Pennsylvania Online High Schools

“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

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?

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

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

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

MIDLAND, Pa., July 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — High school students anywhere in Pennsylvania will be able to get an early start on a career in sports media and broadcasting in a new program being offered this year by the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School.

The Ellis Cannon Academy of Sports Media and Broadcasting is a two-semester program to be taught by the veteran sports broadcaster himself in real time as a Virtual Classroom course. It is believed the only one of its type in the nation.

“The sports media and broadcasting curriculum represents what I believe will become a very successful program within our course of studies, one totally unique to PA Cyber and one which I am certain will capture the imagination of our students,” said Dr. Nick Trombetta, CEO.

For the rest of the article, go to Ellis Cannon to Teach Sports Broadcasting Through PA Cyber Charter School

The latest book on Stephen Catanzarite’s reading list is “Return to the Little Kingdom,” about the mad geniuses who launched Apple Computer 30 years ago.

“The irony is that I’m reading it on my iPad, so I know how the story ends,” Mr. Catanzarite said.

His own story, meanwhile, is following a similar arc, though the ending is not as clear.

Mr. Catanzarite is managing director of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland, one of several spinoffs from the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, which was founded in Midland.

But somehow his name pops up in connection with every new idea to emerge from the Midland educational empire.

For the rest of the article, go to A newsmaker you should know: Catanzarite behind new ideas at PA Cyber school

“The iPad may prove to be a useful tool to put in the hands of cyber school students,” said Dr. Nick Trombetta, CEO and founder of the 9,000-student Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School.

Dr. Trombetta attended the Apple Education Leadership Summit 2010 in Dallas, Texas, April 21-23.

“We attended the summit to begin a conversation with Apple about educational uses for the iPad,” said Dr. Trombetta. PA Cyber administrators have begun to experiment with the iPad and to look at apps – customized applications – that could put educational resources literally at a student’s fingertips. No iPads have yet been placed with students.

PA Cyber is uniquely positioned to experiment with the iPad because the school’s size, flexibility, experience and culture allows it to adapt more quickly than traditional schools to new educational methods and advances in technology, said Dr. Trombetta.

Dr. Trombetta said PA Cyber, like Apple, is a leader and innovator. The first statewide K-12 public cyber charter school in Pennsylvania, PA Cyber in its 10 years of existence has pioneered online educational methods, systems and the use of new technology. For instance, the school has converted nearly 100 percent to customized consumable textbooks that students keep, saving staff time and shipping expense while encouraging textbook content to be continually updated.

Downloadable digital versions of textbooks for more than 150 PA Cyber online courses – about two-thirds of the school’s course catalog – already have been created, though at this time PA Cyber has chosen to continue providing printed textbooks, according to Dr. Trombetta. Downloadable to a student laptop computer or mobile devices such as the iPad, digital versions of both custom and standard textbooks are available through arrangements such as per-student license agreements with publishers.

“The iPad already contains a lot of the technology we use now to deliver instruction, along with other innovative features which could help students to learn,” said Dr. Trombetta. He said PA Cyber staff will meet soon with Apple representatives to continue the school’s look at the iPad.