the name indicates a one semester course.
Note: Below are recommendations, but in all cases, courses may be offered in the manner the district sees fit.
For high school courses with an A or B after the name, the course has a first half and a second half offered most often as a two-semester course during a full school year.
In K-8, all (CL) courses are intended to be year-long two semester courses and have an A/B designation, with the exception of the courses listed below. These semester long courses can be delivered across a semester or a school year based on the district’s pacing. Note: In Grades 6-8, (GP) courses are intended to be full-year courses.
- Art
- Music
- Educational Technology
- Chinese
- Spanish
- Physical Education
- Home Life
- Sign Language
- Web Quest
Course Catalog Options
“Course Catalog” refers to the list of courses that your school or district will use, and it is a subset of the “National or State Catalog” that we offer. The information provided below is designed to help you understand some important information about catalog structure and course names:
The National and State Catalogs
Programs in all states* except FL, TX, MD, VA, NV, WY, GA, NC receive the National Catalog, which is called PCx-1-National.
Programs using the National Catalog will also receive a State Catalog (where applicable) to complement the National Catalog:
- PCx-2-CA-State Content (California example)
Important: If a State Catalog exists, you should use the courses from the State Catalog instead of the courses with the same name in the National Catalog. For example, if you see Social Studies 4-Ohio and Social Studies 4, you should select the course in your state. In this example, all state Social Studies courses are standalone and you do not need to assign the regular course as well.
Course Names
Course names are designed to give customers and users information about the course. We have made some important updates this year to the way we show course names in the system in an effort to provide important information at a glance.
Some course names are presented in the following format:
- Course Name, (Publisher), (Source/Style), State, Version Date, Materials Rule
- Example: AP Biology B (CL), 5.18, D
Some course names are presented in the following format:
- Course Name, Version Date (month.year), State.
- Ex: Biology A, 7.23
- Biology A, 7.23, TN
Note: We do not recommend changing the name of a course. You are able to add to the end of an existing course name. For example: AP Biology B (CL), 5.18, D (Mr. Smith)
What does this information tell you?
- Name: This is simply the course name (ex. AP Biology B)
-
Publisher: Courses with this designation originate from the Pearson
Virtual Schools family: (CL) for Connections Learning, (GP) for GradPoint, and
(AAI) for ROADS. -
Source/Style: Some courses have special designations to tell you how they may be applied:
(C) for Career/Technical Education (CTE) course, and (M) for Mobile-ready courses. - State: If the course is a “state-specific” course, the state abbreviation will be here.
-
Version: This new indicator tells you the publishing month and year of the course (for new
courses only). For example, 5.18 indicates a May 2018 publish date. -
Materials Rule: This letter (P, D, or N) indicates whether or not a course utilizes materials
(workbooks or similar) and whether they are physical or digital materials. P means the course
has physical materials associated with it (a shipping address will be required for students), D
means a course has materials that are delivered digitally, and N means a course has no
materials. If they do not have an indication, there are no physical materials associated with
the course.
Course Pathways
There are three types of course pathways for GP (GradPoint) courses that determine how a student interacts with and navigates through courses in Pearson Connexus:
Sequential - These courses guide students through all elements of the lessons and require students to master content before moving forward. Core Courses (e.g. math, language arts, and science) are delivered sequentially.
Flex - These courses allow students to self-direct their learning and move through the material in any order. Flex courses are ideal for self-paced remediation and scenarios in which teachers supplement online lessons with courses they teach in a blended learning environment.
Prescriptive - These courses require students to begin a full-length course with a Pre-test to check for mastery of each objective in that module, before moving through the lessons in a prescribed format based on pre-test results. Credit Recovery courses use a flex or prescriptive pathway. Note: If a course is available in multiple pathways, the pathway type is included in the course title, e.g. Biology A (Flex).
Course Levels
Pearson Connexus offers the widest range of content for K–12 learners with hundreds of proven, standards-based, online courses at a variety of course levels.
Core Courses - Core courses are standards-based curriculum in which students work independently and sequentially through the lessons, guided by both system and teacher-generated feedback and grading. Teachers monitor student performance and differentiate instruction to support student learning. Core courses are ideal for first-time instruction, situations in which time spent in the course is important, and for the fulfillment of NCAA eligibility.
Foundations Courses* - Foundations courses are standards-based courses that give students greater support on core concepts through additional practice and review opportunities. In addition to 9-12 Foundations courses, Essential Math courses are offered in grades 3-8 to provide students with more support in prerequisite math concepts and skills.
*Note: Foundations courses will not be available starting in the 2023-2024 academic year. Foundations courses are not NCAA eligible.
Credit Recovery Courses* - Credit recovery courses are standards-based courses that support students’ mastery of essential objectives and the recovery of required credits. Students begin each full-length credit recovery course with a pre-test to check for mastery of previously presented skills and objectives. Based on pre-test results, students then proceed to a personalized, prescriptive lesson pathway. Teachers monitor students’ progress through the student-directed courses, which require little to no teacher feedback or grading.
*Note: Not all Credit Recovery courses are NCAA eligible. Refer to the NCAA course list for a complete listing of NCAA eligible course offerings.
Advanced Courses - Advanced courses refer to Advanced Placement (AP®), Honors, and the Gifted and Talented curriculum. AP courses include college level work to help students prepare for the Advanced Placement exam and earn college credit in high school. Honors courses in grades 9-12 provide students with rigorous assignments for enrichment and honors credits. Teachers engage students in discussion and facilitate independent exploratory projects. Gifted and Talented courses in grades 3-8 provide students with above grade-level content, project-based portfolios, and assignments with increased cognitive rigor.
Elective Courses - Elective courses are sequential standards-based courses that provide opportunities for students to extend their learning in areas of interest or focus. Elective offerings span multiple subject areas such as the arts, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, world languages, and Career & Technical Education (CTE), which may focus on a variety of career clusters and/or pathways.
AP® is a trademark registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the
production of, and does not endorse, this product.
Note: Course lists are subject to change. Course offerings may differ by state based on state standards, requirements, and course approval process.