Pennsylvania Online High Schools

Dover Area School District students who thought “no more teachers, no more books” when school closed for summer sort of got their wish.

But probably not in the way they thought.

About 40 teachers went through training last week so they can teach in Dover Cyber Academy, an online classroom program that was in pilot mode last school year.

It’s part of Dover’s push to offer more scheduling options for students and to reclaim those who had enrolled in cyber charter schools elsewhere, said Dana Baker, assistant superintendent.

The training taught teachers how to use the software, how to teach without textbooks and how to overcome other hurdles to a cyber model.

For the rest of the article, go to Dover adds online classes with local teachers

The latest book on Stephen Catanzarite’s reading list is “Return to the Little Kingdom,” about the mad geniuses who launched Apple Computer 30 years ago.

“The irony is that I’m reading it on my iPad, so I know how the story ends,” Mr. Catanzarite said.

His own story, meanwhile, is following a similar arc, though the ending is not as clear.

Mr. Catanzarite is managing director of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland, one of several spinoffs from the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, which was founded in Midland.

But somehow his name pops up in connection with every new idea to emerge from the Midland educational empire.

For the rest of the article, go to A newsmaker you should know: Catanzarite behind new ideas at PA Cyber school

East Penn School District officials who have long bemoaned the rising cost of students lost to cyber charter schools are making an aggressive push to win them back.

The district has joined the increasing number of schools in the region getting into the cyber charter school business in a move largely meant to save its taxpayers money

School directors voted this week to join the Lehigh Valley Cyber Consortium, a group of districts pooling resources to offer online courses through a Pittsburgh-based firm.

It’s part of the district’s summer-long campaign to market East Penn schools to both cyber charter and charter school students who cost the district roughly $2.5 million this past school year, according to Superintendent Thomas Seidenberger.

“We’re not strong-arming,” Seidenberger said. “We’re just trying to give parents a choice. We’ve been screaming about the high cost of cyber schools. This is a practical solution.

For the rest of the article, go to East Penn wants cyber students back

The Commonwealth Connections Academy (CCA)-Lehighton held its commencement at Penn’s Peak, Jim Thorpe last night. Thirty-one students entered to the music of “Pomp and Circumstance.” Each wore a black gown with a cap and tassel. They looked just like any other graduating class. But CCA graduates have one distinction-many had never even met their teachers in person. That’s because CCA, accredited by the Middle States Association, is free public cyber school, an online school that serves students in grades K-12 with state-certified teachers and full-time licensed school counselors.

Greg Gettle, CCA high school principal welcomed the graduates and their family and friends to the second graduating class from Lehighton. He said that CCA is growing rapidly. Last year there were 104 graduates from four locations throughout Pennsylvania-Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Butler and Lehighton. This year there are 230 graduates. There are 33 from the Lehighton area.

“People wonder what happens to our students after graduation. Just like any other school, we have many 2010 students who have earned scholarships and many are going on to further their educations, some are entering the armed forces and others plan to enter the work field. I think it speaks well of the class of 2010.”

He shared with everyone the good news that starting with the Juniors of 2010, they will be entitled to a $1,000 scholarship, Sophomores of 2010 will receive a $2,000 scholarship and Freshmen of 2010 will receive a $3,000 scholarship upon graduation.

He told the parents of the graduating class of 2010 that they were as much a part of graduation as the graduates and promised them that while they may not be appreciated by their sons and daughters today, they will in years to come.

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“The iPad may prove to be a useful tool to put in the hands of cyber school students,” said Dr. Nick Trombetta, CEO and founder of the 9,000-student Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School.

Dr. Trombetta attended the Apple Education Leadership Summit 2010 in Dallas, Texas, April 21-23.

“We attended the summit to begin a conversation with Apple about educational uses for the iPad,” said Dr. Trombetta. PA Cyber administrators have begun to experiment with the iPad and to look at apps – customized applications – that could put educational resources literally at a student’s fingertips. No iPads have yet been placed with students.

PA Cyber is uniquely positioned to experiment with the iPad because the school’s size, flexibility, experience and culture allows it to adapt more quickly than traditional schools to new educational methods and advances in technology, said Dr. Trombetta.

Dr. Trombetta said PA Cyber, like Apple, is a leader and innovator. The first statewide K-12 public cyber charter school in Pennsylvania, PA Cyber in its 10 years of existence has pioneered online educational methods, systems and the use of new technology. For instance, the school has converted nearly 100 percent to customized consumable textbooks that students keep, saving staff time and shipping expense while encouraging textbook content to be continually updated.

Downloadable digital versions of textbooks for more than 150 PA Cyber online courses – about two-thirds of the school’s course catalog – already have been created, though at this time PA Cyber has chosen to continue providing printed textbooks, according to Dr. Trombetta. Downloadable to a student laptop computer or mobile devices such as the iPad, digital versions of both custom and standard textbooks are available through arrangements such as per-student license agreements with publishers.

“The iPad already contains a lot of the technology we use now to deliver instruction, along with other innovative features which could help students to learn,” said Dr. Trombetta. He said PA Cyber staff will meet soon with Apple representatives to continue the school’s look at the iPad.