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| Oregon schools to consider integrating virtual classrooms |
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May 9, 2009
Wisconsin State Journa
Oregon schools to consider integrating virtual classrooms
By GENA KITTNER
608-252-6139
May 8, 2009
OREGON — Fresh air and sunshine stream from large windows into the brightly painted basement of Jennifer Schmitt’s two-story home where she teaches seven students ranging from first to seventh grade a geometry lesson. Later the students scatter to separate whiteboard-topped tables to work puzzles or to pillow-padded nooks to read.
“Scholars, listen up!” Schmitt said as she gathered the students back together after a break to resume their studies.
It’s 8:30 a.m. and the “Schmitt Academy” is in full swing.
Schmitt’s students are either home schooled or take classes online through one of the state’s several “virtual schools.” They go to Schmitt — a certified teacher whose two youngest children attend a virtual school — for lessons in math and language arts.
Her operation, now in its fifth year, demonstrates the growing popularity of classrooms that go beyond the traditional brick and mortar.
While some school districts are threatened by the rise of virtual schools, Oregon School District officials are considering joining them rather than fighting them. On Monday, the School Board will vote whether to allow online courses as part of the curriculum to recapture some of those students — and the state funding that comes with them.
Schmitt even helped the district design the proposal.
“It’s not opening a virtual school; it’s just offering options through (online) providers,” said Jane Peschel, Oregon’s director of instruction.
Offering select courses online is the “newest trend” in how districts are trying to improve education options for students, said Dawn Nordine, director of the Wisconsin Virtual School — Wisconsin’s Web Academy, which helps districts offer online courses.
“I think it is partially about retaining dollars locally,” Nordine said. But it’s equally about how to expand the number and type of courses a district offers, she said.
800 virtual learners
Last fall, more than 140 of the state’s 426 school districts used Wisconsin’s Web Academy to provide online learning to more than 800 students in grades six through 12, according to the state Department of Public Instruction.
The Madison School District offers about 100 high school level online courses, and its Madison Virtual Campus started in 2005. Most students use the courses to supplement the regular school day, said Kelly Pochop, Madison’s online learning facilitator.
Some states, such as Michigan, even mandate students take an online course before graduating high school.
“If districts aren’t currently offering online courses, they’re studying ways to provide (them),” said Brian Busler, Oregon’s superintendent. Online classes, whether at the university or elementary level “have just exploded over the last several years.”
Since the state began allowing parents to send their children to any public school district in 1998, about 60 families have left the Oregon School District to attend a virtual school, Peschel said. In addition, 30 home-schooled students also have left the district.
If a student leaves through open enrollment, districts lose $6,500. If a student leaves to become home schooled, the amount a district loses varies, but for Oregon it would be $10,000 over three years.
Busler said 20 to 30 families who live in the district and either home-school their children or have children enrolled in a virtual school have expressed interest having the district offer such a program.
Plan at a glance
Under the plan the School Board will consider Monday, students in kindergarten through 12th grade who have experience in online learning would be the only ones allowed to enroll in online courses full-time, Peschel said. Those students would likely continue to access the courses, offered through a vendor, from home.
Traditional high school students would be allowed to register for one online course next fall. As of Friday, 58 students had expressed interest in doing so.
Sarah Thomson, a freshman at Oregon High School, registered for an online history class in world civilizations, in part because taking the course online will allow time in her schedule for an art class.
“I’m not sure if it’s going to be easier than learning (history) from a teacher or not,” she said, adding the online course also appealed to her because “I like doing things by myself … instead of group work.”
But Jon Fishwild, a physics teacher at Oregon High School, worried offering online classes to high school students could circumvent the district’s traditionally teacher-led curriculum development.
“I don’t have a problem with the district trying to pull in students who are home-schooled and students who are exploring virtual school options,” Fishwild said. However, “without having studied how that works … to open (online courses) to all students, I really question that.”
McFarland competition
Officials say one reason Oregon is moving toward online classes is to compete with a virtual charter school opening as part of the McFarland School District, about 12 miles away.
“When it’s McFarland, it becomes something where people sit up and take notice, because it’s really right there in our backyard,” Peschel said. “It becomes something real attractive to parents,” she said. “It does make us a little more nervous.”
While the physical location of an online school often doesn’t matter, having one nearby makes it easier for students to travel to take standardized tests, attend field trips or interact with teachers.
Officials hope the program won’t cost Oregon anything, since the district would get additional revenue for every student currently enrolled in a virtual school or home-schooled who returns to the district, Busler said.
WHAT’S NEXT
WHAT: The Oregon School Board is expected to vote on whether to approve a proposed online class program available for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Monday at Rome Corners Intermediate School, 1111 S. Perry Parkway, Oregon.
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