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Traditional School vs. Virtual School

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

But about 250,000 American students attended virtual schools last year. They saw their teachers on their computer screens rather than in person. They didn’t have to wait for the bus or get locked out of their lockers or have the excuse that they left their homework at home. But they also didn’t get to see all of their friends, have a class discussion in the same way, give a report to their class or interact with a smart board.

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Morning Bell: Top 10 Education Stories of 2011

December 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

7. House Education and the Workforce Committee moves to reduce federal role in education. This year, the House Education and the Workforce Committee put forward some major proposals to begin the important work of reducing the federal role in education. Two important proposals were introduced: one, by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), would trim the number of programs under NCLB from around 80 down to 43. Another by Chairman John Kline (R-MN), would allow states more flexibility to spend federal education dollars in a way that best meets the needs of local students. Both are good first steps to returning more power to state and local leaders, and reducing Washington’s bloated role in education.

6. Online learning growth accelerates. In 2011, a growing number of families decided to take advantage of the online learning options now available for K-12 students across the country. According to Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning, there are now 30 states with full-time online learning schools, open to students from districts across the state. Forty states offer state-run virtual schools, online charter schools are proliferating, and many more families are taking advantage of private online learning providers. Across the country, students are taking millions of courses online, customizing their educational experiences.

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School of Dreams teaches students more than the basics

October 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The School of Dreams Academy is giving students and parents choices.

That’s what SODA’s Principal Michael Ogas stresses most about Valencia County’s only state authorized charter school in Los Lunas.

The school, which is home to 15 teachers, 280 students and six computer labs, utilizes a cutting-edge software, or “courseware” program, called Education2020, which provides students with a virtual classroom setting on their computers that teaches them their core classes at their own pace.

The courseware creates a one-on-one experience for students, and since work is completed at a student’s own pace, a student is able to advance to the next grade level if they are able, as well as work on their assignments at home.

And of course, in addition to E2020, each class has a teacher to instruct and help students in person. The courseware is not only aligned to state standards, but national standards as well, meaning SODA students are being educated at a national academic level.

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Virtual school is a cloudy vision

August 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

FARMINGTON — The Farmington Municipal school board of education saw too many “grey areas” surrounding a proposed virtual charter school during the school’s public hearing Thursday afternoon.

The New Mexico Virtual Academy went before the board and about 20 members of the public in an attempt to persuade the community that the academy would offer a new alternative within public school education. It would be the first virtual charter school in the state if approved.

“It’s not for every kid,” said Mary Gifford, senior vice president of K12 Inc., the company which would oversee curricula for the academy.

Though aimed primarily toward local students who do not fit into the traditional public school system, it would cater statewide to students with special needs; students who have fallen behind in school; students who want to move at a faster pace; or students looking to finish their high school education without having to physically return., said academy board member Larry Palmer.

Students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade could enroll. Local students would be the primary demographic, though students could enroll statewide.

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Reintroducing the trustworthy banker

August 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

O’Leary began his banking career at The Bank of New York in 1964, and worked at banks in Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. He served as a faculty member and thesis advisor at ABA’s Stonier Graduate School of Banking for more than two decades, and served as long as a faculty member for ABA’s undergraduate and graduate commercial lending schools.

Today he works as a consultant and expert witness, and serves as instructor for ABA e-learning courses and has been a frequent speaker in ABA’s Bank Director Telephone Briefing series. You can hear free audio interviews with Ed about workouts here.

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Their View: Fulfilling promise, avoiding pitfalls, of virtual learning in New Mexico

August 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Expanding virtual learning opportunities is a critically important step for New Mexico. Virtual schooling was a critical component of the “Florida Model” for education reform, which helped transform achievement across student sub-groups there from nearly worst to first within a decade. The Florida Reform model has since been adopted by Gov. Susana Martinez — with good reason.

Academic outcomes indicate the state’s traditional schooling system is not up to the task. New Mexico ranks 49th in fourth-grade reading proficiency; 48th in eighth-grade math proficiency; and 50th in graduation rates. Poor funding does not explain such poor performance.

Per-pupil education spending has increased 54 percent faster than the rate of inflation since 1991-92. With a $400 million budget deficit, such performance is no longer tenable — and state policymakers know it.

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We Can Be Leaders in E-Learning

July 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Expanding virtual learning opportunities is a critically important step for New Mexico. Virtual schooling was a critical component of the “Florida Model” for education reform, which helped transform achievement across student subgroups there from nearly worst to first within a decade. The Florida reform model has since been adopted by Gov. Susana Martinez – with good reason.

Academic outcomes indicate the state’s traditional schooling system is not up to the task. New Mexico ranks 49th in fourth-grade reading proficiency; 48th in eighth-grade math proficiency; and 50th in graduation rates. Poor funding does not explain such poor performance. Per-pupil education spending has increased 54 percent faster than the rate of inflation since 1991-92. With a $400 million budget deficit, such performance is no longer tenable – and state policymakers know it.

For the rest of the article, go to We Can Be Leaders in E-Learning.

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Their View: Fixing our schools and the money to do it

July 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Paul Gessing finds it hard to believe that “parents and the public are apathetic about improving educational results”. He believes it’s more likely that the government monopoly “stifle[s] choice, lead[s] to a feeling of helplessness and lack of empowerment among parents and their children, and lead[s] to a belief that the best we can do is the status quo.”

Throw in school choice, rigor, competition, technology (online schooling) and an admirable reminder that we focus on the needs of the children and the battle is joined. This would be a good time for you to consult the Sun-News (or pay 50 cents for access to my files) and read both columns before comes the definitive word.

You’re a pretty sharp bunch. You have to decipher the lot of us assailing you from the pages of the Sun-News, but there are still a few of you to whom I feel an obligation to clarify things regarding education. That would be those afflicted by Bill O’Reilly and his ilk, who translate a brief, personal experience in the classroom into a much broader expertise.

For the rest of the article, go to Their View: Fixing our schools and the money to do it

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Cash-strapped states consider virtual classes, despite lack of research

January 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“The research is in a very nascent condition right now and it’s well behind what’s getting implemented,” said Means, who is the policy director of SRI International, a non-profit research center. “Things are getting implemented because they seem reasonable to people and in some cases because there’s a kind of a cost saving goal or an access goal for kids.”

Idaho, for example, has offered virtual classes for years because that instructional approach gives kids in its many rural communities greater access to courses. Still, the state has never made such courses mandatory, prior to the present proposal. Only Tennessee, Michigan, and Alabama require students to either take an online course or have an “online experience” in a class to graduate. In New Mexico, students must either take an honors, dual-credit or distance-learning class. That’s still a far cry from requiring kids to take 20 percent of their courses online, which is what is being proposed in Idaho.

For the rest of the article, go to Cash-strapped states consider virtual classes, despite lack of research

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School Choice Offers Opportunity for the Teaching Profession

January 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As technology changes and evolves, the world of education and teaching will undoubtedly change. Teachers across the country must stay ahead of the curve.

Although some teachers and the unions see school choice as foreboding for the public school outlook, school choice encompasses empowerment for the parent to choose an environment that employs teachers in all arenas. A new era has been ushered in for education. Once limited to rigid traditional school terms and schedules, teachers are employed in traditional public schools, charters, private schools, religious schools, and online schools just to name a few. Educators will in turn have choices themselves when deciding when, where and how to teach kids.

For the rest of the article, go to School Choice Offers Opportunity for the Teaching Profession

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