Registration for second semester at Tacoma Virtual Learning, the online education program for Tacoma Public Schools students, is now open.
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NEW Walla Walla connects with online school
January 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
WALLA WALLA – Walla Walla Public Schools has partnered with a St. Louis-based online learning firm to offer online courses to local students.
The district began offering classes through Greenways Academy at the start of this school year, following an initial trial run with some students over the summer. Any student – even those not in Walla Walla schools – can elect to take one or more classes to supplement coursework, to make up classes, or simply as an alternative to traditional schooling.
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New Online High School Revealed
January 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Giant Campus of Washington, the state’s first online high school dedicated to teaching technology and business skills to public high school students, was granted multi-year approval to operate in Washington State by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) yesterday, following a lengthy application process that included accreditation by The Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) and a rigorous review by a team of online education experts.
“We’re very pleased to announce this approval so early in our school year,” said School Director James Peters. “The approval process developed by the state is very thorough. It looked at every aspect of our program in detail, so it’s great to get that kind of validation for what we’re doing so early on.”
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Best Online High Schools gets new design
December 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Best Online High Schools has now been updated with a new design and new features. This new version will continue to provide you with the best information available on the Internet about online high schools.
Giant Campus of Washington Online High School Approved by OSPI
December 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Giant Campus of Washington, the state’s first online high school dedicated to teaching technology and business skills to public high school students, was granted multi-year approval to operate in Washington State by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) yesterday, following a lengthy application process that included accreditation by The Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) and a rigorous review by a team of online education experts.
“We’re very pleased to announce this approval so early in our school year,” said School Director James Peters. “The approval process developed by the state is very thorough. It looked at every aspect of our program in detail, so it’s great to get that kind of validation for what we’re doing so early on.”
For the rest of the article go to Giant Campus of Washington Online High School Approved by OSPI
Online learning gaining traction in South Sound
December 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Tacoma student Chelsea Ballenger tried both traditional and alternative high schools. She enrolled in Tacoma Community College’s Fresh Start high school completion program.
But the 18-year-old didn’t feel at home academically until she enrolled in Tacoma Virtual Learning, a new online program offered for the first time this fall by Tacoma Public Schools.
“I wanted to have a different relationship with school,” Ballenger said.
Studying online, on her own time, allows her to focus better than in a traditional high school classroom, she said.
“You are in your own world, doing research you want to do,” she added. “It’s a different level of responsibility. You feel better about yourself.” Ballenger, who works nearly full time at a department store and attends classes online, is one of about 100 students enrolled in the new Tacoma program. Tacoma contracts for services with Spokane Virtual Learning, a program operated by Spokane Public Schools with Spokane teachers.
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US teenage teacher inspires future educators
December 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Miss Svitak first began writing aged three and her first book was published four years later. She studies part-time online through the Washington Virtual Academy and part-time she attends Redmond Junior High School. She is also the youth representative for the United Nations World Food Programme.
Her mother, Joyce, who accompanies her around the world, said: “She has a very heavy travel schedule and this way she gets to go at her own pace and she will progress faster if she can. Her travel is not only work, but is about learning along the way.”
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Five Ed Chiefs Undertake ‘Aggressive’ Reforms in New Group
December 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
How does that translate into a list of policy bullet points? The five education leaders put these at the top of their list: “value-added” ways of evaluating teachers and principals; more rigorous accountability systems based not on inputs but results; raising academic standards; and expanding school choice. The chiefs don’t walk in lock step on the choice issue, though. They said they all agree that students should have more charter and virtual school options, but some of the chiefs “may not go as far as others” on other forms of choice—an apparent reference to vouchers.
The chiefs said they are talking with other commissioners and state superintendents about joining their group, but declined to name names.
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School district hires online coordinator
November 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
With more and more students taking online classes, the Issaquah School District has hired an online coordinator to help students manage their questions and schedules.
The new online learning coordinator, Susan Canaga, will serve as a liaison between students and the companies or districts offering online learning.
The 2010 technology levy passed by voters pays for her salary, district spokeswoman Sara Niegowski said.
Issaquah students can receive up to two credits for taking online classes outside of the district, with most classes rating a half-credit.
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How The Washington Post Cheers On As The Washington Post Company Destroys Education
November 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The Washington Post runs some charter schools, most of them via the aptly named Kaplan Virtual Education, a subsidiary that runs charter schools in six states that affords kids the awesome opportunity to attend school entirely on the Internet after fifth grade. I do not know how this works or who decided that was a reasonable idea, but with so many states and municipalities more broke than the newspaper industry, I can’t imagine that such a low-overhead method of educating the next generation would not represent a “growth industry.” And that is good news for the Washington Post Company, because the online college degree business that comprises the biggest chunk of its revenue stream—about 60,000 of Kaplan Higher Education’s 65,000 enrolled customers in 2009 were online students—is under serious fire. Ninety-one percent of the division’s annual revenues come from federally-guaranteed student loans, but only 28% of Kaplan alumni are paying them back. That’s because they can’t find jobs, even though getting a job is the only reason anyone ever signed up for an online college degree to begin with. With dismal statistics like that, you’d think Kaplan would have to do a lot of lying to get people to enroll in its programs, and you would be right, as the undercover GAO investigators learned when they talked to recruiters:
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