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Virtual public school coming to Victoria

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A virtual public school is coming to Victoria to give parents information about an alternative, free schooling option for third- through 10th-graders. Texas Connections Academy is a virtual school in partnership with the Houston Independent School District. Wednesday’s information session will allow interested families to meet with TCA’s parents, who have children enrolled in the school. During the session, participants will discuss the family’s role in organizing an effective schooling environment within the home and balancing time when more than one child is enrolled in the program.

 

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Texas Connections Academy to hold information session

May 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Texas Connections Academy will hold an information session about public schooling for the 2012-13 school year at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 21, at the Cy-Fair College Branch Library.

The information session is geared toward parents who are interesting in learning how virtual public school, offered tuition-free, can meet their children’s educative needs. Interested families will get to meet with children currently enrolled in the school and their parents.

Participants will learn the family’s role in the education process and discuss how to organize their homes to provide effective schooling atmospheres and how to manage time when more than one child is enrolled in the program. The information session will include information on field trips, arranged by TCA’s community coordinators, as well as extracurricular activities.

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Online summer school popular

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Virtual High School Summer School, available to students in grades 6-12 in and outside the district, expects more students this year after explosive growth in participation last summer.

“It’s becoming widely popular,” said program facilitator Joel Smith, adding that students are enticed by the flexibility, options and new courses. “A lot of students can still travel and get credit.”

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New Report Urges Online Learning Expansion in Texas

March 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Texas Public Policy Foundation would like to see Texas follow Florida’s lead in increasing access to virtual schools.

A report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation suggests that virtual education and blended learning both present the opportunity for cost savings and academic gain in Texas.

“At the K-12 level, the potential of virtual education is enormous,” said the report’s author, James Golsan. “Through the use of technology, students in rural districts would have access to the same educational resources as students in more populated areas. Familiarization with technology could prepare students for the work force more quickly.”

While there is some concern about the ability of existing traditional institutions to convert to blended learning facilities, it’s a popular model for new start ups. Virtual education is already a success story in Florida and the TPPF wants Texas to follow Florida’s lead.

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Education on the Cheap

March 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In the past few years, school districts and charter schools have increasingly subcontracted out certain operations to either Connections Academy or K12, Inc. In many states, lawmakers embraced the idea, which promised to bring private-sector efficiency to education. Online education also offered an idyllic image: Kids can take classes anywhere, at times that work for them. Students with special needs can have tailor-made classes.

But poor student performance has plagued these programs. The K12 virtual academies in several states show high “churn” rates—students enrolling and then leaving the schools. According to some reports, teachers sometimes teach up to 70 students, which delivers bigger profits but poor test scores. The increased scrutiny has left some lawmakers concerned about the policies around online education and less eager to expand existing programs. That’s a big problem for companies that rely on public dollars for a big portion of their profits.

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Registration open for SBISD online summer school

February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Are you already planning for summer? Spring Branch ISD is offering a popular option: “virtual” or “online” courses to students in grades 6-12 through the Virtual High School (VHS).

The web-based courses require little on-campus time, which allows students and families to work around travel, vacations, jobs, camps, or activities. At their Spring Valley campus in west Houston, VHS instructors provide “drop-in” support for academic, technical or test-proctoring needs.

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Spring ISD hosts outreach walk

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Project Tomorrow is a virtual school program that provides students who have not been enrolled in a Texas Public School for more than 30 consecutive days, are younger than age 26 and reside within the Spring ISD a no-cost opportunity to earn a diploma.

The program has been made possible by a grant for Online Learning and Dropout Recovery that was awarded by Texas Virtual School Network at Region 10 Education Service Center.

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ECISD in 2011: A year of budget woes and highs and lows

January 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

That included elimination of 35 positions as part of “program adjustments,” which would affect the Virtual High School, the district’s truancy program, Channel 10, ECISD Police, Communities in Schools, as well as “extra” clerk positions.

In addition, 13 full-time employees were cut from central administration, while nine positions opened by attrition was not filled.

A list of employees cut was obtained by Odessa American through an open records request, showed two of 60 employees that were named, executive director of athletics Leon Fuller and executive director of special projects Randy Talley, made more than $100,000 a year. Meanwhile, nine clerks at magnet schools, who make between $13,739 and $22,399 annually, had their positions cut.

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10 Parents Respond to the New York Times

December 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Jen said, “My son attends Texas Virtual Academy at Southwest – only he couldn’t start on time this year. He had open heart surgery on August 23rd, the first day of school. His surgery was 8 hours, and he was in the hospital three weeks. The surgeons wanted us to “keep him out of school” for another two months after that – when we explained about K12, that we would be able to pace him, that it would not be physically taxing, they gave us approval to start as soon as he was ready. He chose to return the week he was out of the hospital. His teacher was aware of everything, helped us get him back in a groove, and instead of missing the three weeks of school he was able to start from the first day of school 3 weeks late – without K12, I have no doubt his 8th Grade Year would have potentially been down the drain. Because of K12, he was able to ease back into his normal life at his own pace, with the support of his parents and the school – and most especially his teacher. I wish they would profile some of us for a change.”

Jody said, “It’s nice to have options! I have a wonderful sixteen year old son who is very creative & intelligent. He is bored to death in school. We have so much stimulation in the world today. We ask our kids to sit in a chair for hours, non stimulated. Our local public school system is on the cutting edge. But, it’s not changing fast enough for him. K12 allows him time to do other things. He already is a budding entrepreneur and has a YouTube sight with 5,000 hits. We are grateful for this outside of the box option.”

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Virtual High School offers students choice, flexibility

December 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Housed within Spring Branch ISD’s Academy of Choice are classrooms without walls, learning spaces where time management skills and analytical skills take on equal importance.

The Virtual High School offers Spring Branch high school students free access to locally developed online courses, and into a statewide network of courses that are available for a fee.

The idea is to provide students the flexibility for “any time, any place” learning, and access to courses that might not fit into a student’s daily schedule, or might not be offered in a particular semester — or at a particular campus.

“It’s all about opportunity and choice,” said Joyce Roberta Miller-Alper, a longtime teacher in Spring Branch ISD and a former Texas teacher of the year.

Courses are designed with the same rigor as traditional courses without the traditional classroom parameters. There is still material to be read, research to be conducted and assignments to be completed and graded.

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