Why Do Students Choose Blended and Online Schools?

More students than ever before are attending blended and online schools. While the reasons students select the schools vary, it is clear that these schools are providing a useful option for families across the country. Blended and online schools provide the flexibility as to where, when, and how students learn. The Foundation for Blended and Online Learning (FBOL) set out to discover why students and families are choosing these innovative school models and how they are finding out about the options available.

In the paper Why Do Students Choose Blended and Online Schools?, developed with the Evergreen Education Group, FBOL explores the common motivations behind the choice to enroll in a school or program other than a traditional brick-and-mortar setting. Through a series of stakeholder interviews, school snapshots, and data drawn from a variety of sources, the paper offers a look at the academic, social and sometimes difficult personal reasons students throughout the country turn to alternatives to their local public school.

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Online charter school students look to make eImpact in the physical world

MIDDLETON — Students who spend a large portion of their school year individually taking courses online are working together to create hands-on projects that will benefit the community.

A group of 11 students in grades four through seven at the 21st Century eSchool, a virtual charter school in the Middleton-Cross Plains School District, are building three Little Free Libraries, a bird blind for Confluence Pond in Middleton and an app to help identify birds. The group calls itself eImpact.

“You know you helped do something,” said sixth-grader Joie Meuer.

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DeVos: Shift education policy to what 'moms and dads want'

President-elect Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Education will tell senators Tuesday that the federal government's education policy needs to be based on what's best for parents and students, instead of the educational system itself.

"I share President-elect Trump's view that it's time to shift the debate from what the system thinks is best for kids to what moms and dads want, expect and deserve," Betsy DeVos will say in prepared remarks to the Senate health committee.

DeVos is a school choice supporter, and her testimony argues that the federal government needs to encourage a wide range of choices to help students get through high school.

Continue reading the article here.

The Future Of EdTech Under The New Secretary Of Education

As with many of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointments to date, there has been significant controversy over his pick for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. DeVos is a staunch advocate of school choice programs and believes that the privatization of education through voucher programs and the expansion of charter schools will help children from low-income families who are trapped in failing schools.

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How Dare Betsy DeVos Give American Families an Educational Choice

DeVos doesn’t deserve to be criticized for supporting worthwhile, effective school reforms. There are millions of American families who desperately wish that their children could attend a different school. Donald Trump’s secretary of education nominee, Betsy DeVos, wants to give them that option, while all too many on the left would like to preserve the educational status quo. School reform is a complex and multi-faceted issue, but there is at least one relatively clear divide between left and right: With few exceptions, the Left wants to improve and reform American education by doubling down on financial, moral, and intellectual support for public schools with a unionized work force; DeVos and other conservative reformers, by contrast, want to improve and reform education by introducing market competition and giving families as many viable educational options as possible.

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Texas teen in online high school program gets prestigious NAVY scholarship

Jacob Branum is graduating from high school in June, and the Memorial-area teen is headed off to University of Texas at Austin in the fall to study Kinesiology or Nutrition Science, he hasn't settled on one just yet. His trajectory may sound typical, but his path there was anything but. The 17-year-old is a student at Texas Online Prepatory Academy where he's taken 100 percent of his high school courses online, and before that was home schooled with is older sister by their mother.

Keep reading about Jacob here.

Governor Walker Proclaims Jan. 22-28 “School Choice Week”; Joins Leaders Nationwide in Celebrating Opportunity in Education

MADISON, Wis.–()–Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has officially proclaimed Jan. 22-28 as “School Choice Week” for the Badger State. He joins 14 other governors and more than 500 mayors and county leaders nationwide who have issued similar proclamations in their states and cities.

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Is Online Learning Better for Introverts?

According to a recent Forbes article, online learning is still just getting started as an industry. Forbes also made a prediction that a ‘new world of curation and collaboration tools’ will be coming this year. Just imagine the effect on education.

At a time when there is a widely-reported international digital skills gap, online learning could offer many flexible options for those who need it. According to SAP recruitment specialists Eursap, digital skills have become more significant due to a saturated job market. This means it’s becoming more important for candidates to distinguish themselves.

In order to get the best training and truly specialise in a subject, it will be crucial for individuals to understand what learning environment works best for them. Knowing whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert will be extremely useful.

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DeVos will deliver on school reform: Jeb Bush

With Republicans now controlling the governorships and legislatures in 25 states, the prospect for a conservative revolution is stronger than at any time in my lifetime. I am hopeful that Republicans in Washington will seize this opportunity to shift power and money back to the states, heeding the Tenth Amendment and fully harnessing the benefits of federalism. The state laboratories of government should have ample chance to innovate with scores of new ideas and policies to spark economic growth and improve education to lift people out of poverty and lift up the middle class.

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Watch for school choice to break through in these states in 2017

President-elect Trump has selected a longtime champion of school choice, Betsy DeVos, as the next secretary of education. DeVos will bring renewed attention to education policy in 2017, providing hope for parents across the country who don't want their child's educational options dictated by their zip code.

The 2016 election showed that educational freedom is a priority for voters and their families. Of the 121 state-level candidates supported by the American Federation for Children, a pro-school choice organization chaired by DeVos until her selection was announced, 108 won their elections.

More here.