Ohio sisters graduate from e-school to college classroom

They’ve read the news headlines mocking the dismal performance of Ohio’s charter schools. They’re aware of the studies that conclude kids learn better in traditional school classrooms compared to online. They’ve met some of the e-school students who fell behind and didn’t return the following year.

But for Scott and Janeen Robinson of Massillon, online schooling through Ohio Connections Academy has given their two daughters, Emily and Sarah Robinson, a rigorous, well-rounded education for the past nine years. They also credit the online environment for helping their daughters develop the discipline, self-motivation college classes require.

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Beloit Virtual School Student Earns Scholarship

BELOIT - A Beloit teacher and two Beloit students have received awards from the Kohl Foundation Scholarship and Fellowship program.

Terri Gile, an educator with Todd Elementary School was awarded a Kohl Foundation Fellowship. She will receive a $6,000 grant and Todd School also will receive a $6,000 grant. Fellowships are awarded to educators to recognize their efforts to inspire the love of learning in students. Gile is among 100 educators to receive a Kohl Fellowship this year in Wisconsin.

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A student’s defense of school choice

Cheick Diallo started out Tuesday morning looking a little nervous. In a few minutes, the high school senior would be giving a presentation to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who decided to visit Providence Cristo Rey High School while she was in town.

It turns out Diallo didn’t have anything to be nervous about. He, along with five classmates, told DeVos about their experiences at the school and the corporate work study program that makes Cristo Rey schools unique. Detroit is home to one of these Catholic schools, too.

For Diallo, who has clocked many hours at Eli Lilly, the global pharmaceutical company based in Indianapolis, the experience at Cristo Rey has been “life changing.” He’s gained confidence, direction and discovered he’s an extrovert.

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Indiana Virtual School Partners with EdisonLearning for Online Education Options

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., May 24, 2017 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Indiana Virtual School announces that it will be partnering with international education services provider – EdisonLearning – to expand and enhance the delivery of online courses to students and school corporations across the State of Indiana.

The new partnership will continue to focus on offering online courses to those students who, because of changing life circumstances, find a virtual educational experience more aligned with their current needs. 

In addition to the new EdisonLearning eCourses, Indiana Virtual will continue to deliver online courses developed and provided by PLATO and Florida Virtual. With this addition, Indiana Virtual will offer more online course offerings than any other virtual school in the State of Indiana.

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Virtual school offers alternatives

Field trips, commencement, even dances—all aspects of a traditional school experience that might fall by the wayside in a digital learning environment.

But North Carolina Connections Academy has found a way to blend the two concepts, using virtual classrooms, enrichment and student engagement to bring students and families an alternative education system right in their own living rooms.

“We are a charter school; we are our own local education agency,” Connections Academy Superintendent Nathan Currie said. “Next April, we’ll be having prom, and the year after that we’ll be having graduation.”

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Test scores are not enough to measure school choice success

A report from the Education Department’s Institute of Education Science made waves last week as it found the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (D.C. OSP) — the nation’s only federal private school choice program – negatively impacted student test scores in the first year of participation.

Indeed, there is more work to do to ensure all students who benefit from school choice can excel beginning on day one.

But the IES findings shouldn’t cast doubt on the efficacy of private school choice, which has proved, time and again, to be a game-changer for students.

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True grit: Missing 120 days of school to becoming co-valedictorian

Sarah Penney, 19, a senior at Maine Virtual Academy, is about to graduate in June. The South Thomaston teenager wasn't sure she'd ever get to this day. "It sounds like a cliché but it feels like a dream come true," she said.

Up until the past two years, Penney has suffered from flu-like symptoms, and the very occasional headache, which caused her to miss a tremendous amount of school.

"I had vertigo and light sensitivity," she said. "I was constantly nauseous and couldn't keep anything down. It generally just made me feel like I had severe stomach flu symptoms mixed with the after effects of a particularly nightmarish teacup ride."

For 10 years, doctors misdiagnosed her symptoms as a sinus infection combined with allergies, due to how her symptoms appeared seasonal. All of the medications and antibiotics she was prescribed only made the symptoms worse.

Penney said she didn't get an accurate diagnosis until her sophomore year in high school, 2014.

Read more of her story here. 

Most Californians now support school choice: study

Most Californians (60%), and especially parents of children in public schools (66%), are now in favor of school choice.  This is one of several findings in a report issued last week by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) based on a statewide survey conducted by the nonpartisan research organization.

The survey asked the question, “Do you favor or oppose providing parents with tax-funded vouchers to send their children to any public, private, or parochial school they choose?”  When responses were disaggregated for ethnicity, it was found that African Americans (73%) and Latinos (69%) were more likely than other racial/ethnic groups to be in favor.

While the finding was seen by some as shocking, according to Dr. Lamont Francies, pastor of Antioch’s Delta Bay Church of Christ, it should not have come as a surprise.

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Online K-12 school with statewide reach forms early college aimed at getting students associate degree, diploma

An online charter school that educates children from all over Louisiana is joining a small fraternity of public schools in the state that provides eligible students a pathway to earning an associate degree while they are still in high school.

University View Academy, formerly Louisiana Connections Academy, is launching its Early College High School in the fall and will include as many as 100 of its more than 250 ninth-graders. 

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Opinion: Offer more school choice to African-American students

David Mitchell is founder, CEO and president of Better Outcomes for Our Kids or BOOK. An Atlanta-based nonprofit, BOOK promotes school choice options, including traditional public schools, public charters, virtual schools and home schools to the African-American community.

In this piece, Mitchell discusses why choice is critical to raising the academic performance of African-American students.

Read it here.