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Online High Schools Attracting Elite Names
November 20, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment
PALO ALTO, Calif. — In June, about 30 seniors will graduate from a little-known online high school currently called the Education Program for Gifted Youth. But their diplomas will bear a different name: Stanford Online High School.
Yes, that Stanford — the elite research university known for producing graduates who win Nobels and found Googles, not for teaching basic algebra to teenagers. Five years after the opening of the experimental program, some education experts consider Stanford’s decision to attach its name to the effort a milestone for online education.
“This is significant,” said Bill Tucker, managing director of Education Sector, a nonpartisan policy institute. “One of our country’s most prestigious universities feels comfortable putting its considerable prestige and brand behind it.”
As the line between virtual and classroom-based learning continues to blur, some see Stanford’s move as a sign that so, too, will the line between secondary and higher education. Several other universities — though none with the pedigree of Stanford — already operate online high schools, a development that has raised some questions about expertise and motives.
About 275,000 students nationwide are enrolled full time in online schools, according to Susan Patrick, president of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, a nonprofit advocacy group. Most of these are free public charter schools, but colleges — private and public — have begun to get into the business as well.
The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and the University of Missouri have awarded diplomas to about 250 and 85 students, respectively, annually for the last several years. The George Washington University Online High School opened in January.
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Virtual high school online proposal off to good start
November 2, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment
The Nebraska Virtual Partnership made a progress report to the Legislature’s Education Committee last week. The verdict: online courses are in demand. And the partnership is capable of meeting it.
The Nebraska Virtual Partnership was created this year to expand educational opportunities for high school students throughout Nebraska. The partnership is a collaborative effort by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Independent Study High School, the Nebraska Department of Education, the Educational Service Unit Coordinating Council and Nebraska Educational Telecommunications.
The interim study presented Oct. 3 gauged what each member of the partnership is doing to expand course offerings and educational opportunities across the state.
Brian Halstead, assistant commissioner of education, said the committee’s efforts in creating a virtual high school, with legislation going back as far as 2006, is working well.
A pilot program launched by UNL in August was created to gauge the demand for distance education in Nebraska. The pilot program offered 50 free course enrollments through the Independent Study high school, with preference to first-time applicants, rural students and applications for science, technological, engineering and math courses.
Barbara Shousha, director of Independent Study, said 74 applications were received as of Sept. 2, when admissions closed.
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Where will virtual schools end up?
October 12, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment
Virtual education is also expanding online. In a sense, this is nothing new. The University of Nebraska- Lincoln’s Independent Study High School has been operating since the 1920s, offering courses first by mail, and more recently, online.
Most of its students are from outside Nebraska – including people in all 50 states and more than 100 countries who want an American diploma, or people whose schedules haven’t permitted a traditional high school education, like entertainer Britney Spears in her younger years. But 11 percent of its course enrollments are from Nebraska – 2,800 in the last two years.
Now, the high school is involved in a virtual partnership, testing demand for online courses for Nebraska students through a pilot program offering them for free. High School Director Barbara Wolf Shousha said that in general, Nebraska schools do a good job of meeting students’ needs on their own. But, she added, “There are, however, always those situations where there isn’t a match – where there’s a very high-performing student who desires curriculum options that the school doesn’t have, or alternative students that aren’t performing well because of the emotional noise of a high school classroom. And they are better suited for the online, individual instruction.”
This year, instead of charging students or schools, the University offered 50 free courses from the Independent Study High School. It received 74 applications, and decided to accept all of them.
Among them was one from Wheeler Central High School in Bartlett, a small town about 50 miles west of Norfolk. On a recent morning, guidance counselor Dawn Erickson was giving student Brianna Millison some one-on-one help with an online course in etiquette, to supplement her family and consumer science class.
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