The deadline for Wisconsin parents who want to enroll their children in public schools outside their home district was supposed to be Friday. But if parents missed the open-enrollment period they don’t necessarily have to panic thanks to what the Department of Public Instruction calls the “alternative application procedure.”
Continue reading here.
Alabama did it right. When it passed legislation allowing home-schooled students to participate in extracurriculars, it included students in virtual charter schools too. Wisconsin needs to follow suit. Home-schooled students currently can participate, but not our kids. We're looking for legislative champions to lead the fight for our kids next session. We'll keep you posted.
You can read the article about Alabama's victory here.
Interesting new school to open this fall. Wonderful what can happen when lawmakers give parents options! Check it out here.
By Amelia Hamilton
A solid educational base is key to upward economic mobility and opportunity in 21st century America. That was the theme of Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s presentation and discussion Tuesday titled Education for Upward Mobility: The Reform Conservative’s Education Agenda.
You can read more about this here.
Check out this letter to the editor in Education Week.
Those of us who proudly proclaim #ITrustParents know every child matters. Click here to watch a great commercial from the American Federation for Children.
What started the movement to evaluate teacher performance by test scores?
For the last several decades, as far back as the 1970s, researchers have been estimating teachers’ impact on their students’ standardized test scores, and have found substantial variation among teachers. The students of some teachers consistently made more growth on tests than the students of other teachers did. They also generally found that teachers’ ability to raise test scores was only modestly correlated with concrete characteristics, such as experience and education.
Continue reading this article from The 74 here.
Originally, we were going to post this to show the rapid rise in technology and make a point about how online education harnesses that potential. Supposedly, this image juxtaposes photos of the last two times a new Pope was announced. But, virtual school administrators, teachers and enrollees know that just because something is on the internet doesn't make it factual. Our students don't sit idly by as passive learners in front of a screen. They're active learners, understand the scientific method and are intellectually curious. So, like them, we kept digging to get at the truth. Here's the rest of the story about these photos... https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/aaf1067a-8cf9-11e2-9f54-f3…
Virtual schooling in Wisconsin is not just learning over the Internet. Engaged students, well-trained public school teachers, attentive learning coaches and supportive families make for an incredible team. The policy makers in Wisconsin have said #ITrustParents and have given us options. But our effort does not end with enrollment. Together, we are committed to the success of our young learners, and the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families is proudly with us every step of the way.
Some of these schools are run by and for the students within the sponsoring district. Others primarily enroll students from throughout the State of Wisconsin, via our Open Enrollment law.
From the State Department of Public Instruction:
Online learning takes many forms and has many names. There are online courses, programs and schools, which may be called online, virtual, cyber or blended education, to name a few.
A virtual charter school is defined in Wis. Stats. § 115.001 (16) as “a charter school … in which all or a portion of the instruction is provided through means of the internet, and the pupils enrolled in and instructional staff employed by the school are geographically remote from each other.”
In addition, state statutes contain specific requirements that must be met by virtual charter schools. See Wis. Stats. § 118.40 (8).
In Wisconsin, a virtual charter school is a specific form of online learning. It is the only form of online learning in which an open enrolled pupil may participate from home, that is, without having to physically attend school in the nonresident school district during all the days and hours that school is in session.
Any form of online learning that does not meet the statutory definition of a virtual charter school and all of the requirements of Wis. Stats. § 118.40 (8) is not a virtual charter school. That does not mean that open enrolled pupils cannot attend online classes or programs, however, the pupil cannot access these programs and courses from home; they must go to school.
School - Grades - Sponsoring School District
21st Century eSchool K-12 Middleton-Cross Plains
Advanced Learning Academy of Wisconsin K-12 Barron Area
Appleton eSchool 7-12 Appleton Area
Arise Virtual Academy K-12 Janesville
Bobcat Virtual Academy (proposed) PK-12 Birchwood
Bridges Virtual Academy PK-12 Merrill Area
Cameron Academy of Virtual Education (CAVE) K-12 Cameron
Central Wisconsin Virtual School 4-12 Tomorrow River
CrE8 Charter School PK-5 Gillett
De Soto Virtual School (proposed) K-12 De Soto Area
eAchieve Academy 6-12 Waukesha
eAchieve Elementary K-5 Waukesha
George D Warriner High School 9-12 Sheboygan Area
George D Warriner Middle School 6-8 Sheboygan Area
GOAL - Gillett's Occupation and Leadership Academy 6-12 Gillett
HACIL - Hayward Ctr for Individualized Learning K4-12 Hayward Community
iForward 6-12 Grantsburg
Island City Virtual Academy PK-12 Cumberland
JEDI Virtual Charter School K-12 Whitewater
Kenosha eSchool K-12 Kenosha
Kiel eSchool 7-12 Kiel
KM Global School for Global Leadership and Innovation (KM Global) 9-12 Kettle Moraine
Link2Learn Virtual Charter School PK-12 Chetek-Weyerhaeuser
Mighty River Charter School K-12 Prairie du Chien
Montello Virtual Charter School K-12 Montello
Northwood Virtual Charter School (proposed) K-12 Northwood
Richland Online Academy 6-12 Richland
River Falls eSchool 6-12 River Falls
Rural Virtual Academy PK-10 Medford Area
Saint Croix Academy of Virtual Education K-12 Saint Croix Central
Spooner Area Virtual Education Academy (SAVE Academy) K4-12 Spooner
Wauwatosa Virtual Academy 6-12 Wauwatosa
Wisconsin Connections Academy (WCA) K-12 Appleton Area
Wisconsin Virtual Academy High School (WIVA High School) 9-12 McFarland
Wisconsin Virtual Academy K-8 (WIVA K-8) K-8 McFarland
Wisconsin Virtual Learning (WVL) PK-12 Northern Ozaukee