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Virtual classes attract students

May 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

SOUTH HADLEY – Students today have learning options that were undreamed of even a generation ago.

Among these is the on-site Virtual High School (VHS), a school-within-a-school that operates online.

At a recent School Committee meeting, high school Principal Daniel T. Smith updated the board on enrollment and grades in the virtual high school.

South Hadley High School has about 700 students, of whom 62 were approved to take virtual school courses this year.

The virtual school should not be confused with the Virtual Academy at Greenfield, an online school that opened in 2010 to serve kindergarten through 8th grade.

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Virtual High School going strong at South Hadley High

May 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

SOUTH HADLEY – Students today have learning options that were undreamed of even a generation ago.

Among these is the on-site Virtual High School (VHS), a school-within-a school that operates online.

At a recent South Hadley School Committee meeting, high school principal Daniel T. Smith updated the group on enrollment and grades in the Virtual High School at South Hadley High.

South Hadley High has about 700 students, of whom 62 were approved to take virtual school courses this year.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual High School going strong at South Hadley High

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Virtual and traditional ed mix well

May 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In the coverage of the academic options being considered by area schools, many of the comments imply that full-time virtual schools and traditional brick and mortar schools are the only available choices.

In fact, 183 schools systems in Massachusetts, including Amherst, South Hadley and Ware, offer their students the best of both worlds. They do this through a membership with Virtual High School Global Consortium (VHS), a Maynard-based organization that has been teaching online courses to Massachusetts high school students since 1996. VHS enables schools to share teacher resources and offer students access to over 200 online elective, Advanced Placement and honors courses. And, unlike the Massachusetts Virtual Academy run by Greenfield, which offers courses through K12, a for-profit company, VHS is a nonprofit cooperative

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Virtual High School Announces 2011 College Scholarship Winners

May 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Virtual High School Global Consortium (http://www.govhs.org), the pioneer of K-12 online learning and course design for teachers, today announced the winners of their fourth annual college scholarship program. Three thousand dollars in funds have been distributed amongst four Virtual High School (VHS) students in Connecticut, Maine, Pennsylvania and Texas to use towards college expenses.

 

Three of the winners created and submitted videos and the fourth submitted a poem that described how online learning influenced their future college or career direction. The scholarship review committee included VHS staff members from each department who evaluated the submissions based on their content, quality, creativity and relevance.

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K12 Inc. Announces Upcoming Investor Conferences

May 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

HERNDON, Va

K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation’s largest provider of proprietary curriculum and online school programs for students in kindergarten through high school, announced today it will present at the following investor conferences:

RW Baird 2011 Growth Stock Conference, Chicago, IL

Wednesday, May 11, 2011, 12:30 PM (CT)

Barclays Capital 2011 Global Services Conference, Boston, MA

Thursday, May 12, 2011, 2:40 PM (ET)

The presentation will be webcast live and can be accessed from the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at www.k12.com. The audio will also be archived and available for replay there for 30 days.

For the rest of the article, go to K12 Inc. Announces Upcoming Investor Conferences

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New Study: Private-Sector Institutions Report Increased Demand for Online Learning

April 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

More than 60 percent of academic leaders at private-sector colleges and universities say that online learning is critical to their long-term strategies and have included it in their formal strategic plans, according to a new study conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group and sponsored by Pearson Learning Solutions.

The report, “Online Learning Trends in Private-Sector Colleges and Universities,” is a new analysis of the data collected for the annual Sloan Survey of Online Learning.

“The study’s findings highlight the unique opportunities and challenges that higher education leaders are currently facing. The continued growth of online learning, coupled with the federal goal of increasing the number of college graduates, underscores the need for innovative learning tools and strategies that will help all institutions implement successful, effective online programs,” said Don Kilburn, CEO of Pearson Learning Solutions.

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Alabama editorial roundup

April 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Today’s students learn online. They learn about what their friends are doing through Facebook. They get the latest songs though iTunes. They connect with each other and with information outlets without leaving home or, for that matter, leaving their seats.

To them, the idea of online learning seems natural.

The question, however, is whether this is the best way to teach what is traditionally taught to K-12 students to get them ready for their coming years.

The advantages of online learning are obvious.

Online learning is convenient, and those who design and administer educational programs love convenience.

Online learning is versatile. It allows students to take subjects that they could not otherwise take. (Gov. Bob Riley touted online education as a way to give rural children whose schools could not offer advanced courses the same advantages urban schools have.)

Online learning is cheap relatively speaking. Scores of students can take a pre-packaged class with only one teacher/monitor. Plus, the cost of overhead is low.

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King Philip To Add Virtual High School

March 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The King Philip School Committee decided at their meeting last week to join the Virtual High School program, which offers students the option of taking some courses online.

District Superintendent Elizabeth Zielinski introduced the program to the committee.

“It offers courses for students — a wide variety is offered,” she said. “We’d buy 25 seats — that would be 25 students per semester who are looking for courses we don’t offer.”

For the rest of the article, go to King Philip To Add Virtual High School

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Should Parents Have To Pay For Summer School?

March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Casey noted that Melrose’s fee either matches or is less than what is charged at other nearby summer schools; reiterated that summer school is a voluntary program; and added that any student who wishes to attend summer school, but may have financial difficulty, is supported by the district to make attendance possible.

LaRock brought up a 2009 survey regarding summer school fees conducted by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. Our of the 177 school districts that responded, 69 percent reported offering the program without fees and supported with funds through public sources, with grants or otherwise, while 31 percent offer fee-based programs.

“The range of districts (offering free summer school) spans the gamut from high-need districts to districts that look a lot like ours,” he said. “I think there is a varied landscape. Because of that, it’s another reason to perhaps, in the future, re-think the way we do this.”

Committee member Carrie Kourkoumelis, who also voted against the fees, offered that a virtual high school program with fully-credited programs could possibly be an option for high school students who must work over the summer, but still need to attend summer school. She expressed her concern that last summer the district spent $17,625 on the program and brought in $20,235 in fee-based revenues, resulting in a profit of $2,610.

Casey responded that the money made off the program is used to purchase materials for this year’s program, but Kourkoumelis noted that the cost of those materials was not presented in the figures given to the School Committee.

“If we knew how much those programs cost in actuality, it would be helpful in evaluating this,” she said.

For the rest of the article, go to Should Parents Have To Pay For Summer School?

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Program to promote high-tech futures

March 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Douglas Handy, Supervisor for the Office of Career and Technology Education, delivered a PowerPoint presentation on the details of the Project Lead the Way at the meeting.

He said Project Lead the Way provides such “workplace ready skills.”

The program focuses on exposing as many students as possible to STEM coursework and encouraging more collaboration in the classroom between instructors and students.

“Kids work with professional tools,” said Pikesville Middle School teacher Chris McChesney.

Teachers are required to attend a two-week training session in the summer to be prepared to teach the curriculum, which is updated every two years.

They are also provided with a year-round online “virtual academy” that they can refer to for resources.

Students in McChesney’s classes are using Project Lead the Way curriculum to learn how to build simple circuits such as night lights.

For the rest of the article, go to Program to promote high-tech futures

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