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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.

For the rest of the article, go to Frontier Virtual Charter High School Fires Entire Teaching Staff

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Saucon Valley School District exploring online classes

April 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Saucon Valley School District wants to offer online high school classes to draw students back from cyber schools.

Saucon is one of a number of Lehigh Valley schools trying to stem the flow of money out of the district to charter schools and to entice students back with the promise of a district diploma.

Superintendent Sandra Fellin is proposing a multifaceted program that in addition to creating a cyber high school would allow students to make up credits for courses they’ve failed, attend summer school online and bring in new electives.

Fellin presented her plan to the school board Tuesday after months of research and it was well received.

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More foreign language courses to be offered online

February 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Expanded foreign languages for Chambersburg Area School District students are among changes set for the second year of the Franklin Virtual Academy.

Foreign languages will be offered through the Blended Schools Network Language Institute. Courses will feature 2.5 hours per week of live interactive instruction in addition to 2.5 hours of non-live instruction.

Course offerings will include Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, Hindi and French, which are all courses not offered at Chambersburg Area Senior High School. Students can take Spanish, German and Latin by attending daily classes at CASHS.

For the rest of the article, go to More foreign language courses to be offered online

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Lesley Thomson: Bringing History To Life

January 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Each fall, her elective kids board a bus for a whirlwind scavenger hunt-style tour of little-known local historical sites, from the spot of the last confirmed land battle of the Revolutionary War to the place where a famous Mexican pilot crashed in the Pine Barrens while trying to achieve a long-distance flight record.

And the dozens of history club members readily give up weekends to go on her wide-ranging field trips to Valley Forge, Old City Philadelphia and beyond.

“I want kids to be able to experience everything and see everything, and not be locked under a bubble,” she said. “That’s kind of what keeps me going.”

And she does keep going. In addition to three full-year classes and two electives, she also teaches a virtual course online as part of the high school’s participation in a web-based education program that lets Barnegat kids learn alongside students from all over the world.

Besides that, she also teaches classes at Ocean County College – alongside the same teacher who inspired her as a student.

This year, she got major recognition for her efforts when she won the VFW’s National Citizenship Education Teacher of the Year Award, which honors instructors who foster civic involvement and connect students to veterans.

For the rest of the article, go to Lesley Thomson: Bringing History To Life

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December 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Proponents of charter schools say not only do the cyber schools offer flexibility and another option, they make public school districts more academically competitive.

They also make districts compete for enrollment.

“As the charters, cyber charters continue to grow, everyone is working on ways to maintain their student population,” said Steve Robinson, spokesman for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

Beyond offering an academic incentive, districts are getting creative.

In the Solanco School District, which is in southern Lancaster County, cyber students are being offered a $1,000 incentive to return to the district, said Superintendent Martin J. Hudacs, Ed.D..

The money, which can only be spent on pre-approved educational items, may be the only program of its kind in the state.

If a child enrolls in a cyber school, the district pays $8,800 to that school. If the student stays in the district and enrolls in the district-run Solanco Virtual Academy, about half of the money is saved, Dr. Hudacs said.

The $1,000 incentive has more than paid for itself, he said.

“It has definitely worked in our favor,” he said.

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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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My Teacher Is an App

November 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The growth of cybereducation is likely to affect school staffing, which accounts for about 80% of school budgets. A teacher in a traditional high school might handle 150 students. An online teacher can supervise more than 250, since he or she doesn’t have to write lesson plans and most grading is done by computer.

In Idaho, Alan Dunn, superintendent of the Sugar-Salem School District, says that he may cut entire departments and outsource their courses to online providers. “It’s not ideal,” he says. “But Idaho is in a budget crisis, and this is a creative solution.”

Other states see potential savings as well. In Georgia, state and local taxpayers spend $7,650 a year to educate the average student in a traditional public school. They spend nearly 60% less—$3,200 a year—to educate a student in the statewide online Georgia Cyber Academy, saving state and local tax dollars. Florida saves $1,500 a year on every student enrolled online full time.

For individual school districts, though, competition from online schools can cause financial strain. The tiny Spring Cove School District in rural Pennsylvania lost 43 of its 1,850 students this year to online charter schools. By law, the district must send those students’ share of local and state tax dollars—in this case $340,000—to the cyberschool. Superintendent Rodney Green, already struggling to balance the budget, cut nine teaching jobs, eliminated middle-school Spanish and French and canceled the high-school musical, “Aida.”

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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.

For the rest of the article, go to Greencastle-Antrim school board works on a facility rental plan

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PA Cyber Charter School Shares Self-help Tech Support Website

November 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

MIDLAND, Pa., Nov. 4, 2011       PA Cyber Charter School has created a technical resource website for its 11,000 students, their parents and its staff – and is sharing the site with online students no matter what school they’re enrolled in.

The PA Cyber Resource Center was launched Oct. 31.

“As a leader in online education, PA Cyber has always freely shared innovative thinking with other schools. We see that as part of our responsibility,” said Dr. Nick Trombetta, CEO.

Brian Laquinta, director of technology and innovation, said, “This is the best technical self-help site for an online school I’ve seen. It has easily followed tutorials and how-to instructions on the most common problems users have with Internet access, email, iPads and general computer use. Of course we have geared it to the learning management systems used by PA Cyber, but many other schools use the same programs and their students probably have the same issues.”

Laquinta said the site provides links to help sites in popular learning management systems such as Elluminate and Schoology, and to curriculum sites like Lincoln Interactive and Calvert. There is a link to the appropriate-content search engine netTrekker and to academic improvements sites like DORA-DOMA and Study Island.

For the rest of the article, go to PA Cyber Charter School Shares Self-help Tech Support Website

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