Virtual Learning

• A teen is short one credit and can't graduate with the class.
• Another wants to learn Arabic, but the school can't afford a teacher.
• Meanwhile, several whiz kids have maxed out the school's science courses and are clamoring for astronomy.

Online education or offers a way to help all three groups of frustrated learners get what they need.

Many states and school districts already have plunged into e-learning, with very positive results.  Some 26 states have established "virtual schools," such as The Florida Virtual School, that deliver instruction via the Web to hundreds of thousands of students.  Another 200 virtual charter schools are serving more than 92,000 students in 18 states.  Individual schools, such as Hopkins High School in Minnesota, have engaged bored, ill or incarcerated youths for years via online courses created and taught by their own teachers, while Massachusetts' Bishop Feehan School can offer several levels of Arabic taught by Cairo University instructors.  Michigan even lists online learning as a high-school graduation requirement!

What about D.C.?  We have one school, Community Academy Public Charter School, that has an entirely online enrollment through K12.  (Community Academy also collects over $3,000 per pupil for facilities, which should raise some taxpayers' eyebrows!)  But that doesn't reach the thousands of students who need to recover credits or want something beyond the plain vanilla course offerings of high school.

The Office of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE) is weighing whether to create a state-level virtual school, similar to Florida's.  Meanwhile, DCPSis exploring ways to offer online "credit-recovery" programs and online tutoring.  I have participated in these discussions, and as your state board representative, I will work to create high-quality online options for our kids.  We need to train our students for the 21st Century, not fence them into classrooms that look just like they did when we attended school.

Thinking of enrolling your child in an online course?  Click here for a Parent's Guide to Sorting Through the Online Learning Options from the North American Council for Online Learning.

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