While most virtual school advocates in the past may have focused on gaining exposure for their programs, they should shift toward emphasizing accountability and transparency in those programs to a community at-large becoming more aware of virtual education, the panel said. And despite some recent negative press about online schooling’s benefit or lack thereof, they agreed that many virtual providers are doing this.

“When these programs started, they started out of a point of pain,” said Andy Scantland, the vice president of sales and marketing for Advanced Academics Inc., the Oklahoma City-based provider of public and private online programs, and a sponsor of the report from the Evergreen Group of Durango, Colo. “As a result, there wasn’t a lot of measurability or a lot of accountability. I think that’s changed a lot, and the report reflects that.”

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual Education Sees Shift to Accountability

So far, two schools in our area off the program: Coloma and Brandywine schools districts. There are 26 schools in the state offering virtual classes online through a for-profit company called Job Skill Technology, Inc. While some schools offer just a few online classes for students to take on top of going to school, Brandywine is offering a total virtual high school. They call is Brandywine Virtual High School and one student says it is a perfect fit for him.

For the rest of the article, go to Futuristic learning now: Public high school classes without leaving home

Recent legislation expanded online public school options in the state of Indiana. As a result, Hoosier Academies will expand the Indiana Virtual Pilot School to create a new statewide online public school for families, with classes beginning August 8th.

For the rest of the article, go to Hoosier Academies Begins 2011-2012 School Year with Newly Established Hoosier Academies Virtual School

Child care could be provided to a parent enrolling in a credit recovery program. A self-taught hairstylist might gain certification in cosmetology and go to work in a salon. Then there’s the Virtual School, wherein returnees earn credits online at home.

For the rest of the article, go to A time for second chances at IPS

As with other nontraditional education options, virtual high schools have drawn opposition. Critics, including a spokesman for Indiana’s largest teachers union, question whether online students lose out on the social benefits of interacting with peers in the real world. Homeschool students have faced the same criticism for decades, even though research is largely in their favor.

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“This is in many ways a breakthrough for the state,” Bennett said at a news conference Tuesday formally announcing Achieve Virtual Education Academy, which will be available to Hoosier students this fall. Wayne Township will run the accredited school, which will award regular high school diplomas.

Achieve Virtual allows for the school corporation and its teachers to be entrepreneurial while also allowing children to learn in a way that suits them, Bennett said, making it a “win-win-win opportunity.”

For the rest of the article, go to Education chief a fan of virtual school

Indiana Connections Academy, a statewide, fully accredited, online public school, recently announced it would expand to serve students from kindergarten through 12th grades. The academy is hosting free information sessions in Fort Wayne this summer for parents and students, the first of which takes place tonight from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at the Fort Wayne Marriott, 305 E. Washington Center Rd.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual public school holds Wednesday information session

The other bill, HEA 1002, creates a new state charter school board designed to open more charter schools, allows public schools to convert to charters under certain conditions, increases funding for virtual charter schools, and allows charter schools to move into closed public school facilities.

Indiana joins a growing number of states diverting public money from traditional public education to subsidize private schools. Many of these institutions have narrow admissions policies and oftentimes few to no credentials.

For the rest of the article, go to Indiana enacts most expansive school voucher program in the US

Thanks in part to Daleville Elementary School Principal David Stashevsky’s outside work as an educational consultant, Daleville officials were approached by Indiana Virtual, a virtual charter school that hopes to start up statewide for the 2011-12 school year. Rather than wait for a new board appointed by the Indiana Department of Education — another recent addition to charter school law — to sponsor it, the virtual school organizers hoped to find a school district as a sponsor.

For the rest of the article, go to Daleville to sponsor virtual charter school

The name of the Academy for Innovative Studies is relatively new, but the concept isn’t. The EVSC has offered innovative programs for children who do not function well in traditional classroom settings for years.

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