Michele Eaton, director of virtual and blended learning for the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, explains how teacher professional development has evolved over five years at her virtual school. Read the article here.
Your ZIP Code Should Not Determine Your Success
I used to be the Executive Director at an inner city, non-profit after-school program in Gary, Indiana. We helped students of all ages with homework, mentoring and computer access. Like too many largely black communities in this country, Gary was impoverished, crime-ridden and suffered from very low education rates.
We sometimes lent our space to charter schools to hold their lotteries.
Our first lottery was big. Hundreds showed. There were 200 spots available and about 800 applicants. Not all those people crowded into our small accommodations, but the ones who did come were nervous and excited. Naturally, when all the names had been called many parents and guardians who didn’t hear their student’s name were visibly upset. One elderly lady who knew me from our program touched my arm. She was weeping.
“Is there anything you can do? We need this. My grandson needs this so much! I can’t send him back to that school! Isn’t there anything you can do?”
You'll find the rest of this story here.
It Was an Eventful Summer for School Choice
From major anniversaries to civil rights groups calling for moratoriums on new charter schools, the summer of 2016 was a busy one for school choice.
And because it's easy for a story or two to slip under the radar while on summer vacation, I've compiled a list of some of the most notable events from the last three months. Consider this a cheat sheet to start the school year informed on all things school choice.
Click here.
Exploring school choice myths
Many myths are perpetuated regarding private school vouchers, including that they damage public schools in a variety of ways. Eric Davis, executive director of the Lafayette Catholic School System in Indiana, wrote the Lafayette Journal and Courier arguing that this is simply untrue. “Parents are weary of the politics, over-regulation and bureaucratic red tape that ties the hands of good teachers and administrators in our public schools,” he wrote.
Find more here.
Why the Online Student Stereotypes Are Wrong
Many of our parents can relate to this article in Learning Liftoff.
Online Learning Day: 8 Trends Improving Student Options
We’re celebrating Online Learning Day today. It’s been two decades since the first online schools and degree programs emerged. Almost a third of HigherEd students now take at least one course online. Most HigherEd students engage in blended learning, a mixture of online and face-to-face learning.
Informal and professional learning online, often in chunks shorter than courses, is nearly ubiquitous with online learning marketplaces like Udemy and Coursera and tons of open resources like Khan Academy and CK-12.
Online learning has grown more slowly in K-12 but most school districts now offer online classes (directly or through a partner). Statewide schools, operated by districts and charter schools play an important role in providing equitable access to a variety of quality learning pathways. (See the chart developed by EducationNext.)
More here.
Five Types of Online Learning for You and Your Student
Our students are fortunate to be living in a time when information is more quickly and easily accessible than ever before. Within a few seconds, anyone can know just about anything thanks to the Internet. Business Insider reports that there are 2.3 million Google searches per minute on an average day. That is a whole lot of people learning a whole lot of things every single minute.
With this type of instantaneous knowledge and learning, students today will never understand what it was like to have to wait to go to the library, look up several books on the topic, and search through the pages before finding answers to their questions.
The Internet, along with today’s technology, has brought with it many ways to learn online. Whether it be a quick search from a phone or enrolling in an online course, students can now learn anything from anywhere. This is a tremendous advancement when it comes to student education, not to mention the benefits to adult learners, as well.
Here are five types of online learning that offer benefits to both you and your student.
Click here.
Four reasons why families love flexible learning
Online learning has become increasingly popular in recent years, and it’s not hard to see why.
Many students have successfully completed college online and have embarked on the career path of their choice because of it.
Whether it’s for flexibility or to avoid the hassle of commuting, there are endless advantages to the digital classroom, according to Brad Hutchinson, principal of Abbotsford Virtual School (AVS).
His public school is unique in that it offers blended learning, a mix of onsite and at-home courses, is available from Kindergarten to Grade 12 and is growing in popularity.
Read more here.
Destinations Career Academy Of Wisconsin Opens For Inaugural School Year
Destinations Career Academy of Wisconsin, a career and technical education-focused online high school, welcomes students for the new school year, which begins September 1, 2016. Destinations Career Academy uses a curriculum that offers a comprehensive end-to-end approach designed to prepare students to enter the workforce or pursue other post-secondary options. The tuition-free online public charter school is open to students statewide in grades 9-12 and serves full-time students in addition to offering a part-time option through the Department of Public Instruction’s Course Options, whichallows students to remain enrolled in their current school district while taking 1-2 online courses with Destinations Career Academy.
You can read more here.
91% Of Wisconsin Virtual Academy Students Benefitted Academically From Curriculum In 2015-2016
Students at Wisconsin Virtual Academy (WIVA), a full-time online public charter school authorized by the McFarland School District, will return for their 2016-2017 school year on September 1 as the program marks its 8th year of operation in the state. According to a spring 2016 survey conducted by Edge Research, 91% of the families with students enrolled in the school during the 2015-2016 school year felt that their child had benefitted academically from the curriculum.
This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160826005451/en/