Mesa Distance Learning Program

1025 North Country Club Drive

School District

Mesa Unified
Grade

K-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:36
Type

public

School Map for Mesa Unified School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by student on November 22, 2024

How Is this school legal? Teachers take 5 days to answer/grade assignments. Only thing you get is course getting dropped left and right.
Submitted by student on October 13, 2024

They need to re-do this entire program. Not only is the website outdated, no accessible for children with different needs, and hard to use. The teachers who teach the courses are very hit or miss. My math teacher was wonderful, graded quickly and gave awesome feedback and helpful tips. However I had another teacher who took two-three days to grade a single assignment. Often leaving me to fall behind as I could not access the other assignments until the previous was graded. The grading system was often unclear and most teachers on the sight are also teachers at other Mesa High schools, this means they are unlikely to be grading during school hours. If you're thinking about doing an online summer school class, I would recommend just taking the class with in person summer school. Don't waste your mental energy! Thank you.
Submitted by other on October 02, 2024

Mesa Distance Learning (now Mesa Digital Learning) is a great online option for students to pick up an extra course if they need to fill credits or as a full-time option if in-person school isn't the best fit. Unlike some other online experiences, MDLP focuses on real feedback from certified teachers which is personalized to each student's strengths and needs. The retake, revise, and redo philosophy is paramount to student success in this program. Teachers skillfully guide students toward mastery and competency. Unlike my experience in a classroom, students don't get to skip assignments or move forward with low grades. They stop and take the time to really learn in each lesson. By the time students get to the final exam, they know what they need to know. Because of the personalized teacher approach, students who are excelling can receive enrichment and alternate ways to demonstrate learning, all still adhering to state standards, keeping them engaged and interested in the coursework. MDLP also has credit recovery options for students who have taken and not passed a course before. This credit recovery model allows students to test out of modules, thereby targeting the learning to the student's individual needs. Finally, MDLP offers some honors courses with an Honors Contract/Project model, as seen at some colleges. All in all, students of many backgrounds make a good selection and receive great support for success when they choose MDLP.
Submitted by teacher on October 02, 2024

After 12 years in the classroom, I moved over to writing courses and teaching for MDLP. This is about to be my 15th year of teaching, and online is my favorite mode of teaching and learning. I think it is a great model for students to be able to take a self-directed pace and get one-on-one, customized assistance and feedback daily through the messagebox. Some students have trouble with online learning. Often, this trouble can be reduced by putting in the same time and effort they would put into a course in the classroom. Nine out of ten students who make their way through a course with me show mastery of the material on all or most assignments, as well as the final exam. I'm very proud to work with students in this asynchronous model!
Submitted by principal on September 30, 2024

MDLP is a reputable online program that requires student to be independent, self motivated learners. It teaches students the value of hard work, effective communication, and critical thinking, amongst many other essential skills and attitudes. MDLP teachers truly care for their students, which is evident in their timely grading, effective feedback, and personalized messages. Year to year, data shows that students enrolled in MDLP successfully complete courses with passing grades. The program has supported students from all walks of life with all abilities. It is an asset to the district and to the families who value rigorous and relevant digital learning.
Submitted by parent on September 29, 2024

My son in currently enrolled. He is passing the only option at this school is to redo assignments over and over until you get it right. Which yes it's nice to see all good grades but it puts you behind and impossible to catch up. There are no days off. Due dates for assignments often fall on Saturday and Sundays. If you have plans on the weekend with your family and your child does not meet there due Date you are not late and will only accept if it's a passing grade. It's a horrible cycle and mentally is not okay to put a child through. I will be contacting school.
Submitted by other on August 05, 2024

I was the instructor for a course with MDLP. While I believe in the value of distance learning, this program is not an effective distance learning program and I would never enroll my child here. The course I taught was very reading heavy with NO support and accommodations for special education students. The online platform they use is outdated and difficult for students and parents to use. It also does not have any accessibility features that other online school platforms have, like text-to-speech or audio recording instead of text responses. EVERYTHING is reading based, at a high reading level, except for the occasional embedded PowerPoint. There are some links to videos, but so many of the courses are outdated that the links are often 404s.The time requirement of students is unbelievable, and all students have to revise most of their assignments, sometimes multiple times, before getting credit for their work. This isn't a reflection of the quality of the student's work. Teachers do not have answer keys or points of reference for any of the work in the courses, but they are expected to grade rigorously and return student work for revision. I asked for answer keys and I was told explicitly by the program administration to guess. This means that, even if the teacher doesn't know whether your student's work meets the expectations or not, they will ask them to do additional work on the assignment before moving on to the next assignment. In my short time with MDLP, I saw students who either received 100% on every assignment based only on completion , OR I saw students being graded so harshly that they were discouraged and gave up. Only a few (3-4 total in one semester) students actually completed and passed the course. Most students enrolled, started the course, put in a lot of work, and then dropped the course. I see other reviews on here from students who felt like their instructors didn't have the skills to help - YOU WERE RIGHT! They didn't! While the instructors care about the students' success, there is little they can do with no content knowledge and no support. Mesa Public Schools has a promise to serve every student by strength and need, and MDLP fails to meet that promise.
Submitted by parent on August 04, 2017

It did what we needed it for us to do. My son experienced high anxiety in 8th grade at an above average Mesa public school and though he got good grades the pressure was too much. He enrolled asca full time 9th grade student, the classes were challenging and he definitely earned his grades, As and Bs. It took us about a month to get used to technology. I would recommend it for a year but not 3 or 4. He us going back to high school in 10th grade and all of his grades transferred perfectly.
Submitted by parent on May 11, 2017

I have been happy with the courses my daughter has taken online. These are not easy classes. My daughter has definitely been challenged to work hard and increase her independent study habits. Her teachers were very responsive and graded assignments in a very timely manner.
Submitted by parent on March 04, 2017

My son's counselor recommended this program. I exercised due diligence by reviewing the ratings on this greatschools website. I am sooooo glad I chose to enroll my son in mdlp in spite of a few negative posts here. My son's experience was fantastic. He did have to work hard but he felt that he earned his grade. The teacher was supportive and gently pushed my son to excel beyond any minimum expectation. Online programs seem to be associated with easy school credits with minimal effort. Perhaps some of the posters here were looking for that. I recall one parent poster complaining that his/her child was busted for "accidental" cheating. That meant to me that this school takes academic integrity seriously, and it was actually one of the reasons I was comfortable enrolling my son. I care too much about my son's academic future and his personal work ethic to permit an easy option.
Submitted by parent on March 03, 2017

My child was able to complete high school at 16, receive scholarships to college and finish a bachelor's degree by age 20 partly because of this program.
Submitted by parent on October 01, 2016

The errors in the Chemistry course are too many and many lessons had a weak explanation. you are expected to figure out some of the concepts on your own (which doesn't make sense since you are in the class to learn them). Some of the video lessons directly contradict the written lesson. It was beyond frustrating. I had to hire a tutor to teach the concepts so I could pass the class. The teacher feedback was weak at best. When I asked for an explanation, she was not able to give a precise answer. It was almost like she was an administrator for the class not a chemistry teacher. An excellent grade is attainable but plan to figure out the lessons on your own. We had the advantage of having a chemistry book at home and a chemistry tutor to learn the concepts. Without that it would have been a disaster.
Submitted by parent on June 10, 2016

Used the class to help free up time for my student to take another class at school and because the teacher who taught this class at the school I did not like having had her for a previous child. My child had a very negative experience. Was accused of academic misconduct and cheating.The first time it was looked into and it was proven that it was a computer glitch, it was fixed but no apology was given to my student even after receiving a very detailed email about the consequences of academic misconduct and being labeled a cheater. They give a mark of C for copy plagiarized and an F if pages were left up accidentally. And that is fine because you were told to make sure they are all closed, so you do deserve that. But to label all kids as cheaters not good for students well-being because sometimes and I would assume a lot of times that is the problem, the pages are accidentally left up and not used For cheating. There needs to be a better way to label that. My child from that point was disheartened by the online class because she felt she was labeled a cheater even though it was proven that she wasn't. But again no apology nothing they just said it was a computer glitch. She will never she told me use the online classes again because of how the made her feel. she has always been an A-B student, is a member of the National Honor Society, and holds several positions of honor at her school, takes honors and advanced classes, she has absolutely no reason to cheat, but because of an innocent accident she made, that's how they labeled her. It was a demeaning and insulting horrible experience for her.
Submitted by student on April 27, 2015

I dual-enrolled at MDLP and my high school during my junior year. I took two classes online both semesters, and never received any problems. My senior year, I only had four credits left to be able to graduate, so I decided to switch completely to MDLP- this was a terrible mistake. To sum up my experience, it was horrible. I felt like the teachers were incredibly disrespectful to me and honestly didn't care about my progress or my education. They didn't help with instruction and other than reporting my scores on assignments to me, never communicated with me. After I finished the four initial courses that I took in the fall of 2014, I thought I was done- at least that's what they told me when I started them. The day after I took all of my exams, the registrar at MDLP called and told me that I still had another credit before I could graduate, something that I wish they would have told me the first semester. I took a sociology course, which was even worse than my past experiences. The teacher constantly accused me of cheating and I felt very disrespected. Overall, MDLP was a terrible experience. If you're thinking of transferring full-time... don't.
Submitted by other on September 25, 2014

Online schooling can be a very useful tool for students with difficult schedules like myself, but this school does a miserable job at it. Speaking from my experience, the instruction is just a massive block of text with the more-than-occasional typo. Graphics are very poorly utilized, and the teacher did not seem to know much about anything he was doing. There were careless errors all throughout the material, and the only interaction with the teacher is the occasional one sentence message in the mailbox. The communication is with the administration is awful. They can simply just ignore a phone call and never return it. If you're considering online school, I'd suggest finding a better one.
Submitted by other on May 05, 2014

They have a TERRIBLE 'support' team that does everything to put a student down. They have a HUGE communication issue and do NOT help the students get to where they need to be! The staff are extremely rude and disrespectful and are of no help what-so-ever. I know several seniors not graduating because their class 'disappeared' and MDLP has no record of the student ever being enrolled in a class that they started 2 times! NEVER USE MDLP!
Submitted by other on May 02, 2013

This school is the worst school!!! DO NOT SIGN YOUR CHILD UP, TRUST ME BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!!!!!!
Submitted by other on April 22, 2013

I am currently a student in the MDLP program. (for the past year and a half.) I was told that I could dual-enroll, or go to a public school and MDLP at the same time. This was a complete lie. It even says you can on their website. This was frustrating after missing 8 whole credits. If you have a busy life, need special one-on-one help with a teacher for understanding, or you need the extra push to get your work done, this is definatley not the school for you. I asked my math teacher for help once and they sent me to a list of websites, none of which even slightly helped me understand. Or when I need to take a final, and it has to conform to the proctors schedule, which is extremely difficult for me. The only positive thing I can say about this school is that I can hold a full-time job and school at the same time. And goof off when I don't feel like doing school (and lets be honest, not many people want to), fall behind with no obvious repurcussions until I lose a whole school year and can't do anything about it. (Which is where the earlier-mentioned Dual Enrollement failure really upset me.) And now I will be going back to public school a grade behind what I should be.
Submitted by teacher on December 07, 2012

Worst decision ever! After finding out that the local charter school my son had been attending was unaccredited, we decided to pull him out and enroll him in Buena High School through MDLP. Worst decision ever! The entire program is riddled with glitches!! We had SEVERAL problems with the history program. Upon calling MDLP and Buena High School we were provided with the candid response of "Well that's policy." No support was offered or given for the student. All support is aligned with the program. Out of the 4 classes my son is taking we have had 'technical' issues with 3! History is the worst followed by Biology. Although we have encountered several glitches with the Biology program the teacher is willing to at least work with you. He is very responsive to calls. The History department is another story. I will be removing my son at the end of this semester. This program does not have the child's best interest at heart, all they want is money from the state.
Submitted by other on August 14, 2012

i am currently a student with MDLP (though not for much longer) After being signed up and already enrolled in classes, i was told that they did not accept credits from previous online schools [being an online school themselves i find this to be ridiculous] & was told that i would have to make up every credit starting at 9th grade. [I am a 12th grade student] this school was/is a waste of my time. if you were a previous onlie school student and transferring or thinking of transferring to MDLP DONT DO IT. The program is good, yes, but only if you have credits that can be transferred from a public school.