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Frontier Virtual Charter High School Fires Entire Teaching Staff

April 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Layoffs may be on the wane, but they haven’t stopped entirely. Just ask the teachers at Philadelphia’s Frontier Virtual Charter High School.

On March 9, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, the Frontier school laid off its entire teaching staff. For the past month, the PDN reports, classes have been suspended and Frontier’s 85 students have been hanging around at home, unsure of what the future holds.

News of the faculty implosion at Frontier comes within hours of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest monthly jobs report — a document that seems encouraging until you look past the headline.

The unemployment rate fell to 8.2 percent in March, according to the report issued Friday — a continuation of the very gradual decline it’s been on since September. But analysts believe that number is dwindling because more and more job seekers aregetting frustrated and abandoning their search, thereby falling out of the ranks of the officially “unemployed.”

And many of the new jobs added in March were low-paying positions in the food services industry – not the kind of work that will drive a broader economic recovery.

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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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Virtual schools face increased attention of politicians, researchers

March 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Recent studies suggesting declining achievement among full-time public virtual school students don’t always distinguish between publicly and privately run schools. Still, the private sector and its two biggest for-profit providers—K12 Inc. and Connections Education—appear to be taking most of the heat.

Some have begun to ask whether those companies have exaggerated student achievement to drive investment. One stockholder even filed a lawsuit in late January against Herndon, Va.-based K12 alleging that the company violated securities law with statements it made about its students’ performance on standardized tests.

Researchers, meanwhile, have warned that virtual public schools run by independent for-profit and nonprofit organizations are growing faster than states can hope to regulate them. They also say that, while virtual schools’ struggles to meet some performance measures may stem from the enrollment of many students who have problems in brick-and-mortar schools and take the virtual alternative as a last resort, those students failing to complete their studies is equally troubling under funding models in which money follows a one-time count of student enrollment from early in the academic year.

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T.E.A.C.H. Co-Founder Takes on Corbett’s Budget

February 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Not all charter schools are created equal, though. Some charter schools truly are driving real reform with student-centered policies. However, these are not the norm. Most charters are big business-run factories with a driving purpose to lower costs and increase profits no matter what that does to the widgets … I mean students, they produce.

For instance, a 2004 study done by the Department of Education found that charter schools “are less likely than traditional public schools to employ teachers meeting state certification standards.” A national evaluation by Stanford University found that 83 percent of charter schools perform worse than public schools.

And it only gets worse for cyber charter schools. Fewer than 20 percent of Pennsylvania’s cyber charters meet national standards for reading and math known as AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress).

But the cost is so low; the profits so high! Provide a kid with a computer and software and you’re done. Maybe you have a handful of actual living, breathing teachers on staff to provide instruction via a chat room. Compare those costs with that of public schools. Just the cost of running an actual brick-and-mortar building is more.

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Beyond the textbook: PISD marks millionth view with Techbook

November 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Plano ISD also recently reached one million views of Discovery Education’s digital videos. The implementation of the Discovery Education’s Science Techbook and the high usage of Discovery Education digital videos demonstrate Plano ISD’s leadership to transform its classrooms into highly engaging 21st century learning environments, said Associate Superintendent of Science and Technology Jim Hirsch.

“I am very proud of the technology that is being used in our classrooms,” Hirsch said. “Discovery Education has played a big part in our student learning, and I am so glad to be able to share this milestone with them as well as with our students and staff.”

The implementation of Discovery Education’s Science Techbook and the high usage of the its digital resources have worked to improve student engagement and achievement, as well as attract the very best courses and teachers, Madden said.

“I love the idea of virtual education and distance learning,” said Madden. “There are things that can be done that go beyond what they are doing in the classroom and it’s time they experienced that.”

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Schoolwires® Introduces Nimbus™ Safe Social Learning Environment Designed to Engage Students in Familiar Facebook-like Platform

November 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Many districts are struggling to find a way to integrate interactive technologies into the classroom for more engaged learning. A significant barrier to providing the engaging social media technologies that students are accustomed to is doing so within a safe and secure environment. Currently, numerous districts are discussing limiting access to, and interaction on, social media sites like Facebook because of concerns with internet safety and potential improper teacher/student contact.

“Nimbus addresses the need to interact with students in a medium that students naturally use, increasing engagement and learning, but in a secure and monitored environment,” said Christiane Crawford, President and Chief Executive Officer, Schoolwires. “In an open network, the risks associated with unmanaged membership and unfiltered content are too high. Providing students with a safe online learning environment is essential for districts that are striving to engage their students more deeply, and that want to equip them with the 21st century technology skills that are necessary to be successful in higher education or in the workplace.”

“Nimbus will provide the middle ground we need to develop 21st century readiness skills in our students in a controlled environment,” said Mike Shuman, Director of Technology, Beavercreek City Schools in Ohio. “Schools need to control their learning environments, whether it is in the classroom or online, and Facebook is too wide open. With Nimbus, we can control and see who is joining learning communities and what is being done within them. Yet the interface is similar to other social media platforms that the students are used to. This is a strong tool to engage students and support our anywhere anytime learning initiative.”

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National Network of Digital Schools to Have Strong presence at This Year’s iNACOL Conference

November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

BEAVER, Pa., Nov. 7, 2011 The National Network of Digital Schools, a leader in educational management services and online curriculum development, is proud to be a part of this year’s Virtual School Symposium, sponsored by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL). This year’s event will be held November 9-11 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

iNACOL’s Virtual School Symposium highlights the cutting-edge work in K-12 online education across the country, of which NNDS and its subsidiaries, Lincoln Interactive and Backpack, are leaders. Lincoln Interactive, the nation’s premiere online learning curriculum, is a diamond sponsor of this year’s event.

“The Lincoln Interactive curriculum is changing the way students all across the country learn and schools all across the country teach,” said Bryan Bown, director of educational services for NNDS. “Our approach to online and blended learning makes us a leader in the industry. The Virtual School Symposium provides us with a wonderful opportunity to share our success with like-minded educators as well as learn from each other through networking, presentations, and the sharing of research and best practices.”

Lincoln Interactive will present the session “Creating a Blended Learning Environment for Elementary Students.” Presented by Kellie Hamilton, director of elementary curriculum and instruction, the session will address how elementary students can be engaged by online curriculum and how a blended environment can strengthen learning for that age group.

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Greencastle-Antrim school board works on a facility rental plan

November 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The district has spent several weeks dividing the groups that currently use school facilities into four categories.

School-sponsored student organizations would include groups such as First Steps to Learning, Volunteer Fair, Apple and Autumn festivals, Tri-M, drama club, financial aid night, county band and county choir, Tumani Ambassadors, the National Honor Society, indoor guard competitions, Franklin Virtual Academy and summer band.

Groups such as Wilson College, Quarterback Club, booster clubs, book fair, indoor field hockey, Cheerleader for a Night, science camp, class reunions and GA-MAAX would all be included under the school-related organizations group.

Community nonprofits includes libraries, Scouts, parade setup groups, Old Home Week, Dash for Drew, Relay for Life, Red Cross blood drives, the Rescue Hose Co. Hobo Minstrel Show, Lions pancake breakfast and chamber of commerce concerts. These groups, just like in the two previous categories, would have no rental fee but must pay a fee for the utilities and any staff they would need.

The final group, outside organizations, includes groups such as the Chambersburg Cardinals and Clarissa’s School of Dance. They must pay a rental fee in addition to the utilities and any staff used.

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Options in the works for Tabb NJROTC

October 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Tabb is the only local school, and the only one in Virginia, on the list of 29 across the country that will have their units eliminated because they haven’t met minimum student enrollment standards for the program, according to a statement from Navy officials.

“The students are disappointed, but they understand,” said Tabb High Principal Angela Seiders.

For host schools with enrollment of 1,000 or more, the minimum NJROTC enrollment is 100. For schools with less than 1,000 students enrolled, a minimum of 10 percent of the total enrollment is required.

Both York and Tabb were on probationary status for low enrollment at one time, but York’s numbers moved up above the minimum requirement, said district Chief Academic Officer Stephanie Guy.

School officials made efforts to shore up enrollment. Offering P.E. credits through the virtual high school to free up a spot in students’ schedules yielded just five more students, Guy said.

Officials are considering starting a Navy National Defense Cadet Corps unit at Tabb as an alternative to the NJROTC program, or allowing Tabb students to participate in York NJROTC, Guy said. They are examining the benefits and cost of implementing NNDCC.

A decision is expected sometime this fall.

Benefits of NJROTC include teaching students leadership skills, unity, how to be a team player and lifelong skills, Seiders said.

“That’s why (students) think it’s so important,” Seiders said. “But they understand enrollment’s down and they understand the economy. They want to keep those skills at Tabb High.”

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Carlisle school board gives OK to online elementary education

October 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Carlisle Area School District board of directors took steps Thursday to extend log-on learning to elementary school students.

At its regular meeting, the board unanimously approved online learning curricula in a variety of subjects for students in kindergarten through fifth grades forwarded to it by the board’s education committee.

The board approved Carlisle Virtual Academy curricula in language arts, math, science, social studies, remedial math, remedial reading, art and music. Other approved course offerings include elementary Spanish, German, French and Latin that will be available to students in third through fifth grades.

The Carlisle Virtual Academy is “the district equivalent of a total online educational program of studies,” according to CASD’s website, which likens it to a district cyber school. Prior to Thursday’s decision, it limited course offerings to students in grades 6 through 12.

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