Pennsylvania Online High Schools

CV pays more than $8,000 for each district student that enrolls in a private cyber school. But it costs the district only about $3,700 for each student enrolled in the CV Virtual Academy.

For the coming school year, CV expects 75 students to be enrolled in cyber schools, with 18 in the district’s own program.

The 57 students in other cyber schools are projected to cost the district $462,325, which CV must pay to the programs.

If the district can recruit more students into its own cyber school, the savings could be significant.

For the rest of the article, go to Conestoga Valley School District to hire charter school recruiter

One-third of Tuscarora’s cyber students currently attend Pa. Cyber School, one of the largest in the state with an enrollment of around 9,000. Pa. Cyber School also has 42 students enrolled from Chambersburg Area, 14 from Shippensburg Area, 10 from Greencastle-Antrim and eight from Waynesboro Area.

Statewide, about 27,000 students are enrolled in 11 cyber schools, which Fred Miller, communications coordinator for Pa. Cyber School, said is about 1 to 2 percent of the entire student population of Pennsylvania.

Miller said that families who choose to enroll their students in a cyber charter school usually fall into one of three categories. Some families that come from smaller school districts with less course elective offerings will sometimes choose a cyber school because they offer a broader range of classes to take.

For the rest of the article, go to Cost of cyber charter schools going up as popularity increases

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

WEST CHESTER, Pa., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School is pleased to announce that it has met the state’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) designation. PA Leadership is a state-wide, tuition-free cyber charter school. Students receive books and computers, then complete their work, interact with teachers and meet with their classmates via the Internet. PA Leadership is one of Pennsylvania’s four cyber charter schools to make AYP.

To achieve AYP, the school was required to meet 25 targets set by the state. The targets measure academic performance on the PSSA testing, student participation in the testing, and the school’s graduation rate.

For the rest of the article, go to PA Leadership Charter School Meets All AYP Performance Targets for 2010

Cunkelman, who was swept into office in the November election on a pro-consolidation ticket with two other candidates, testified he heard reports that as many as 50 Laurel Valley students could be pulled from the classroom and enrolled in a cyberschool program, which costs the district up to $14,000 a year per child.

“I don’t think I should be held hostage by these people when considering the whole district. That’s blackmail,” Cunkelman testified.

Estimates are that at least 30 and as many as 50 Laurel Valley students could attend cyberschool, meaning the district would have to pay up to an additional $700,000 this year.

A study conducted by the school board last year found that by merging the schools the district could save up to $1.2 million but as little as $800,000.

For the rest of the article, go to Ligonier Valley talks break down

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

Conestoga Valley School District has a virtual academy in which about 20 students go through an online course of instruction.

But many more district students are enrolled in similar cyber charter schools for which the district annually spends $500,000. Now, district officials are looking at a plan to get more students to enroll in its own cyber school and recoup some of those costs.

Currently, 49 students in the Conestoga Valley School District are enrolled in state-certified cyber charter schools, for which the district must pay roughly $8,700 per student. Yet at the Conestoga Valley Virtual Academy, yearly costs max out around $5,200.

For the rest of the article, go to Conestoga Valley School District may boost its virtual academy

The Beaver-based National Network of Digital Schools intends to move in some unexpected orbits in the new school year, carrying online students into classrooms and inviting public school students to touch down in cyberworld.

Two initiatives to be launched in the fall:

* NNDS will lease the former Mount Gallitzin Academy building in Baden from the Sisters of St. Joseph during the 2010-11 school year to launch a pilot program that will provide classroom opportunities, at no additional cost, for Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School students in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes.

The program, labeled “Building Blocks” and described as an “education innovation center,” will offer educational sessions as well as playground and gymnasium time, and lunch. If successful, it will be followed by similar centers planted across the state.

For the rest of the article, go to Cyber school network plans changes this fall

There’s still some tweaking to do, but after three years of researching, cyber school in Red Lion is now in its infancy.

Red Lion Area School District students who attend cyber school will be able to receive a diploma from Red Lion, instead of through programs not affiliated with the district.

“It was like an albatross around the neck trying to find a solution for kids going elsewhere for cyber education,” said Jared Mader, district director of technology.

At a recent meeting, Mader presented key points such as goals and benefits about the new cyber education. One major benefit comes from Red Lion partnering with Bridgewater Online Academy, saving the district more than $4,000.

For the rest of the article, go to Red Lion to begin its own cyber schooling

The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School has won a five-year renewal of its charter from the state Department of Education, enabling one of the state’s pioneers in online schooling to stay open.

“Charter renewal is great news for the thousands of Pennsylvania families who depend on our school, and a much appreciated validation of the hard work, expertise and dedication of the hundreds of Pa. Cyber teachers and other employees,” said CEO Nick Trombetta in a news release issued today. “Unlike school districts, we charter schools must demonstrate our effectiveness every five years or we cease to operate.”

For the rest of the article, go to Pa. Cyber Charter School gets 5-year renewal