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School wants to woo online students back

April 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

LISBON – The village school district intends to become more aggressive in wooing back students lost to online schools.

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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Cedar Valley Voices: Online education lacks human component

March 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Iowa legislature is currently debating the role of online schools. A number of questions have been raised and must be answered if we are to proceed down this road.

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,”

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Budget expands school voucher programs

May 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

• Expands community schools’ rights to buy or lease school district buildings not being used. Cincinnati Public Schools owns multiple buildings that have gone vacant due to reconstruction or consolidation. This measure might limit the district’s options when it wants to put them on the market.

• Keeps a cap on online schools. Kasich had wanted to remove that cap, but the House wants it in effect until the General Assembly can set operational guidelines for those schools. About 27 of Ohio’s 300 charter schools are online schools. Enrollment at those so-called e-schools rose 7 percent between the 2008-2009 school year and the 2009-10 school year, compared to only a 1 percent rise at brick-and mortar charter schools.

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What’s ahead for education in Ohio? Gov. John Kasich speech offers clues

March 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Charters are public schools that use taxpayer money but are independently operated by nonprofits or companies. Ohio has 322 of them, nine of which are statewide online schools. They enroll more than 90,000 children, mostly in areas with low-ranked traditional public schools.

Fans of “Waiting for Superman” include Oprah Winfrey and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who appears in the movie and supports charter schools through his foundation.

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It’s clicks, not cliques, at online schools

February 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

SPRINGFIELD — Through a week of snow days, sixth-grader Zechariah Byrd trudged to class every day — down the basement steps to the computer desk in his Kenwood Avenue home.

Byrd attends Ohio Connections Academy, one of a burgeoning number of online schools offering a free public education in-home, with the use of a computer, netbook, textbooks plus state-certified teachers and curriculum.

Zechariah’s parents, Vonnie and Antonio Byrd, enrolled him in Connections Academy as a kindergartner after he came home from pre-school in a huff.

“We just played the whole time. We didn’t do colors, or numbers or anything,” his mother recalled him saying.

The Byrds attended a presentation at the library and were impressed with the curriculum and flexibility of online schools.

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BL enrollment lowest since 1997

October 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

However, hiring an individual to fill the new position would cost about $50,000, she said.

Tammy Phillips, Southern Local Schools EMIS coordinator, said the district started a virtual learning academy (VLA) to keep from losing students to community online schools.

The district contracts with the Jefferson County Educational Service Center in Steubenville to provide teachers.

“Kids can actually be Southern Local students but stay in their own home and take computer courses,” she said.

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E-schools offers flexibility, backers say

September 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

“It was a nice experience being in brick and mortar,” said Shelly. “It just was not right for our family.”

So the Tidwells returned to virtual school with the Ohio Virtual Academy, based near Toledo, which has seen its enrollment grow to about 8,400 students in nine years.

It is one of Ohio’s 27 online schools offering education to students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The e-schools are public charter schools that receive taxpayer dollars. They are operated by sponsors that might be a for-profit corporation, a school district or other educational entity.

Because the online charter schools are public schools, there are no tuition costs. Charter school students are counted as part of the funded enrollment base for school districts and payment to the e-schools are deducted from the foundation payment of the school district where the student lives. That cost is $5,718 per pupil, but e-schools receive more for special education students.

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E-schools provide valuable option, say participants

August 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

BEAVERCREEK — Doug and Linda Sellers grew disenchanted with traditional public education and wanted something that would meet the needs of all four of their children.

Their eldest son, Jared, was gifted but had grown bored with school.

Daughter Sarah had been bullied.

Joseph fell behind because of medical issues and youngest son, Matthew, hated school because, according to his father, he had been mislabeled as academically challenged when he was younger.

The parents said they found the answer in the Ohio Virtual Academy based near Toledo, which has seen its enrollment grow to about 8,400 students in nine years.

It is one of Ohio’s 27 online schools offering education to students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The e-schools are public charter schools that receive taxpayer dollars. They are operated by sponsors that might be a for-profit corporation, a school district or other educational entity.

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