KSDK coverage of St. Louis Public Schools virtual school.

KSDK Channel 5, St. Louis recently reported on the new St. Louis Public Schools virtual school. There is no charge to St. Louis Public Schools students. Jo Anne Reese of the district, commented during the broadcast that students outside the St. Louis Public School district are invited to enroll, however, they will be required to pay tuition. Click below to view the news story at the KSDK site.http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=127641

Additional seats in the statewide MoVIP program are open for enrollment on a “first come, first serve” basis due to a few withdrawals.

MoVIP running despite bumps - Enrollment reopens for online school.

Published Friday, August 31, 2007

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Missouri’s new virtual school is up and running for the first time this month, despite bumps along the way, including hundreds of students who signed up to attend but didn’t follow through.

Missouri’s virtual instruction program, known as MoVIP, allows elementary and high school students around the state to take classes online using the Internet.

School officials said yesterday they have reopened enrollment because the program now has spots to accommodate more students. There are 1,800 students currently taking part, with room for as many as 400 more this school year...

Click below for complete article...http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Aug/20070831News010.asp
==========================================================

Florida leads growth in virtual schooling

Still the oldest and largest K-12 virtual school, FLVS is a model for online instruction.

The oldest and largest virtual school in the country, Florida Virtual School is still growing. Although some have raised questions about funding and the amount of social interaction that students receive, ed-tech advocates say the potential of FLVS, and other virtual schools, is unlimited, and can help struggling students become 21st century learners.

August 17, 2007—As a seventh-grader, Kelsey-Anne Hizer was getting mostly Ds and Fs and thought teachers at her Ocala, Fla., middle school weren't giving her the help she needed. She was ready to give up. Full Story

But after switching schools for eighth grade, Kelsey-Anne is receiving more individual attention, making As and Bs, and is enthusiastic about learning--even though she has never been in the same room as her teachers.

Kelsey-Anne transferred to the Orlando-based Florida Virtual School (FLVS), one of the nation's oldest and largest online schools. At least 2,700 full-time and up to 52,000 part-time students in grades six through 12 get lessons over the internet from teachers scattered across the state and nation. The students, from Florida and 35 other states, communicate with their teachers and each other through chat rooms, eMail, telephone, and instant messaging. (Click below for full story)

Florida leads growth in virtual schooling

SLPS LAUNCHES VIRTUAL LEARNING

St. Louis Public Schools will launch an e-Learning initiative this fall for grades K-3 and 9-12. The district has partnered with two world-class organizations, K12 Inc. and Kaplan Virtual Education. We are pleased to offer our families another high quality public school option.

St. Louis Public Schools’ K-12 Virtual Schools will begin in the 2007-2008 school year. This year, elementary courses will be offered from grades K-3 and 9-12. The district will be expanding to K-8 in the 2008-2009 school year. The implementation of SLPS Virtual Schools is a part of the pioneering effort in St. Louis Public Schools to address the needs of all children anytime, anywhere, any place and any pace.

Please click on this link for more information: http://www.slps.org/virtual_school/index.htm

ONLINE EDUCATION: Texas Virtual School on the way to reality

July 8, 2007, 3:46PM

Texas has a new school that could allow students at even the smallest campuses to study rarely offered subjects, such as Chinese and advanced physics, the Houston Chronicle reports. Although it will have to overcome a lack of funding, the new statewide virtual school--signed into law last month--is expected eventually to serve as a clearinghouse for all online courses offered by local school districts… By expanding course options for more students, state network seen as 'equalizer'

By JENNIFER RADCLIFFECopyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
ESOURCES
Texas' Senate Bill 1788
HISD's virtual school program
Florida's virtual school program

-->Texas has a new school that could allow students at even the smallest campuses to study rarely offered subjects such as Chinese and advanced physics.

The "virtual school" could enable teens with full-time jobs to work toward their diplomas online at midnight if necessary. And children at struggling urban high schools with limited course options could log onto Advanced Placement classes offered at affluent suburban campuses.
"There's all kinds of applications. We envision lots of different models," said Jim Schul, the Harris County Department of Education's chief information officer in technology.

Although it will have to overcome a lack of funding, the statewide network — signed into law last month — is expected eventually to serve as a clearinghouse for all online courses offered by local school districts. Most of the details still need to be ironed out, but Houston students theoretically could sign up for classes offered by teachers in Dallas.

"Kids' schedules are getting so crazy," Schul said. "Families' schedules are getting so crazy. They need options."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4950707.html

Missouri Virtual High School Partners with Kaplan, eCollege

by Michelle Rutledge
http://www.thejournal.com/articles/20734
Missouri Virtual Education program, in its plans to develop a virtual high school for fall 2007, has selected Kaplan to provide its online high school curriculum. Kaplan will partner with eCollege to provide a platform and software developer BocaVox to "provide course content, curriculum development, online instruction and administration tools," according to Kaplan. Northwest Missouri State University Center of Information Technology will serve as project manager.
"This partnership will give our small school districts in Missouri access to a larger range of courses, especially advanced courses," said Curt Fuchs, Missouri Department of Secondary Education's virtual education director. "For home schooled students, dropouts, home bound, or even credit recovery, Kaplan Virtual Education along with Northwest Missouri State University will be providing another option that Missouri students have not had before."
The online high school plans to offer opportunities for full-time and part-time students who need advance courses, make-up credit and those who have scheduling conflicts. According to Kaplan, some of the courses that will be offered include physics, algebra and biology as well as advance placement courses in calculus, literature and U.S. History.
Some 700,000 K-12 students were enrolled in online courses in the 2005/2006 school year, according to research from the Sloan Consortium.
Read More:
Missouri Virtual School program
Kaplan
eCollege

Virtual school enrollment ends today

Tuesday, May 29, 2007By Mark Bliss ~ Southeast Missourian
Students may still have a chance to sign up for Missouri's new virtual school after the initial enrollment period ends at 8 a.m. today, the program's state director said.
About 1,900 elementary and high school students had enrolled in the state's new online classes as of late last week, said Dr. Curt Fuchs, director of the Missouri Virtual Instruction Program or MoVIP.
The three-week online application process began May 7, but many Missourians are just now learning of the new program. "I have people calling just about every hour," Fuchs said from his Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education office in Jefferson City.
"We could accommodate about 4,000 students this first year," Fuchs said. Those students would be able to take online classes free of charge.
That's twice as many as originally anticipated, he said. The Missouri Legislature doubled the funding for the program, providing $5.2 million to fund the online classes, Fuchs said.
Initially state education officials thought that they might have more students apply than slots available. In that case, the state envisioned filling the seats through a lottery system.
But Fuchs said it appears a lottery won't be necessary. "It looks like everybody who registers probably will get a state-funded seat," he said. "I am really thrilled I am not going to have to turn anybody away."
The DESE expects the online school will offer some 14,000 semester-long classes starting this fall.
Through late last week, students had signed up for 7,000 classes. In Southeast Missouri, students have signed up for nearly 500 online classes so far, Fuchs said.
No classes are being offered for middle-school students in the coming school year. But Fuchs said the plan is to add middle-school courses in the second year of the online school.
The state has hired two vendors, Northwest Missouri State University of Maryville and Connections Academy of Baltimore, to manage and provide the curriculum, teachers and instructional materials needed to offer the virtual classes.
Northwest Missouri State is handling the online classes for high school students. Connections Academy, a private firm, is in charge of the elementary school classes.
High school courses account for about 60 percent of the online enrollment, Fuchs said.
"I am not surprised by that," he said.
Classes for elementary students require a greater commitment of time from parents, he said. "At the elementary level, that parent is a facilitator," Fuchs said.
To make it work with children of elementary-school age, parents have to be available to work with their children online during the day, he said.
"You really, at the elementary level, can't be a working parent," Fuchs said.
Parents have to sign an agreement for their children to enroll in elementary classes, he said.
Northwest Missouri State will hire teachers from all around the state to teach the online high school courses.
Connections Academy plans to set up an office in Jefferson City and bring in teachers from the Central Missouri area to teach the elementary school classes.
One teacher will be allowed to teach up to 120 students in a single course, Fuchs said.
Some 700 educators applied for the online teaching positions. Most of the teachers will teach full time in the virtual school, Fuchs said. For the online high school classes, part-time teachers will be hired to complement the full-time staff, he said.
The virtual school has drawn a lot of interest from residents of rural Missouri.
Fuchs said he expects a lot of Missouri's home-schooled students will be full-time online students. That would mean taking six courses over the course of a semester, he said.
Fuchs said many homebound students, who are unable to attend schools for medical reasons, are signing up for the virtual classes.
"This is just a perfect solution for them," he said.

First Round Enrollment in Virtual School Closes

Tuesday, May 29, 2007, 10:01 PM
By Bob Priddy
A new kind of school begins holding sessions in mid-August. The first phase of enrollment has just ended.
About 17-hundred students are the first enrollees in Missouri's virtual school program. Education department officials are pleased they have not had to turn any children away from the program and, in fact, might allow about 700 more to sign up on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Program director Kurt Fuchs says about 25 percent of the students are full-time, mostly home-school students. The rest are going to be part-time students. He says some students will take courses through the virtual school system to get around schedule conflicts at school. Others want to accelerate their learning or take courses not available in their own schools.
He says some parents are willing to pay tuition for their children to get into the program. Fuchs says he expects to start enrolling children in the tuition program late next month.
Students in the program will have access to course material 24 hours a day. Each student will have a teacher and teacher assistant working with them.
Twelve counties still have no students signed up for the virtual school program.

South Carolina Creates Virtual School Program

Charleston.net
5/22/2007

Home-schoolers and students attending public, private or charter schools can take online classes after Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday signed a new law creating the South Carolina Virtual School Program.

The law, which will be administered by the state Department of Education, will allow students a chance to enroll in online courses that might not otherwise be available to them."It's an incredibly important step forward because, among other things, it represents another choice in education," said Sanford, who was joined in the Statehouse via the Internet by students at the Governor's School for Science and Mathematics in Hartsville.

Virtual schools are modeled after regular classroom courses, but students communicate with teachers online and e-mail their homework and other assignments. The law builds on a pilot program first offered last May with summer courses such as geometry and Web design available to students in 11 school districts.

The law will allow students to earn credits in Advanced Placement, remedial and specialty classes online. It will also ease scheduling conflicts, provide individualized instruction and help students meet graduation requirements.

Full Story

South Dakota Launches Virtual High School

South Dakota has launched a Virtual High School
with the goal of providing greater choice, flexibility
and quality for students statewide.


Welcome to South Dakota's Virtual High School
Choice. Flexibility. Quality. That's what the South Dakota Virtual High School offers: a variety of courses that students can take on their own time, all taught by qualified professionals and aligned to the state's content standards.
Because the South Dakota Department of Education approves all courses, students can be assured that course offerings meet the state's high academic standards.
Any high school student in South Dakota is eligible to take courses via the South Dakota Virtual High School. But students must register through their home school district.
Get started on virtual classes today!
http://www.sdvhs.k12.sd.us/

Virtual High School to "Open" in August

By Paul Hampel
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/24/2007

Missouri will start a virtual school on the Internet in August that officials say will offer students in public and private schools more individualized, interactive and self-paced instruction.

Students with home Internet access will have the chance to select from about 30 courses in the first year and do school work at any time of the day or night.

Curt Fuchs, Missouri's virtual school director, explained the program to south St. Louis County school superintendents at a lunch Friday at Lindbergh School District headquarters.

"This is another tool that we can offer kids so that they can be successful and graduate from high school," Fuchs, 56, said after the luncheon.

He said the program would be especially helpful for ambitious students seeking advanced courses; children who want another crack at a course they failed; and home-schoolers, particularly sick children.

Because of funding restrictions, the program will be open only to students in grades K-5 and 9-12 in the 2007-08 school year. "We're going to take it slowly initially because I'm it — I'm the program," he said.

Missouri will be the 25th state with a cyberschool program.

Fuchs said a lottery will choose students in the first year because demand is expected to be high. Applications will be accepted in May.

Originally expected to accommodate 500 students in its first year, the program got a boost last week when Gov. Matt Blunt proposed doubling spending in the first year, to $5.2 million. Fuchs said that would cover about 1,000 students.

The state expects to hire about 100 teachers in the first year. Fuchs said teachers will be hired on a contract basis and will work from home; he said they will not get retirement or other benefits.

After the initial lottery, the program will be open to any students who pay, or have districts that will pay, a $300 fee per semester class.

Students would take routine tests at home, Fuchs said.

When asked how officials could prevent cheating on at-home tests, Fuchs said, "Integrity does become an issue."

He said time limits might be used "so kids can't spend time looking answers up on Google."

Fuchs said that all students who participate, whether from public or private schools, must take the annual Missouri Assessment Program test at a supervised site.

Lindbergh Superintendent James A. Sandfort hailed the program. "It's an incredible opportunity for students, it's another choice for students, and it offers another venue for children to acquire education," he said.

Whether the program would allow flexible scheduling — for instance, so that a Lindbergh student could leave school early to take an online class at home — Sandfort said, "That's to be determined."

Online Education Slow to Load

Parents upset that new Internet school won't initially serve middle grades.

Kelly Wiese
The Associated Press

Jefferson City — Missouri, for the first time this fall, will offer hundreds of students a chance to take online courses for free throughout the state. But many parents are upset because middle-school students will be left out for now.

A state law required the education department to create a "virtual school" for kindergarten through high school students.

But the agency decided to start in stages, expecting more limited funding, so its bid request for the school's initial year was limited to areas where it expected the highest interest. Classes will be offered to kindergarten through fifth grade and to high school students in the coming school year, but a sixth through eighth grade program won't be available until the following year.

The legislature's budget process is under way. But the plan awaiting a House vote would provide $5.2 million for the virtual school in the first year — double the governor's original budget recommendation.

But education officials say that even with more money, it's too late to add middle-school grades.
That's especially frustrating to parents of middle-school students who championed the program at the Capitol.

Garry Jones, of Kansas City, has a 12-year-old daughter who is home-schooled by her parents because of her asthma and allergies. She will be in seventh grade next year, falling into the gap in the virtual education program. He said his family and many others with middle-school students traveled to Jefferson City to advocate for the bill and now aren't reaping its benefits.

"The bill was K through 12. Never was it said we would not have certain grades," said Jones, who is also the chairman of Missourians for Online Education.

Curt Fuchs, virtual education director for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said the bid process to select contractors that will offer the curriculum is lengthy and couldn't be redone in time for August.

Fuchs said he's evaluating whether there's a way to cover all grades once the winning contractors are selected, which should occur in late April.

"We haven't come up with a good solution yet," he said.

Fuchs said the state education agency is receiving 30 to 40 calls a day from people interested in the virtual school, and elected officials asked if the department could handle more students in the first year.

So the plan is to instead enroll the equivalent of 1,000 full-time students, rather than 500, in elementary and high school. In reality, many more actual students probably will take part, as some may only want one or two courses.

Jones said he told Fuchs, "The people who got you your job are not even given the opportunity to participate in the new program."

Education officials and legislators say they understand the frustration, but want to move slowly in getting the program running and work out the kinks. They pledge courses will be offered to all grade levels in the second year.

"It is still a pilot project at the end of the day," said Rep. Brian Baker, R-Belton, who has pushed to increase the budget for the coming year. "We have to take one step at a time."

Baker said he's advocating doubling the budget even knowing those three grade levels won't be available for the coming school year, reasoning that there's enough demand for the online courses and state-certified teachers that the slots will be easily filled.

Fuchs said he envisions a program that can help a student who flunked a class get caught up, or allow another to get a required course out of the way during the summer, freeing up hours during the school day for other interests. Plus, it could be just the answer for a small rural school with two students wanting to take trigonometry and no appropriate teacher.

Some families say that's part of the problem — education officials aren't focused on those who want to use the virtual school as a full-time program.

"We still don't understand completely why he chose to leave those grades out," Jones said. "I know what we've been told, but I still don't understand it."

Universities Register for Virtual Future

By Stefanie Olsen Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: February 7, 2007, 9:15 AM PST

SAN FRANCISCO--If you want to know what higher education will look like in a few years, you might ask Charles Reed, chancellor of the largest four-year university system in the United States.
As head of the California State University system--with 23 campuses, 46,000 employees and more than 400,000 students--Reed says he's worried about classroom space in the future because of, among other reasons, expanding enrollment.
Consequently, Reed said he envisions students becoming more like telecommuters. They might meet with faculty and peers one day a week on campus, and then use simulations, virtual worlds and downloaded information the rest of the week to complete coursework.
"It's not an either-or thing. We need the 'high touch,' but we need the high tech at the same time," Reed said Tuesday at Sun Microsystem's Worldwide Education and Research Conference here.
The three-day conference kicked off Tuesday to a packed hotel ballroom of roughly 400 attendees hailing from universities around the world. Sun devoted a large part of the day to selling educators on its open-source technology for classroom computing. Sun Chairman Scott McNealy himself promoted a range of Sun efforts, including Project Blackbox, which creates data centers packaged in stackable shipping containers, and Curriki.org, which focuses on creating free curriculum in the mold of Wikipedia. (Click below for complete article.)

http://news.com.com/Universities+register+for+virtual+future/2100-1032_3-6157088.html?tag=html.alert

Online Classes Go Mainstream

Online Classes Go Mainstream
For class selection, ease of scheduling and many other reasons, the shift to Web is strong, but some see problems.
By Seema Mehta, Times Staff Writer February 4, 2007

After Ben Hathaway's father was called to active duty in the Army National Guard, the 15-year-old had to help his family tend the 130 head of cattle on their 345-acre farm in Leoma, Tenn. Traditional school burned through too many daylight hours, so Hathaway started taking online classes through Lutheran High School of Orange County, some 1,750 miles away."Mom was having trouble running the farm by herself," Hathaway, who is taking algebra and world history online, said in a phone interview. "You can schedule everything on your own time. You don't have to sit for six hours a day — you can do some work, go eat, play a little on the computer and come back later and do it."Hathaway, who hopes to be a novelist, is among 1 million kindergarten through high school student enrollments in virtual schooling across the nation, according to the North American Council for Online Learning, a nonprofit organization for administrators, teachers and others involved in online schooling.Enrollment, counted as the total number of seats in all online classes, not the number of students, has grown more than 20 times in seven years, and the group expects the numbers to continue to jump 30% annually.To deal with the growth, the University of California is launching an extensive effort to make sure applicants' online high school courses are on par with traditional classroom instruction.Nearly half the states offer public school classes online, and last year Michigan became the first in the nation to require students to take an online course to graduate from high school. In California, a state senator introduced a bill last week to allow public high school students to take online classes without depriving schools of the state funding they receive for attendance.Online learning "is going to reinvent high school in the United States," said Ken Ellwein, executive director of Lutheran High School of Orange County, which created its online school last year."To keep technology away from kids while they're going to school, when they have it in every other part of their lives — it just doesn't make sense."But other educators urged caution, noting that teacher-student interaction is irreplaceable. "In the classroom, I can see from a child's eyes or body language, 'Boy, I better slow down and go back over this,' " said Gerry Wheeler, a former physics teacher who is executive director of the National Science Teachers Assn. in Arlington, Va. The U.S. Department of Education plans to release a study about the prevalence of online schooling later this year. But one survey the department completed nearly five years ago found that 36% of school districts in the nation had students enrolled in virtual school, mostly high school students. "We've certainly seen an increase," said Tim Magner, director of the department's Office of Educational Technology. "It's growing fast."He said students often enroll in online classes to take Advanced Placement or other specialty courses not available in their local schools. Making up a failed class or adding courses that would not otherwise fit in a student's schedule are other top reasons, he said. Online schools are also popular with home-schooled children, with students who are devoting large blocks of time to such activities as ballet, acting or tennis, as well as students who don't enjoy a traditional school atmosphere or who need to work."It's not a matter of intellect or aptitude. The most important factor would be the [student's] desire," said Patty Young, director of Orange Lutheran Online. "Students today really want a customized education. Why should school be confined to an old-style box with a daily schedule?" Paul Riscalla, 17, a senior at Orange Lutheran who lives in Orange, splits his time between online classes and the traditional school so he can work 40 hours a week at two jobs and play drums in a rock band."It was a way for me to have more time outside school, because I have a lot of stuff going on," he said.Other parts of the nation have a head start on virtual schooling, with 24 states running online schools. Nearly 30,000 students take classes at Florida Virtual School, which has a $43-million annual budget and, at nearly a decade old, is the nation's oldest and largest statewide online public school."Many states are realizing the world is moving in this direction, and we need to prepare kids to be able to work and exist in this type of environment," said Julie Young, co-founder of the Florida school.In California, online schools are run through private schools such as Orange Lutheran, as well as public schools, universities and businesses.

Missouri readies virtual school for classes in August

No desks. No cafeteria. No recess. No principal.

But the state of Missouri's new virtual school will have online classes for elementary and high school students starting in August.

http://www.semissourian.com/story/1183290.html

California Schools Adopting E-Tools, but Teacher Unions Are Wary

StudyWritten By: Daschell M. PhillipsPublished In: School Reform NewsPublication Date: December 1, 2006Publisher: The Heartland Institute


On September 26, the University of California and California Department of Education released the Golden State's first statewide study of virtual schools and e-tools for education.
The study, "The State of Online Learning in California: A Look at Current K-12 Policies and Practices," concluded the expansion of online education in California mirrors advances across the country, as states from Florida to Washington offer myriad online education options for students. But the report also identified several problems with the state's adoption of new technologies.
"The report started out as an ad hoc committee to find out what was happening with virtual tools in schools throughout the state of California," explained coauthor Harold Vietti, who runs an online school called the eScholar Academy, based in Red Bluff, California.
Vietti said California schools are using virtual tools in many ways, such as providing more computer access in schools and using vendor- or self-designed educational programs. The tools are most popular among schools serving fewer than 2,000 students, along with charter schools.
Facing Hurdles
Virtual schools take many forms, ranging from educational software used at home or in computer centers or classrooms, to schools whose entire curricula require the use of e-tools such as phones, computers, and software that allow students to interact remotely with teachers in real time.
Although California offers online Advanced Placement (AP) classes, credit recovery courses, and online charter schools, Vietti said bureaucracy has prevented California from making online courses part of educational policy, as other states have.
"California is a technology leader, but I believe that there is a fear that virtual school technology may take jobs away from teachers," Vietti said. "Because of this fear, California is a watch-and-wait state."
Fred Glass, a spokesman for the California Federation of Teachers union, said teachers understand technology's role as a tool in the classroom and are not afraid of virtual programs taking their place.
"Most teachers are very excited about technology tools that are user-friendly and match up with educational goals," Glass said.
Although most teachers welcome the technology that is being created for the classroom, Glass said, some are frustrated by programs that are too complex and hence require too much training.
Learning Differently
One of the concerns outlined in the study was that teachers, parents, and stakeholders fear the way virtual schools will change the way education is delivered to children, as well as the roles teachers will play in the future of education.
"Teachers are more, if not equally, important in virtual schools than in the classroom," Vietti said. "My teachers work about eight to 10 hours a day, working with students online, including weekends and holidays."
Kevin Youngblood, president of OdysseyWare, Inc., a Web-based curriculum company in Arizona, said educational software isn't designed to replace teachers but to help them enhance children's learning experiences.
"Learning can be delivered in a variety of ways," Youngblood said. "We offer a tool in a teacher's toolbox."
Increasing Access
Youngblood, whose software is used by students enrolled in approximately 100 virtual schools nationwide, said students have access to OdysseyWare courses online at any time.
That flexibility is what makes online education especially helpful to at-risk and special-education students, Youngblood said.
"Virtual schools work better for [these] students than traditional schools because individualized learning allows students to work at their own pace," Youngblood said. "They can work around other things in their lives and can access other resources to help them."
Developing the Future
Another concern outlined in the study was a fear that heavy reliance on online tools will widen the gap between students who have regular access to the Internet and those who do not--a concern Vietti said serves as an excuse for California's educational system to stay behind the times.
"Everyone can have access to computers," Vietti said. "The cost of computers is going down, and instead of buying books, schools should be buying computers. We are not preparing students for the 8-to-5 office work week--we are preparing them for what the world might look like years down the road."
The future workplace, Vietti said, may include conducting business on cell phones in the park or grading papers on the beach in Hawaii--something that isn't as universal across all industries today as it will be when today's students reach adulthood.

Cyber High Schools Start Taking Off

(CBS) The scene at Columbia High School in Lake City, Fla., is common across the country, with hallways bursting with students trying to get to their next class.

For honors student Ericka Novoa, it's pre-calculus. After a full day of lectures and catching up with friends, Ericka's school day continues when she heads home and attends English class on her computer.

"It's not as hard as I thought it would be," she says. "I like the fact that I can go at my own pace."

This advanced placement course is available at Ericka's high school, but taking the course online is more convenient for her. "I would have to get up at 5:30 and I don't like getting up that early," Ericka says.

So Ericka enrolled at the Florida Virtual School, which has been delivering course work over the Internet for 10 years. A decade ago, online learning could have been easily dismissed as a trend, but now it's more likely to become a national standard.

So far, 38 states have established so-called cyber schools. In Michigan, an online course is a now a requirement for a high school diploma.

Online learning is growing so fast, the U.S. Department of Education hasn't even begun to track the numbers. But the halls of America's high schools aren't going to clear out just yet. That's because state-funded Internet courses are designed to supplement - not replace - a student's overall education."

Beyond state-funded programs, there's another option for the non-traditional student: privately run cyber schools.

Emilia Monell eventually plans to join the professional tennis tour, but for now, her morning practice sessions are followed by afternoons on the Internet, where she gets her entire high school curriculum from the University of Miami Online High School.

"It's very rare for an athlete to go to traditional school these days. Most of it is online, at least in the tennis world," Emilia says.

As Emilia's training required more time on the court, she lobbied her parents to searched for an alternate to the classroom.

Asked how life would be different or more difficult if Emilia didn't have the online learning option, her mother Terry says, "She wouldn't be able to travel to national tournaments and take time from school off."

"Or she wouldn't be able to train in Spain like she did this past summer. There are so many things that the portable classroom is a must because otherwise her options would be so limited that it probably wouldn't pan out in terms of the bigger picture," he father Ned adds.

So far, Emilia's online experience has been panning out pretty well: she is getting straight A's. "I've worked pretty hard and I value academics so I'm doing pretty well," she tells Turner.

"We are a traditional college preparatory high school that delivers their education online," explains Howard Liebman, who runs the University of Miami Online High School.

"Online learning is a form where students have an opportunity to access their coursework completely online whether that involves the text or videos or novels and then they have the opportunity to interact with their teachers," Liebman says. "It's really a self contained form of learning on the Web."

But virtual high school means missing out on mainstays like school plays and prom. "I get a lot of socialization through tennis. A lot of academy kids are doing the same program," Emilia says. "I may not be doing what some of my peers are doing, but I think that's ok and I am doing something and learning in a different way."

For Ericka, a mix of high tech and high school works for her. "I have all my friends there, my boyfriend. If I was home all day, I wouldn't see anybody, I'd only be able to talk on the phone and it wouldn't be as real."

The number of high school students logging on for class, according to experts, is between 500,000 and a million and growing at a rate of 100,000 students per year.

©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Missouri Virtual Instruction Program Announces New Web Site

The Missouri Virtual Instruction Program (MoVIP) provides affordable, high-quality, standards-based supplemental and full-time online coursework for Missouri schools needing credit retrieval, advanced courses, curriculum enhancements and/or to resolve scheduling conflicts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What's New

Greetings from Missouri’s K-12 Virtual Instruction Program (MoVIP):

It is a privilege for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to establish a statewide virtual public school for the state of Missouri. Missouri will be joining the ranks of 24 other states that have a statewide virtual school program. MoVIP will be available for the 2007-2008 school year.

The 2006 Legislative Session passed the Missouri Virtual Public School Legislation with Governor Matt Blunt signing Senate Bill 912 in June. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the State Board of Education will oversee administration of this program.

For those who may not be familiar with online learning, MoVIP will provide all K-12 Missouri students (public, private and home schooled) equal access to a wide range of coursework with more flexibility in scheduling. Students can take an entire course, from any Internet-connected computer, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

There is much more work to be done before MoVIP becomes reality in August 2007.

The work includes:

Establishing an awareness of MoVIP throughout the state, focusing on the services and offerings that MoVIP will be able to offer all Missouri students.
Develop a Request for Proposals (RFP) to select a management vendor as well as specific content providers at all grade levels.
Develop the State Board of Education rules and regulations connected with virtual education.

The reasons that students take virtual courses vary from student to student. Examples of reasons include:

The opportunity to take Advanced Placement courses
The need to recover credit from classes failed
Home schooled and private school students who want to expand their curriculum
Students who are homebound or have special education needs
Scheduling conflicts within school
Courses not offered by school

This is not a delivery method for all students, but this initiative has the opportunity to increase access and versatility of instruction for Missouri students. We realize the potential that exists and hope that we can develop the best state virtual school possible for our students.

There is much more information to share about MoVIP and virtual education than this greeting can cover. I encourage you to visit this website often to be informed about developments connected with MoVIP. If you have questions about the program, do not hesitate to contact the Virtual School office at DESE at 573-526-4219. I am available to present to your group on the Virtual School and our goals. Please feel free to email me with your questions.

Sincerely,

Curt Fuchs, PhD
Director of Virtual School

Curt.fuchs@dese.mo.gov

DESE Virtual Schools Section

Hundreds of Kids Flock to Washington State's New Online Schools

The Seattle Times
09/11/06

Washington's two newest online schools didn't know how many students to expect when they announced they would open their virtual doors this fall. Leaders cautiously hoped for 250, maybe 300 as a start.

They were low--way low. As school starts, the two public schools are happily struggling to handle double and triple that number.

Insight School of Washington, the state's first fully online high school, stopped accepting students after 650, and has 1,000 more who've expressed interest. The Washington Virtual Academy, a K-8 based in Steilacoom, has 652 students registered, and another 500 in the application pipeline.

It's another spurt in the growth of online learning in Washington state, where more than 9,000 students took one or more online classes last year.

Going to school via computer is "not for most kids," said Bill Finkbeiner, executive director of Insight School, a partnership between a Portland company and the small Quillayute Valley School District in Forks. "Most students are going to do better in traditional high schools. But there are a significant percentage of students who don't fit in to a regular high school and, for many of them, this is a good option."

About one-quarter of Insight School's students previously were home-schooled, according to Finkbeiner.

Interest in K-12 cyberschool inspires educators

By JANESE HEAVIN of the Tribune's staff
Published Saturday, July 29, 2006

Missouri lawmakers are already calling to see how they can enroll their kids in the state's new virtual school.

"The interest is just profound," Deputy Commissioner of Education Bert Schulte told the state Board of Education on Thursday.

The General Assembly approved a virtual public school this past session and has given the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education until July 1 to get the program online.

It's too early to know how students will be selected. That's one of many details yet to be hashed out. State education officials also will need to determine which classes to offer and how the state will accommodate kids who don't have computers or Internet access at home.

But they're excited about the possibilities.

"I'm still learning," said Curt Fuchs, the former Columbia Public Schools technology director who was tapped earlier this month to direct the state's virtual school. "I see the potential out there. Ireally do."

Fuchs is talking to officials from 20-some states that already have virtual school programs to see how they operate. In many cases, he said, the online courses supplement public school credits.

He hopes to have a plan finalized in the next couple of months, with a goal of requesting proposals from potential providers by October. He also hopes to launch a Web site about the school as soon as next month.

Fuchs then wants to spend time educating Missourians about the K-12cyberschool. "It's a new concept," he said. "I plan to spend a lot of time communicating with schools and informing people and parents."

In the school's first year, the equivalent of 500 full-time students would be accepted. A student is considered full time if he takes six online courses, meaning the school can accommodate more than 500 students if some take fewer than six classes. More students would be allowed in subsequent years.

The students should represent the entire state, Schulte said, adding that they might be chosen by lottery.

Many details will be determined once the state chooses providers, Schulte said. It's likely the state will select more than one company to offer different classes. The companies would hire the teachers, who must have Missouri teaching certifications."

More than likely, they will be retired teachers or part-time teachingstaff," Schulte said. "It would be possible to do it as an additional assignment outside their regular school contracts."

Teachers would grade the online coursework, which would flow from the provider to the education department and back to the local school district. Local districts would have to accept those credits toward graduation requirements.

Although the virtual school is public, private school students also can participate without enrolling in the local district. If they choose to enroll, however, the local district would receive 15 percentof the state payments it would receive if the child were a full-time student.The providers would be paid through a separate allocation, and those funds would not affect the state's education formula.

Schulte isn't sure how the state will handle students who need computer and Internet access at home but said the state would likely help offset such costs.

Virtual classes aren't for everyone, Schulte and Fuchs stressed.

"Success in these kinds of courses requires a certain commitment on the part of the student," Schulte said. "Certainly, this will need to fit the learning style of the student. … The greatest impact will be on the student for whom this is an avenue of learning they find fits their personality and style."

Student applicants likely will be asked to fill out a questionnaire to gauge how effective an online program would be for them, Fuchs said.

Student athletes or those who work more rapidly than peers might benefit, he said."They can move through it quickly or take a year to move through a course," Fuchs said. "It's individualized. … The goal is `anyplace, anytime, any pace.' "

Fuchs doesn't expect the program to run glitch-free in its first year."It's an evolution, not a revolution," he said. "My goal is to pick and choose from those models out there right now and make it work for our Missouri students."

Fuchs plans to create a task force soon to help finalize the details, including what to name the program because Missouri State Universityin Springfield already has claim to the name Missouri Virtual School.