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‘Virtual world’ helps real Maine students escape rural isolation

January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

When the virtual world went live in September 2010, it had just one “level,” which was a dead ringer for Mount View High School. Students can use their avatar to socialize with others and then use them to walk into virtual classrooms, where they sit at a computer terminal and begin their actual lessons in classes such as biology, English and math. Real teachers can pop in and out of the world, checking in on the students and their progress.

“They’re very excited to talk to other people,” Hughes said of the students. “This is what our students wanted — a very customized, human touch. They respond to it very well.”

In order to get the credit for their school efforts, students need to demonstrate proficiency in the subject, not just log hours in the world.

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Online Classes Accelerate Math for Middle Schoolers, Research Finds

December 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Eighth-graders who take an online Algebra I course score higher on end-of-year algebra assessments than other students who take the standard instructor-led math program offered by their schools and are twice as likely to follow an advanced course sequence in high school as their peers. Those results came out of a multi-year study done in 68 mostly rural schools in Maine and Vermont and could influence decisions by more middle schools to begin offering Algebra I classes.

The research was conducted by a team at Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI), one of 10 laboratories funded through the Institute of Education Sciences at the United States Department of Education to perform research for informing policies and educational practices in the area of improving student achievement.

As described in “Access to Algebra I: The Effects of Online Mathematics for Grade 8 Students,” a team of eight researchers randomly assigned a group of volunteer schools in both states to offer either an online Algebra I course to their “algebra-ready” students during the 2008-2009 school year or to serve as a control school by offering their standard math curriculum. At the end of the school year, the researchers collected results of an algebra achievement test and a general math achievement test for each of the 440 students who participated.

In spring 2009 they also collected information from the students about what high schools they planned to attend and which math classes they planned to take. Then the researchers followed them into high school to collect additional data, including which ninth grade math classes they took and what grades they earned and what 10th grade classes they were enrolled in.

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UMaine system ramp sup ads, tries to reverse trend

December 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The University of Maine System is trying to get into your head

Television commercials, radio spots and newspaper ads started running this fall as part of a $2 million initiative aimed at reversing a decline in enrollment that stands in stark contrast to national enrollment figures.

In the past decade, enrollment at the system’s seven schools has shrunk by about 3,000 students — a drop of nearly 9 percent. During the same period, enrollment in the nation’s public four-year universities has risen about 20 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

In response, the system has developed a new four-year strategic plan to attract students by adding online programs, easing the transfer process and marketing more aggressively. The goal is to increase new-student enrollment by 6 percent by the fall of 2015.

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Rules may slow charter schools

November 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

AUGUSTA — Maine’s new law authorizing charter schools says they can start operating July 1, but potential founders say the proposed enrollment rules would force them to delay opening until 2013.

The rule says that a student’s parent must submit a declaration of intention to enroll by the third Tuesday in January before school begins. They must commit to enroll by Feb. 15.

However, it is highly unlikely that any charter school will be approved by then. Four of the seven members of the State Charter School Commission will not be appointed until the Legislature reconvenes in January.

According to the law, charter schools may be authorized by the State Charter School Commission, a local school board or a regional collaborative of authorizers.

Only the commission can authorize a virtual charter school, and it is limited to 10 schools in the first decade.

An authorizer must issue a request for proposals that sets forth “the authorizer’s vision and the performance framework” for the school. The authorizer has 90 days to decide on an application after it is submitted.

The Department of Education will accept comment on the proposed rules until Dec. 2. After reviewing all comments, the department will forward a final proposed rule to the Secretary of State’s office. The Legislature also will review the rules before they are adopted.

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K12 (LRN) Announces Quarterly Results

November 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

K12 Inc. (K12) is a technology-based education company. The Company offers curriculum and educational services designed to facilitate individualized learning for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, or K-12. The Company delivers its learning system to students primarily through virtual public schools and are building an institutional business with sales directly to school districts. K12 offers virtual public schools its curriculum, online learning platform and varying levels of academic and management services, which can range from targeted programs to complete turnkey solutions. In addition, parents can purchase its curriculum and learning solutions directly to facilitate or supplement their children’s education. In April 2010, K12 formed a joint venture with Middlebury College known as Middlebury Interactive Languages LLC (MIL) to develop online foreign language courses. In July 2010, the Company acquired all of KC Distance Learning, Inc. (KCDL).

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Time for Virtual Schooling to Grow-Up

October 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Virtual schooling is a good idea. Over the past decade or so, online education has proven itself a valuable component of the learning system, from elementary to post-secondary. I personally use a lot of online learning in my own teaching, so I am a tried and true advocate for online learning.

But, it needs to grow up. And fast. As online learning approaches the knee of the exponential curve, we can’t ignore it as just a small tangential sandbox. With 200,000 full-time virtual students nationwide and growing, it is core to the system now and we need to treat it that way.

In a new brief my partners Gene Glass and Kevin Welner, of the National Education Policy Center, articulate many of the current problems in the P-12 online learning space. There are serious, documented quality concerns and in some cases a near total lack of traditional accountability and oversight. The Washington Post this morning provided a good summary. The abuses are appalling and could cause a national backlash against the use of online learning in the P-12 learning system.

For the rest of the article, go to Time for Virtual Schooling to Grow-Up

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Dispatches

June 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Former Westbrook Superintendent Reza Namin, who resigned in March, is one of five finalists for a national superintendent-of-the-year award.

The National Association of School Superintendents announced the finalists Thursday. The other four are from Colorado, South Carolina, Louisiana and Wisconsin.

Theresa Daem, the association’s executive director, wrote in a news release that Namin’s outstanding achievements in Westbrook included the development of a strategic plan for the district, reduction in drop-out rates and the initiation of virtual high school courses.

Namin, who came to Westbrook two years earlier from the Ralph C. Mahar School District in Orange, Mass., announced in March that he had accepted a job as superintendent of the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District in central Massachusetts. He planned to stay through the end of the school year, but the Westbrook School Committee asked him to step down, as the district faced a budget crisis.

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The Universal Notebook: Are virtual schools real schools?

February 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“Maine’s schools face a number of challenges in the years ahead, but digital learning holds the promise of improving student outcomes at a time of declining school funding and plunging student enrollment. The time has come for a major digital learning initiative, led by Maine’s next governor. With the right policies in place, Maine could ensure that all of its students have access to the digital learning programs they need to assure their success in school and beyond.”

Bowen then goes on to tout the virtues of the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School in New Hampshire as a model of what he foresees for Maine. The N.H. school serves some 7,000 high school kids with an online curriculum borrowed from the Florida Virtual School.

For the rest of the article, go to The Universal Notebook: Are virtual schools real schools?

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Group touts plan for charter schools in Maine

February 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Community School puts together a budget from donations and tuition payments from eight districts that send students. A charter school law would give the school a steadier stream of funding, said Joseph Hufnagel, who directs the school’s residential program.

Mike Muir said a charter school law would allow his virtual high school program, which works with a dozen Auburn students, to work with more districts.

And the law would let the school in Cornville reopen, after it was closed last year by School Administrative District 54.

For the rest of the article, go to Group touts plan for charter schools in Maine

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Educational overhaul looms for Sanford, SAD 60

January 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

While the training of faculty and staff will begin right away, other changes will not go into effect until fall when the new learning pathways coordinator begins working with first-year high school students and first- and second-year technical school students (juniors and seniors) and Virtual High School.

“The online high school learning program will allow students for whom their needed pathway to high school completion does not exist at Sanford High School to go online and take the courses they need to complete their pathway, for example Mandarin Chinese language or associate degree courses not offered at York County Community College,” St. Cyr said.

For the rest of the article, go to Educational overhaul looms for Sanford, SAD 60

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