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Apollo-Ridge plans to open media center for students, residents

December 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Unlike a traditional library, the center’s atmosphere will be more relaxed, where patrons can talk and work together, Kostiuk said.

Students in the district’s virtual academy also would use the center.

The district’s security will be centralized there, with all cameras viewable in one place. It also would house an in-school suspension room.

It won’t cost residents anything to use the center, Kostiuk said. It would be open weekday evenings, with hours possibly from 6 to 9 p.m.

Residents would be able to simply come in and use the center, or participate in classes to learn how to use the technology, Kostiuk said.

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Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School Introduces Fuze Meeting to Enhance Online Education, Curriculum

December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School is implementing Fuze Meeting as a tool for students to participate in virtual field trips, and to allow laptop, tablet and smartphone users to participate in high-definition telepresence staff meetings between its offices in Philadelphia, Midland and Harrisburg, Penn. Subsequent phases could include students using the videoconferencing and collaboration software to access their classes via Apple iPad tablets and PCs.

“We try to use the most cutting-edge education technology,” said Brian Laquinta, director of technology and innovation for the school, “and none of the other tools we looked at matched Fuze Meeting’s cross-platform ability to work with such a wide variety of mobile devices and operating systems.”

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York County students will have new cyber option designed to keep them in their districts

December 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

York, PA – Students in York County will soon have a new cyber school option, aimed partly at helping districts reclaim students who left for cyber charter schools.

The Lincoln Intermediate Unit 12 is starting a new cyber program that will be open first to any students in York County. The Lincoln Virtual Academy will open in January.

The cyber program will offer two options — an entirely online experience, or a program that would include one day each week at the York Learning Center for additional support and a social-emotional learning component.

A preliminary assessment at the start of the program would determine the students’ needs. Any exams, such as mid-terms or finals, would have to be supervised.

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Pa. cyber charter schools not passing test

December 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Most cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania failed to make the grade on state standardized tests during the last school year, fanning the flames for critics who say they siphon money from traditional public schools.

But supporters of cyber charters say the tests do not show an accurate reflection of the programs.

Based on data from the 2010-11 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests, only two of the 11 cyber charters to take the PSSAs hit state-set benchmarks in reading and math. Among Berks County’s 18 public school districts, only Reading failed to hit those marks.

Dr. Jim Hanak, chief executive officer of Pa. Leadership Charter School, defended cyber charters such as the one he operates.

He said the PSSA tests are an unfair representation of how cyber charters are performing, pointing out that most of the students who take the test haven’t been enrolled at the cyber charter for their entire school careers.

Many, he said, come in behind in their studies or with severe learning or emotional issues that impact their performance in the classroom.

 

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Virtually Educated

December 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I always thought that the only kids getting their entire public schooling online were in the hospital, living in the Alaskan tundra, or pursuing a career as a singing orphan in the road company of “Annie.” Not so. There are now around 250,000 cyberschool students in kindergarten through high school and the number is growing fast.

If I had managed to envision a lot of students going to school online, I’d have imagined them being home-schooled by a diligent middle-class parent. But, lately, the target seems to be low-income families. Andy Berke, a state senator in Chattanooga, Tenn., says that when an educational company named K12 Inc. held a meeting to publicize its online taxpayer-funded academy, it chose “one of the poorest neighborhoods” in his district. In Pennsylvania, where K12 runs a statewide online charter school called Agora, you can go to the Web site and watch Head of School Sharon Williams explain about “online learning as an alternative to a violent in-school experience.”

O.K., here is my first question: Does full-time online learning really work for disadvantaged kids who may be alone at home all day?

Kevin Welner of the University of Colorado did a review of all the information available on this and, in fact, on the entire question of how well full-time online learning works for kids in elementary through high school. The answer was: nobody knows.

“The most detailed study is a couple of blog entries,” he said.

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District counters cyber school trend

November 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Wallenpaupack —Wallenpaupack Area School District has in place an option for virtual, on-line curriculums a student can take at home. The School Board was told Nov. 14 that this service is meant as an alternative to losing students to commercial cyber schools.
The program is known as Virtually Linking Instruction & Curriculum, or VLIC. School districts across Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit (IU) 19, as well as IU 18 and 20 also make use of it. VLIC was first employed in the 2010-2011 school year.

More options
Diane Szadar, Director of Educational Technology, explained that VLIC offers greater academic options to a student, at a lower cost to the School District.

The students and their families remain a part of the Wallenpaupack Area School District and can participate in co-curricular activities. They still receive a Wallenpaupack diploma and keep local school counseling support. Although VLINC instruction is still provided by teachers online through the educational vendors under contract, Wallenpaupack teachers remain available to students to assist them.

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PA Cyber Reacts to PA Supreme Court Decision

November 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In the wake of Wednesday’s Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decision re: Slippery Rock Area School District v. Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, PA Cyber CEO Dr. Nick Trombetta issued the following statement:

“This surprising and disappointing decision serves to illustrate how much work remains in creating an innovative, effective, and equitable system of public education that truly meets the needs of all 21st century students, and of modern society. Wednesday’s ruling reverses previous decisions by both the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Commonwealth Court in support of PA Cyber’s kindergarten program for four-year-olds.

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New Teacher Evaluations Might Include Public Charter and Cyber Charter Schools

November 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

While the state legislature debates reform of teacher evaluations, an amendment could extend the new assessments to public charter and cyber charter schools. The original bill only covered public schools and would change the way teachers are evaluated by basing new ratings on student performance, as well as traditional teacher observation.

Rep. Mike Fleck (R-Huntingdon) offered the amendment, which was passed by the House Education Committee and will now move to the full House. Fleck said that it makes sense that any new scoring system for teachers should be used in all public schools, including charters, receiving public dollars.

“I don’t think you can pick and choose what you want to do and what you don’t want to do when it comes to, you know, something as critical as teacher evaluation overall,” Fleck said.

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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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Backyard brawl? Western Beaver brochure criticizes PA Cyber

November 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

OHIOVILLE — Superintendent Robert Postupac says the Western Beaver School District wasn’t trying to ignite a backyard brawl when it mailed residents a brochure that targets the Midland-based Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, along with state legislators and media sources.

The brochure, which includes a comparison of state test scores, calls PA Cyber “a school that provides a below-average education.”

“Is this an attack on PA Cyber? Absolutely not,” Postupac said. “This is a questioning of the way schools like PA Cyber are funded by the state.”

Western Beaver has 30 students, kindergarten through 12th grade, enrolled at PA Cyber, and eight students enrolled in PA Cyber pre-kindergarten programs, according to Postupac. Western Beaver pays $10,800 per student, and $23,700 for students with learning disabilities, and the brochure says “almost $500,000 was taken from Western Beaver” and given to PA Cyber.

 

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