Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School
PAVCS – Experience Quality Cyber Charter School
November 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Northeastern cyber program draws students
November 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Better fit: Frank Kahler said his son, Andrew, made the switch from PA Cyber Charter School to Northeastern’s program this fall because his family believes there will be a better gifted program offered and more individualized attention.
Andrew, a ninth-grader, will take Spanish and algebra at the high school and the rest of his courses online, using a district-provided laptop.
“He can do them whenever he wants to,” his father said.
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Pittsburgh punkers, Code Orange Kids, mature a bit with second release
November 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
What the Code Orange Kids run up against is a type of music-scene apartheid involving Pennsylvania’s liquor and smoking ordinances. But they can’t vote or drink either, since everyone in the band is 17 years old and a senior in high school: drummer/singer Jami Morgan and bassist Reba Meyers at Pittsburgh CAPA, guitarist Bob Rizzo at Baldwin, and guitarist Eric Balderose (the son of bagpiper and Calliope Folk Music Society founder George Balderose) at the PA Virtual Charter School.
Yet the band has made hay of their underage situation, according to Jami, and gleaning the best from what a teenage band in this city can attain — the alternative network of DIY spaces (Helter Shelter, Mr. Roboto Project, 222 Ormsby) and small basement shows, as well as landing on bills in front of hundreds of kids, opening The Misfits, The Bronx, Subhumans, Nekromantix and Anti-Flag.
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‘Backpack SIS’ Unveiled at iNACOL Symposium
November 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Educators attending the nation’s largest conference for online learning and technology here will get their first look at Backpack SIS – the first student information system to be fully integrated with Microsoft products – and its companion, Backpack Community, a student information portal and secure social network for students, parents and teachers.
A session on Backpack, entitled “Student Data Management: the Cornerstone of Every School,” will be presented on Monday, Nov. 15, at the iNACOL Virtual School Symposium 2010 by representatives of Microsoft, National Network of Digital Schools, and the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School (PA Cyber).
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York-area cyber school students take science offline and hands-on
November 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
After all, the York resident never finds bones when he digs through his sandbox at home, and he was excited to show off what he found on Thursday afternoon in science class — rodent bones he pulled out of owl pellets using tweezers.
“I’m gonna show my grandma!” he said with a smile.
Lucas and the several dozen other students who spent the afternoon at Nixon County Park in Springfield Township are all enrolled in Commonwealth Connections Academy, a cyber charter school.
They were doing hands-on science experiments and interacting face-to-face with other students with nary a laptop around.
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Mandatory cyber learning expands
November 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Like Burrell, many area school districts have come to recognize students’ desire for flexibility. As a result, more districts are offering online courses, and many high school teachers now incorporate online learning into regular classes.
But giving students what they want has created challenges and concerns for the districts.
Pennsylvania’s 11 cyber charter schools have expanded to enroll more than 19,000 students since the first one opened in 1998. Cyber charter tuition is paid by students’ local districts, an expense that, despite partial reimbursement from the state, has become a significant line item in many budgets. Burrell, for example, spent $341,000 on cyber charter tuition in 2008-09, the equivalent of 2.3 mills in taxes.
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ACTE Launches New Career Readiness Series in Paper Describing Impact of Online Learning
November 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment
“Online education prepares today’s students for tomorrow’s world,” said Lee Dury, national director of educational partnerships at The Princeton Review-Penn Foster.
Online learning opportunities are offered across all the 16 career clusters within CTE, with many programs using a hybrid approach that combines online and face-to-face instruction. For example, in many online CTE courses, students’ class work, lectures and homework assignments are covered by the online portion of the class, and students acquire their hands-on-skill training in a lab, internship or clinical experience.
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Cyber School: The Truth Revealed
November 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Many objections and misconceptions to cyber school stem from the way society depicts the internet as a social black hole. Parents concern develops from the idea that their children will suffer from a lack of socialization — this is a very valid concern. However, it becomes important to understand that isolation does not come from being alone; rather, it comes from being surrounded by few like-minded peers. In actuality, I have never met most of my cyber school friends and yet I feel that I have formed deeper friendships in one year at cyber school than eight years in a traditional school.
This idea delves into the core of how different people learn and interact differently. Some people do thrive in an environment full of people. However, some work more efficiently at their own pace and cyber school provides an alternative to those students. Additionally, PALCS offers both a University Scholars Program and a Center for the Performing Arts, which offers classes for gifted students and theatrically motivated students, respectively.
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National Network of Digital Schools Launches STEM Planet
October 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment
BEAVER, Pa., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The National Network of Digital Schools is proud to announce the launch of STEMplanet.org, a new and innovative forum website designed to spark interest in and prepare today’s students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
“We know that curricula in the STEM subjects have become highly sought after as a result of America’s decreasing competitiveness in economic and technical arenas over the last decade,” said Caroline Hardman, Special Projects Coordinator at NNDS. “While it’s critical that we invest in preparing young people for careers in these fields, more needs to be done to bridge the gap between textbooks and practical application. By building and maintaining a forum website where students and experts can share information and discuss current scientific and engineering topics at their convenience, we are providing a solution to the issue.”
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State Rep. Bernie O’Neill seeks another term
October 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment
“Education is just not equal right now,” O’Neill said, citing the disparities between rural and suburban schools as well as urban and suburban.
If the virtual school became a reality all Pennsylvania students could receive the same educational opportunities via the computer. The Internet would allow students to participate in programs that are not offered at their school or for which there is no teacher available to teach.
The plan would also save school districts money because the online courses could be used in lieu of a tutor for homebound students.
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