Logging on to learn: full-time virtual schools offer a new model of instruction.

Logging on to learn: full-time virtual schools offer a new model of instruction. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A CLASSROOM LECTURE at Capistrano Connections Academy in SouthernCalifornia involves booting up See boot. the home computer, logging on to a Website, and observing a teacher conducting a PowerPoint presentation ofthat day's lesson entirely online. Through microphone headsets,students can watch on their home computers, respond to theteacher's questions, and take part in classroom discussions."It's very interactive," says Elizabeth Hall, whosefifth-grade daughter is enrolled in the school. Capistrano Connections Academy, a charter school authorized by theCapistrano Unified School District Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) is the second largest school district in Orange County, California and the 95th largest in the United States. The school district serves the following cities: Aliso Viejo Dana Point Laguna Niguel Mission Viejo and managed by Connections Academy,is among a growing number of virtual schools offering full-time programsin which all courses are taken online. Now, 24 states and the Districtof Columbia District of Columbia,federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). offer full-time online schools to students. Experts are studying whether full-time virtual schools areeffective academically and whether they offer students sufficient socialopportunities. Some question if they are receiving more than their fairshare of state funding. If virtual schools get more popular, drawingstudents away from districts, it could affect those districts'bottom lines. Nuts and Bolts nuts and boltspl.n. SlangThe basic working components or practical aspects: "[proposing] According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. the 2009 edition of the "Keeping Pace with K-12Online Learning" report, which annually tracks trends of onlineschools nationwide, many fulltime virtual schools are charter schools,which are authorized and overseen by state or local authorities. Likeother charters, the virtual charters operate largely independently, withsome supervision by the district or state authorizers to ensure theschools are complying with education regulations and their charteragreements. Like charter schools in general, virtual charter schools areexpected to benefit from the procharter policy reforms that many statesare implementing so that they can qualify for federal Race in the Topfunds. Other full-time programs are not independent charters, but arecreated by districts or coalitions of districts. About 175,000, a fraction of the nation's 55 million K12students, attend school full-time online, the "Keeping Pace"report states. Although data on virtual schools aren't as plentifulas for regular schools, there are strong indications that full-timevirtual education is becoming more popular. In Ohio, for example,enrollment in full-time virtual programs grew 13 percent between2007-2008 and 2008-2009, reaching 27,037 students, according to thereport. And some states have created state virtual schools, which typicallyoffer individual courses to students statewide but usually do notprovide full-time programs. One exception is Florida Virtual School Founded in 1997 by President and CEO Julie Young, the Florida Virtual School (FLVS) is one of the largest online middle and high schools in the United States. It is the only public online school--and likely the first of any kind of public school--to be funded on a performance basis. ,which offers supplemental and full-time programs to districts. Makeup of Student Body Virtual school advocates say the new model offers distinctadvantages to certain students compared with their peers in traditionalschools. For example, gifted students looking to work at their own paceare drawn to virtual schools, says Leslye Moraski Erickson, head ofWisconsin Virtual Academy, a charter school that is serviced by K12 Inc.Some virtual students didn't do well academically in a regularclassroom, while other students are outstanding musicians or athleteswho need flexible hours for practice or training. Other students had notfelt safe at a traditional school due to bullying or socialdifficulties, virtual school advocates say. "The goal is to matchthe learning environment with the needs of the student," saysErickson, whose independently operated school serves about 400 K12students statewide. But virtual schooling is not for all students. The model requiresparents to devote significant time to helping their children. And highschool students are expected to learn more independently, which requiresself-discipline. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Educational Management Many virtual charter schools are affiliated with for-profiteducational management companies, such as Connections Academy, K12 Inc.,Edison, White Hat and Insight Schools. Such companies typically provideonline and offline curricula, learning management systems, andeducational materials that are shipped to the students' homes.Charters provide laptops or desktops, microphone headsets, and freeInternet service An ISP that provides access to the Internet without charge to the user. The service is supported by advertising which appears on a special version of the user's browser and cannot be eliminated. NetZero (www.netzero. . The companies can take an even larger role bymarketing the school, providing teachers, or training the school'sown teachers in the online curriculum. Although they may be authorized by local districts, many virtualcharter schools can enroll students throughout the state, except forcases like in California, where the schools are limited to their hostand adjacent counties. Parents as Learning Coaches Parents in the full-time virtual school model become "learningcoaches," especially in the early grades. They work with theirchildren, both while the kids are on the computer and when they areoffline doing activities like art projects, games or scienceexperiments, and they make sure the kids are on task. Meanwhile, teachers in many cases interact with students andparents via e-mail, chat, phone, or via live and recorded video sessionsin which students equipped with microphone headsets can talk to theirteachers and draw on the screen in a kind of "virtualwhiteboard." In addition to providing a parent orientation, CapistranoConnections Academy provides teaching guides to parents and holdsperiodic conferences between teachers and parents, according to JonathanHorowitz, the principal of the school, which serves about 1,000 K12students in five counties in Southern California. In parent-directed virtual education, the quality of the curriculumbecomes even more important, says Michael K. Barbour, an assistant professor of instructional technology There are two types of instructional technology: those with a systems approach, and those focusing on sensory technologies.The definition of instructional technology prepared by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Definitions and Terminology atWayne State University Wayne State University,at Detroit, Mich.; state supported; coeducational; established 1956 as a successor to Wayne Univ. (formed 1934 by a merger of five city colleges). . "If the content isn't that good, then the education, intheory, is not going to be that good unless the parent makes up forit," he says. There is also the risk that the virtual teacher serves more as ahelpline with little proactive contact with the home, which can beconsidered glorified glo��ri��fy?tr.v. glo��ri��fied, glo��ri��fy��ing, glo��ri��fies1. To give glory, honor, or high praise to; exalt.2. homeschooling, with the parent as teacher, he says. In many cases, virtual schools get their curriculum from privateeducational management companies, which research and develop thecurriculum. Uncertain Results But do students in full-time virtual programs learn as well asthose in regular schools? There has been little research on the successof virtual schooling for K12 students. When the U.S. Department ofEducation last year reviewed academic studies on online learning, itfound that, on average, students in online learning situations performedbetter than those receiving face-to-face instruction. But the departmentnoted that most of the studies focused on adults. Although much of the research has focused on individual onlinecourses rather than full-time virtual schools, evidence shows thatstudents can learn just as well in an online environment as they can ina regular school, says Allison Powell, vice president of theInternational Association for K-12 Online Learning. "I thinkit's another way for kids to learn," she says. "And theresearch that has been done has said that students in the online classdo as well or better in online schools as they do in traditionalface-m-face classes." At Connections Academy in San Clemente San Clemente(săn klĭmĕn`tē), city (1990 pop. 41,100), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; inc. 1928. Camp Pendleton, a large U.S. marine base, adjoins the city, which is chiefly residential. , Calif., a special educationstudent in her previous school was bullied relentlessly, Horowitz says.Without the social pressures at Connections Academy, she has excelledand taken community college courses. This spring she will receive herdiploma and associate of arts Associate of arts and Associate of science are two-year undergraduate degrees offered by many community colleges or junior colleges in the United States. Such degrees transfer to four-year institutions which offer full bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees. degree. Even assuming that virtual students are learning effectively, whatabout their social lives outside their virtual classrooms? Virtualschool advocates say it's a myth that their students are isolated. At Insight School of Minnesota, an online school serving highschool students around the state, students periodically meetface-to-face for activities like bowling, take part in online clubs likephotography, and talk online in "The Halls," a monitored chatroom, says Principal John Huber. The school, which is not a charter, wasstarted by the Brooklyn Center Brooklyn Center,city (1990 pop. 28,887), Hennepin co., SE Minn., a residential suburb of Minneapolis; inc. 1911. It has light industry and has been marked by suburban and economic growth since the 1970s. School District, located in a Minneapolissuburb. Capistrano Connections Academy also employs student message boardsto enhance student social interaction, and it also conducts field trips,Horowitz says. But he notes that youths don't rely solely on schoolto develop friendships. Many meet friends outside of school throughclubs, sports or church, he adds. His opinion is confirmed in a 2008study by Interactive Educational Systems Design and the University ofMemphis The University of Memphis is a public research university located in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, and is a flagship public research university of the Tennessee Board of Regents system. , which found that measures of virtual students' socialskills were the same or higher than that of a national sample ofstudents. The Matter of Money Virtual charter schools have brought some funding controversies,including in Pennsylvania, where some school districts are lobbying forreforms. In that state, school districts are forced to cover the cost ofstudents living within their boundaries who attend charterschools--virtual or not. The district has to base all such payments tocharters on the district's own cost per student. The system isunfair to districts, because virtual charter schools can educatestudents more cheaply than district schools can, says Jim Buckheit,executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of SchoolAdministrators. Virtual schools don't have transportation andfacilities costs that traditional schools do, he notes. Virtual charters"are making a profit, because the amount that they are beingreimbursed far exceeds the cost of the delivery of services," hesays. But virtual school advocates dispute that saying that while virtualcharters save on facilities, their expenses are higher in other areas,including paying for technical and academic support, computers andInternet access See how to access the Internet. for students. Joining the Game As virtual schooling has become more popular, some districts havebeen looking to create their own virtual schools. With some state grant money, Lawrence (Kan.) Public Schools in 2004created its own virtual charter school to serve the needs of childrenwhose parents felt they weren't a good fit for traditional schools,says Karen Vespestad, the district's director of grants, boardservices and strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. . Declining enrollment over the priorfour years in the district, with 300 families homeschooling, was anotherreason, she says. The Lawrence Virtual School, which uses K12 Inc., curriculum is nowKansas' largest, with about 1,100 K8 students. Although the district doesn't receive any of the virtualschool's per-pupil money, it does get to count the school'sstudents in its district enrollment totals, Vespestad says. That'sfinancially important, because some federal and state monies are basedon district enrollment. The district, which has about 10,000 students overall, hired thecharter school's principal, OK'd the curriculum, and approvesall expenses, but it gives freedom to the school to run its own affairs,Vespestad says. The school reports to the district's school boardannually, she adds. Approving Independent Charters The McFarland (Wis.) School District last year authorized theWisconsin Virtual Academy because the district believed the virtualmodel could work for interested students, says Superintendent ScottBrown Scott Brown may refer to: Scott Brown (DJ) Scott Brown (Scottish footballer) Scott Brown (English footballer) Scott Brown (Welsh footballer) Scott P. Brown, a Massachusetts state senator . The district also gets free access to the K12 Inc. onlinecurriculum. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] But what should districts look for when considering approvingvirtual charters? Virtual charter school applications present uniqueissues, including picking the method that will keep track of attendanceand establishing student "seat time," says Alex Medler, vicepresident of policy and research at the National Association of CharterSchool Authorizers. District leaders should talk to officials at stateagencies and leaders in other districts who have had experience withvirtual charters to see what state laws or policies address thatquestion and others, he adds. Medler advises further that district leaders should ask how theschool plans to show academic growth. Virtual charters often attracthigh-risk kids who move in and out of the regular public school system,making it difficult for the virtual charter to get high participationrates on state tests, he says. "You will want in most casesadditional measures of student performance that you [and the charter]agree on as part of the contract," he says, noting nationallynorm-referenced assessments. The charter proposal also needs to address how the school willprovide special education services to students living in different areasof the state. Finally, Medler says, if virtual charter petitioners plan tocontract with an educational management company, district leaders shouldask to inspect their agreement with the vendor to understand eachparty's role and responsibilities. For guidance, districts alsocould consult the "National Standards for Quality OnlinePrograms" developed by the International Council for K-12 OnlineLearning. The Capistrano Unified School District approved the application in2003 from Capistrano Connections Academy after looking at for-profitConnection Academy's track record and student test scores inschools in other states, says Jolene Dougherty, the Capistranodistrict's administrator for charter schools. Unable to Ignore Growth Dougherty, who is a nonvoting member of the virtual school'sboard of directors, advises district leaders who are consideringauthorizing virtual charters to consider the quality of the curriculumoffered before they approve and to stay in touch with the school on aregular basis. Overall, districts across the nation won't be able to ignorethe growth of virtual learning, Dougherty says. "And asadministrators," she adds, "we need to embrace them and acceptthem and look for quality programs." 5 TRENDS IN ONLINE LEARNING Though virtual learning is by no means new, it has spread into 45of the 50 states, and Washington, D.C. In particular, those states havea state virtual school or online initiative, full-time online schools orboth, according to the 2009 report, Keeping Pace with K-12 OnlineLearning. Online learning offers innovative programs within schooldistricts and internationally. They include: 1. INDIVIDUALIZED in��di��vid��u��al��ize?tr.v. in��di��vid��u��al��ized, in��di��vid��u��al��iz��ing, in��di��vid��u��al��iz��es1. To give individuality to.2. To consider or treat individually; particularize.3. EDUCATION PLANS Useful for all students whether part- or full-time, IEPs helpstudents hone in on the exact areas they are struggling with to bringthem up to speed, while allowing them to advance more quickly throughmaterial on which they have a firm grasp. 2. HOME SCHOOL ALTERNATIVE Giving parents the resources they need to make their child'shome school experience as versatile and comprehensive as possible,online learning allows students to partner with local school districtsfor a free education. 3. REMEDIAL OPTION Perhaps the fastest growing trend in online learning, creditrecovery has seen a substantial increase in popularity. Students seekingto recover credit from failed classes can enroll in classes throughvarious companies and online schools. 4. INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIPS Schools such as Chesapeake High School The following schools are named Chesapeake High School: Chesapeake High School, Baltimore Chesapeake High School, Anne Arundel County in Baltimore, Md., areemploying video games See video game console. and simulations to enhance student learning in anengaging way. Partnering with Johns Hopkins Noun 1. Johns Hopkins - United States financier and philanthropist who left money to found the university and hospital that bear his name in Baltimore (1795-1873)Hopkins2. University's AppliedPhysics Laboratory The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), located in Laurel, Maryland, is a not-for-profit, university-affiliated research center employing 4,000 people. , the high school has instituted a virtual realityclassroom allowing students to study Mt. St. Helens Mt. St. Helensvolcanic eruption that devastated huge area in 1980. [U. S. Hist.: WB, M:735]See : Destruction in Washingtonwithout stepping off campus. 5. RETURNING STUDENTS Working collaboratively with public school districts as well ascharter schools, online learning companies have made it possible forstudents up until to their early 20s who have dropped out to earn thecredit they need to receive their GED GEDabbr.1. general equivalency diploma2. general educational developmentGED(US) n abbr (Scol) (= general educational development) → . wvwv.DistrictAdministration.com Learn more about these trends. Kevin Butler is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.