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Virtual high school expands students horizons

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Megan Sylvia, also a senior, has completed a course in mythology, and junior Margaret Crook is taking a course in marketing and e-commerce. Using distance learning, these students can take classes and exams and interact with teachers and other students without ever meeting them in person.

“It gives the students an opportunity to study a subject that we don’t offer at the high school … really exciting things that we wouldn’t have the staffing to offer,” said Mary Nancy Toscano, Westerly assistant principal and on-site coordinator for the program.

The program is called Virtual High School. Based in Maynard, Mass., the nonprofit corporation was founded in 1996 and offers more than 200 elective courses to advanced placement and honors students. Those courses include forensic science, oceanography, and pre-veterinary science.

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Virtual High School Program Presented to Committee

April 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Virtual High School curriculum is made up of rigorous reading and writing assignments, class discussion via message threads, pre-recorded instruction videos, evaluations and personalized communication between students and teachers. VHS also offers a 25:1 student-to-teacher ratio in all of its courses.

The virtual courses are not meant to replace face-to-face ones that are currently offered, instead, they are meant to supplement a student’s course load with a subject or area of study that they would not get to take part in otherwise. Students participating in VHS classes would log in to the online class daily and participate for 90 minutes every other day in the school library during one of the normal class periods. VHS teachers are required to respond to a student’s questions within 24 hours, grades are posted every two weeks, in-school and online progress is monitored by administrators and parents have access to the student’s course password, allowing them to also monitor their child’s progress and view grades.

Apart from the monitoring, students taking part in the programs will benefit from an experience that greatly mirrors a growing percentage of courses offered online at colleges and universities, ultimately preparing them for continued education after high school.

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Virtual High School Program Presented to Committee

April 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Burke explained that the school’s Advanced Placement (AP) Biology class enrollment requests went from 18 last year down to six this year, a number too small to fund a face-to-face class. With VHS, the course would still be able to take place, despite the low enrollment at Coventry. Other enrollment fluctuations as well as the inability to offer very specific courses catering to only a small group of students limits the school’s ability to offer a more personalized and expansive education.

“The kids dictate what’s run and we can’t offer everything,” said Burke. “When the data tells you that something might not be possible for kids, you have to start to think twice.”

The Virtual High School curriculum is made up of rigorous reading and writing assignments, class discussion via message threads, pre-recorded instruction videos, evaluations and personalized communication between students and teachers. VHS also offers a 25:1 student-to-teacher ratio in all of its courses.

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Block Island School remains heart of community

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“People didn’t have running water. People didn’t all have electricity. This school is like a palace. It had hot and cold running water. It had central heat,” Ball said.

Since then, the Block Island School has continued to evolve. The most recent addition is a brand new gym.

Over the years, the school has added more teachers, more courses and the latest technology.

“Make this a great learning experience for an isolated community, and we do our best. We also have a virtual high school, which will allow kids to take courses virtually through the Internet,” said teacher Kristine Monje.

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Gist: Attacks on Teachers Need to Stop

June 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

You will meet students like Daniel McNulty. Daniel is the first student in Rhode Island who, because of illness, took most of his coursework through virtual schooling. This month, Daniel will graduate 10th in his class at Woonsocket High School. Congratulations, Daniel, and to Woonsocket’s instructional-technology coordinator, Michael Ferry!

We’re also proud that the Central Falls High School & Calcutt Middle School chess team won the state championship and represented Rhode Island at the National Chess Championship, in Tennessee. The high-school team finished 6th in their division! Congratulations, chess champions!

And in the Westerly Middle School, Cassandra Lin and other 7th-graders started a program that collected recycled fuel for families in need – enough to keep 92 families warm this winter. Cassandra is one of 10 national winners of a 2011 Prudential Spirit of Community Award. Congratulations, Cassandra!

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Online classes helped ill Woonsocket teen earn high school diploma

May 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

WOONSOCKET –– In his 17 years, Daniel Collin McNulty has missed more days of school than he has attended, spending weeks at a time in the hospital battling illnesses caused by autoimmune diseases.

But on June 17, he will cross the stage to graduate sixth in a class of 358 students at Woonsocket High School and become the first public school student in Rhode Island to have completed nearly all of his credits through online classes.

Daniel’s diploma will be testimony to his perseverance, the devotion of his parents and the dedication of a team of Woonsocket administrators, guidance counselors and teachers who developed an “e-learning” approach that enabled Daniel to keep up with his peers by studying on his laptop whenever he was healthy enough, including nights, summers and weekends.

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Race to Top Winners Work to Balance Promises, Capacity

March 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In Florida, district and state officials are working furiously toward a June 1 deadline to finish teacher-evaluation plans that will be based in part on students’ growth in achievement. The state also is negotiating a $20 million contract to pay for new charter schools in the feeder networks of the state’s persistently low-performing schools.

Also in the works for Florida are contracts to align a student-tutorial tool with academic standards under the Common Core State Standards Initiative, and another contract to bring virtual learning to gifted and talented students in the STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering, and math. In all, the state will manage 48 contracts related to the Race to the Top, budgeted to be worth $350 million.

In this first year, Rhode Island is working on its teacher-evaluation model, which is being field-tested in two districts and one charter school. The state is also developing training programs for teachers and administrators that will accompany the common-core standards.

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Electronic tablets break down educational barriers in R.I. schools

February 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Located in the Woonsocket Area Career & Technical Center, the E-Learning Academy offers 200 electives and 13 advanced-placement courses that students can take on school computers without sitting in class.

What began six years ago as a credit-recovery program has since morphed into a virtual high school that enrolls more than 500 students.

It has saved more than a few students from certain failure, says coordinator Michael Ferry. Last year, a sophomore walked into Ferry’s office and said, “I quit.” After talking with the young man, Ferry realized the student’s biggest problem was getting to school on time.

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Education Commissioner Gist states her case

January 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Her plan to transform education statewide involves providing feedback and resources to educators. Curriculums, she said, will be developed that are in line with meeting the standards; data systems will be in place that allow access and information-sharing among parents, teachers and students; educators will be evaluated on their teaching methods and student progress; and innovations such as charter schools, virtual learning and experiential learning will become options.

After a 30-minute overview, Ms. Gist opened the floor to questions and comments.

“While it’s a great story, your formula is flawed in many ways,” said state Representative-elect Richard Morrison (D-Bristol, Warren). “In Bristol-Warren, as a regional school district, the funding formula will cause our district to lose $1 million a year. How do you propose empowering great teachers?”

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Week in Review: Can Kids Make a Difference? They Sure “Can!”

December 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

“In a nearly two-hour pitch session Tuesday night, Middletown made its case to educate Little Compton’s high school students again beginning in 2012, with school officials enthusiastically presenting slide after slide of glimpses into scholastic life at Middletown High School that covered everything from AP classes to virtual high school classes, from discipline statistics to NECAP scores, from the championship football team to the award-winning robotics teams, and more. Middletown School officials also offered the Little Compton School Committee a non-voting seat on the Middletown School Committee to help ensure Little Compton has a greater voice in Middletown. Some of the most compelling insights came from the students themselves…”

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