But what about students on the younger end of education? What lessons have been learned about how best to tailor online courses for the early grades?

For the rest of the article, go to Younger Students Have Different Needs

Previously, Ephrata paid tuition to cyberschools outside the district for students choosing to take online courses.

The tuition savings are expected to exceed start-up costs for the new program, district officials said.

Ephrata also is revising its alternative education program at Washington Educational Center.

Because of a change in status on the state level, the school now must provide 990 hours of instruction per year to each student.

Previously, students could learn at a much slower pace.

To comply with the instructional time requirement, WEC students will attend classes at the school and complete online courses outside of school.

For the rest of the article, go to New programs, policies welcome students as classes begin

“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?

With the amount of students leaving the traditional school setting to attend one of the Pennsylvania cyber schools, the district is striving to keep students registered within the district by providing the cyber education.

Since the 2001-2002 school year, cyber-school tuition costs for the district have risen over $500,000, and a solution to those numbers is to offer something similar within district itself.

“I was a little nervous at first,” instructor John Sharp said of the online courses held at the high school. “I didn’t think that they (the students) would have enough time and I wasn’t sure if they would work in this environment, but I think that this has gone well. Extremely well.”

For the rest of the article, go to Laurel Highlands district’s online courses pass summer test

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

The School Board Education Committee on Monday approved an administrative plan to examine whether the district should sign up for online courses offered by a consortium of three intermediate units in eastern Pennsylvania. The consortium, which began in Luzerne County and now includes Colonial Intermediate Unit 20, started the online courses as an effort to entice students — and win back state subsidies — that follow them to cyber charter schools.

“Financially it’s a good thing for our district,” acting Superintendent Thomas Persing said.

For the rest of the article, go to Bethlehem Area may offer online classes

The district has joined the increasing number of schools in the region getting into the cyber charter school business in a move largely meant to save its taxpayers money

School directors voted this week to join the Lehigh Valley Cyber Consortium, a group of districts pooling resources to offer online courses through a Pittsburgh-based firm.

It’s part of the district’s summer-long campaign to market East Penn schools to both cyber charter and charter school students who cost the district roughly $2.5 million this past school year, according to Superintendent Thomas Seidenberger.

“We’re not strong-arming,” Seidenberger said. “We’re just trying to give parents a choice. We’ve been screaming about the high cost of cyber schools. This is a practical solution.

For the rest of the article, go to East Penn wants cyber students back