Pennsylvania Online High Schools

Penn Foster High School

“We have a really diverse group of kids … but we’re probably overrepresented in kids who are academically precocious,” Brady said. He added that Avon Grove attracts students “who don’t do well in athletically oriented schools.”

James Hanak, the CEO of Pennsylvania Leadership, said students in any of the state’s school districts can attend a Pennsylvania cyber charter school. Many students enrolled in the Internet-only program at Pennsylvania Leadership live in low-performing school districts, he said.

According to Carolyn Fell, the Pennsylvania Leadership communications director, other students who attend the Internet-only program haven’t made it in traditional public schools because of bullying.

For the rest of the article, go to Charter schools carve a new niche in public education

Commonwealth Connections Academy

By the middle of last year, Cole knew something had to change. He wanted to be able to practice with his band Time Out, so he asked his parents if he could enroll in a cyber school. The question caught his dad off-guard.

“My wife and I grew up with traditional school,” he said. “Everyone we know does that, too.”

But after several phone calls and reviewing many options, the Sipes decided to let Cole try The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School.

Unlike thousands of York County students, Cole won’t be heading to class this week. He will be staying home to take online courses, a choice that more students are making.

For the rest of the article, go to An endless summer for kids?

In the decade since cyber charter schools first opened to Pennsylvania students, turning on a computer instead of hopping on the bus has just … clicked.

The Internet became the classroom, partly or wholly, for more than a million students across the country last year. And in few places has it been more popular than in Pennsylvania, where the cyber charter school experiment has morphed into a movement, serving one of the highest registrations in the country, more than 23,000 full-time students.

For the rest of the article, go to A decade later, Pennsylvania cyber schools go viral

MUNCY – Muncy School District has developed online courses taught by certified staff members that are much cheaper than cyber school expenses, according to school officials.

The administration recommended and the school board approved Monday night payment for a pre-approved online course.

The course costs $1,500 for one to five students and $2,400 for six to 10 students.

For the rest of the article, go to Schools see benefits of online courses

Aug 13, 2010 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) — The Allegheny Intermediate Unit and the union representing the 47 educators who work for its PA Learners Online Cyber Charter School have agreed to a one-year contract — an agreement both sides claim is the first of its type in the state and possibly the nation.

The contract is unique not only in the fact that it covers cyber charter employees, but it also includes incentive pay in the form of bonuses for teachers if the school achieves Adequate Yearly Progress on the state Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams and it has just three salary categories rather than numerous steps.

For the rest of the article, go to Cyber charter teachers OK pact

GREENSBURG — The projected financial benefit from closing Laurel Valley Middle-High School will shrink significantly if all of the students who appear headed for cyber school actually enroll, it was revealed in court Friday.

Ligonier Valley school board member and New Florence resident John Maier testified that 24 students have already registered for cyber school. It also was learned that 50 additional students are in the process of registering.

Calculating an average cost of $10,000 per student, the rush to cyber education could cost the district several hundred thousand dollars.

For the rest of the article, go to Closure may be costly

Today’s students have iPads and smart phones, spend more time with Facebook and YouTube than with television, and text about as much as they talk.

“They are digital learners. They’ve grown up with technology that is foreign to many of us, and they learn differently than we did,” said James Barker, 17-year superintendent of Erie schools and a former state Board of Education member. “There’s a revolution going on, and schools need to join that revolution or they’re going to get left behind.”

Dr. Barker is in a position to help schools join the revolution. He recently was named executive director of the Pennsylvania Digital Learning Network.

The network was created by the National Network of Digital Schools, a Beaver-based spinoff of the Midland-based Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. It got a federal grant to help develop 10-12 school districts to share resources and ideas on educating in the era of social media.

For the rest of the article, go to Erie educator shapes digital learning

Midland in Beaver County has transformed itself in 10 years from a struggling steel town into an educational mecca.

It is home to PA Cyber, the largest cyber charter school in the state, and the spinoff Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, which attracts several hundred students from across the region. Lincoln Park’s performing arts center plays host to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra several times a year.

But some residents recently were outraged to learn that a stone bandstand built by the Works Progress Administration 70 years ago in Lincoln Park — in the heart of Midland — soon will be razed for a $6 million, two-story building featuring a new bandstand, dining hall and practice room for the performing arts school.

For the rest of the article, go to Plan to raze bandstand hits sour note in Midland