Superintendent Don Thompson reported at the recent board finance committee meeting he intends to ask they create the title of online school coordinator and combine it with another position, the purpose of which is to stop the loss of Lisbon students to online schools and encourage others who left to return.

As online schools have proliferated, so has the exodus of Lisbon students to these schools. To address the loss, Thompson said Lisbon will be increasing its online offerings.

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Virtual Community School of Ohio offers students in grades K-12 a high-quality, accredited online education from the comfort and safety of their homes.

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Mowery said students at the alternative school do their work through the Virtual Learning Academy and by using computer stations in a classroom.

“We have the capability to do that,” he said.

Mowery said Huntington’s use of the alternative school varies from month to month. Paint Valley Superintendent Gary Uhrig described his district’s use of the school as “sparingly.” Southeastern and Zane Trace used it “rarely,” superintendents Brian Justice and Richard Spindler said. Union-Scioto Superintendent Dwight Garrett said his district “did not use it with high frequency.”

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With levies not an option after six consecutive failures at the ballot box, officials are considering several proposed strategies — from redistricting students to make better use of staff and classroom space to rolling out a virtual school to keep more students in the district.

Parents of students and other district residents are being asked to weigh in on the proposals during the next month, before the school board potentially takes a vote on the changes.

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The first concern is to follow the money. The funding that would go to a local school district and then percolate through the local economy now would go to an out-of-state corporation.

There is also the question of quality. The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow with 10,000 students in Ohio had test scores ranking above just 14 of the 609 school districts in the state. In 2010, barely half its third graders scored proficient or better on state reading tests, compared with the state average of 80 percent.

The Center for Research and Education Outcome looked at results in Pennsylvania, specifically the arguments about individually tailored lesson plans which are provided to teachers who typically have classes of 50-100 students. Susan Ohanian, an educational consultant, created three online student identities and took all the first- and second-grade social studies courses as a research project. When she reported that “Johnny wasn’t getting it,” the answer from K-12 (another on-line company) was “repeat the lesson until you get it right,”

For the rest of the article, go to Cedar Valley Voices: Online education lacks human component

In the coming months, OHVA will host multiple free events in local communities across the state, including in-person and online information sessions and other education events for parents and children. These events will give families an opportunity to learn about the program, speak with teachers and school staff, and learn more about how so many children succeed with OHVA.

For the rest of the article, go to Ohio Virtual Academy Now Enrolling Students for 2012-2013 School Year

That vision might seem exaggerated, but as virtual education continues to break into the mainstream of K-12 and higher education, and expands rapidly in job-training programs, his imaginary view of the future of education might have a stronger connection to reality than one might think at first glance.

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Linik was chosen by the management team for her persistence in promoting and exposing students to foreign language. She is highly involved with the Ohio Foreign Language Association. She also hosted the first-ever VCS student teacher.

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The Associated Press reports that more than 200,000 kindergarten to 12th grade students are enrolled in full-time “virtual charter schools” in at least 40 states. That number soars to two million schoolchildren nationwide when one takes into account students who are enrolled in at least one course.

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Although mom Rachel Barrington teaches English as a Second Language in Talawanda, she takes her daughter Grace to a Hamilton elementary every day, taking advantage of Ohio’s open enrollment.

“We’ve always just been more involved in the Hamilton community,” Barrington said. “So when Hamilton started offering open enrollment five years ago, we moved over.” The other Barrington daughter, Claire, went to Monroe Elementary prior to the opening of Ridgeway and stayed in Hamilton schools up through the seventh grade, but now a freshman, she does her school work through the on-line Ohio Virtual Academy.

For the rest of the article, go to Open enrollment hurts some schools in funding