Virtual High School is offered in Connecticut through www.vhscollaborative.org. In my city, Stamford, 3 of the public schools offer virtual courses. Grades from online courses will only be added to the GPA from accredited schools according to district policy. One high school, AITE, an inter-district magnet school with only 650 students, offers various options including Project Lead the Way (PLTW) www.pltw.org which is for pre-engineering or biomedical sciences. They offer a four year course sequence with an opportunity for college credit. Cisco Networking Academy https://www.netacad.com/ offers a 2 year program toward certification in CCNA. There is also a mentoring program for students interested in Architecture, Construction or Engineering www.acementor.org Finally, a complete catalog of classes available virtually can be found at http://thevhscollaborative.org/. The school has so much to offer and is popular in the local communities. It is not for everyone.
My daughter went there for 1 year but opted to transfer to her district school. She felt that the courses offered were amazing and the teachers were engaging but that the social aspect was lacking. Now she is in our district school with 2400 students and is loving it!
The other two schools a magnet middle school and an inter-district K-8 school offer mainly advanced courses for students who need them. My friend’s son, who attended a different middle school in town was allowed to take geometry in 8th grade with the students from the other school. There ended up being logistical issues and miscommunications with the family about the teacher interaction. This was not a positive experience for this particular student. But, it is also an example of why this type of school does not work for everyone. He is exceptionally bright and definitely gifted but is very very unorganized and unfocused. This set up was not for him!
I can see how these programs could add to the courses being offered at a school. I think I would like to see an in house teacher interacting with the students, especially for a first class to ensure that the student was focused and mature enough to stay organized. For the high school level, I would like to see programs that encouraged collaboration with other schools and students. Also, I could see the programs being used to differentiate programs being offered. If there were not enough students interested in certain courses, this could be a way to add diversity to the course offerings.
I agree that this type of learning is not for everyone, but could be an alternative for students who are able to focus on work and manage their time, or at least have someone who can help them do so. As I said in my post, I think the parents or a teacher, if they are doing this in their regular school, needs to oversee the student, and help motivate them to continue to stay on task. If these students are attending virtual school because they cannot focus in a traditional class, we can't expect the virtual school will be a magic pill solution. Although it may be beneficial to students who cannot focus because of distractions in the classroom, or who are not able to go to school due to an illness or an allergy requiring them to be out for an extended period of time.
ReplyDeleteJenn, I agree that virtual schools have tremendous potential and could be a great alternative for some students however, they can never totally replace the face-to-face social interaction that traditional schools provide. For some students this may not an issue. Other students may wish to be involved in athletics, clubs, or just be able to socialize with their peers at lunch. Virtual schools are unlikely to replace these aspects of traditional schools. I also like how you illustrated this through personal stories as well! Great post!
ReplyDeleteAgreed Cindy, these are still kids and need us to help them learn to focus on the task at hand and manage their time. A skill we all need help with from time to time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information you provided from your own district and state. So interesting and what an amazing opportunity for those students interested in tracks such as you mentioned. I agree that for some students who need structure, even if bright, can not handle all of the unstructured time they have available to them when taking online courses. The miscommunication could also have a parental facet where the parent also logs on each week or something to discuss the kids progress or attends some training or something with the kids.
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