Weekly Roundup showcases stories and information about the students and schools we serve, K12 educators, and important education issues. 

BERG: Pitts is wrong about Virtual Academy
(The Leaf Chronicle)

As the mother of a child who attends the Tennessee Virtual Academy, I take strong offense to Rep. Joe Pitts’ recent column (“Virtual Academy gets failing grades,” Page A5, Feb. 18). Pitts says TNVA is underperforming and needs to be closed. Yet, he fails to mention that TNVA is now one of the fastest-improving schools in the state. He also fails to mention there are more than 100 other schools in the state that are not improving as rapidly, with test scores very similar to TNVA – including Montgomery Central Middle School in his home county – that are not subject to closure.

Measuring Individual Student Progress Toward Graduation – Not a Four Year Cohort Rate
(thinkTANK)

In 2010 federal regulations went into effect that requires each state to implement a four-year cohort model as the means for calculating graduation rates. This regulation gives every student four years to graduate from the time a student enters ninth grade. Students may transfer from school to school during the four years, but the student must graduate in the fourth year. States are permitted to track a five-year graduation rate, but it can only be done alongside the four-year rate.

Fuel Education Releases Guide to Scaling Personalized Learning
(Press Release)

Personalized learning solutions provider, Fuel Education™, in association with education advocacy firm, Getting Smart®, today released a white paper exploring how schools and districts are not only implementing online and blended learning programs to address students’ individual needs, but also successfully scaling the personalized learning experience delivered through those programs.

The Impact of Under-Credited Students and Mobility in Fulltime Online Schools

In 2010 federal regulations went into effect that require each state to implement a four-year cohort model as the means for calculating graduation rates. This regulation gives every student four years to graduate from the time a student enters ninth grade. Students may transfer from school to school during the four years, but the student must graduate in the fourth year. States are permitted to track a five-year graduation rate, but it can only be done alongside the four-year rate.

This regulation had the goal of creating an expectation that every student can earn a high school diploma, and that graduation rates need to be tracked to show which schools are successfully graduating students in four years. The regulation assumed that students, generally, stay in the same school for four years and that states have systems to efficiently track students as they progress toward graduation.

While perhaps true in some economically advantaged communities, both of these assumptions are fundamentally flawed for far too many of our public schools. Instead, the regulation has created a “hot potato” effect that creates a perverse disincentive for enrolling under-credited students for fear of a negative impact on graduation rate.

States do have some flexibility. States may choose how to weigh graduation rates within their accountability structures.  States may elect to include additional calculations, such as six- or seven-year rates.  They may also reward methods of getting under-credited students back on track, or accelerating the pace at which a student moves toward graduation. These measurements may more accurately reflect what a school does with high school students more than a four-year cohort model. Data shows that many students who are mobile within high schools are often economically disadvantaged, under-credited, over-aged, and academically at-risk. A related report by the Evergreen Foundation (Accountability in the Digital Age, February 2015) looked at enrollment data for 24 fulltime online schools. In these schools, the report that found on average 35 percent of students who entered the schools in grade 10, 11 and 12 are not on track for graduation based on the four-year cohort rate.

Weekly Roundup is an effort to share more stories and information about the students and schools we serve, K12 educators, and important education issues. 

A Chattanooga Mom’s Plea to Keep Online Schools Open
(The Chattanoogan)

As a busy mom, it’s not often I make my way to our state Capitol to visit with my elected officials. But, last week, I had the chance to do just that as I took part in the Tennessee chapter of Public School Option’s 4th Annual Capitol Day. Joined by hundreds of families from all across the state, including many from here in the Chattanooga area, we traveled to Nashville to make our voices heard. As parents, we believe that we know the best when it comes to deciding the best possible type of education for our children. 

New Report Examines Improved Accountability Frameworks for Online Schools
(thinkTANK)

An important new report on online learning and accountability was released last week by Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning.  Titled, School Accountability in the Digital Age, the report was written and researched by John Watson and Larry Pape with Evergreen Education Group – nationally recognized experts in the field of online learning.

New Partnership Extends the Power of Online Learning to Special Education Students
(Press Release)

Across the country, schools and districts are leveraging digital learning to overcome staffing and resource challenges to improve outcomes and to address the many needs of their K-12 students—whether to expand course options, to provide assistance to those who need additional help, or to provide an alternative learning environment. Now, through a partnership between PresenceLearning and Fuel Education (FuelEd™), schools can use digital learning to address the needs of their special education students, too.   

An important new report on online learning and accountability was released last week by Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning.  Titled, School Accountability in the Digital Age, the report was written and researched by John Watson and Larry Pape with Evergreen Education Group – nationally recognized experts in the field of online learning.

Online schools and traditional schools are very different, yet the standards and accountability frameworks used to measure performance are the same.  State education laws and regulations are generally designed for the brick-and-mortar school and classroom-based model.  Like trying to jam a square peg into a round hole, these legal and regulatory frameworks often do not mesh well with online schools.  Even worse, they risk producing an incomplete, and sometimes inaccurate, picture of the real quality and performance of online public schools, especially on the effectiveness of educating transfer students who move from a local public school to an online school. 

Policymakers are left to grapple with the question:  what are the best accountability frameworks to use for online schools?   This report takes a big step toward answering that question by outlining 8 policy recommendations:

1.       Credit schools with graduating students in five or six years.

2.       Measure students’ progress towards graduation, especially for situations in which students switch schools.

3.       Change funding mechanisms to systems that minimize the impact of high student mobility.

4.       Publish data on student mobility for all schools, and consider creating a designation specific to schools with high rates of student mobility, regardless of other student demographic factors.

5.       Require separate reporting on online programs so that online student outcomes can be tracked.

In an effort to share more stories and information, we at thinkTANK will begin a Friday series called, “Weekly Roundup.” We hope you’ll learn more information about the students and schools we serve, K12 educators, and important education issues.

Check these out! 

Virtual Charter Schools Coming to NC
(Press Release)

Last week, K12 announces a partnership with North Carolina Learns, Inc. to operate the state’s newest virtual charter schools. The North Carolina Virtual Academy (NCVA) will be a first-of-its kind online public school.

Teaching in a Virtual Reality
(Battle Creek Enquirer)

Features Spencer Kahly, a teacher at Michigan Great Lakes Virtual Academy, who shares how becoming an online teacher has helped him cope with epilepsy.

Online public schools are a lifeline for students
(The Tennessean)

TN Public School Option leader and parent, Cathy Berg writes that the Tennessee state legislators take swift action to renew the Tennessee Virtual School Act to protect online school options in the state for the many families that need the option.

Hundreds Rally at Capitol In Nashville To Save Online Public Schools
(The Chattanoogan)

Under threat of closure, more than 400 parents, students and educators descended on the state Capitol to express their support for protecting the right of parents to choose the school that works best for their children, including the Tennessee Virtual Academy, a full-time online public school offered through Union County Public Schools. 

Maine Virtual Academy Approved to Open
(Press Release)

Maine Virtual Academy (MEVA), a statewide online public charter school, was approved today by the Maine Charter School Commission. The new online school will open next school year and serve students in grades 7-12 throughout the state.

There is a growing need to provide parents with timely, relevant data to make informed choices regarding schooling options. Data is also needed by educators to personalize instruction. Data may be useful to organizations to drive improvements in overall instruction more quickly than previously possible.

Data privacy has received increased attention in the past few years, largely because of the increased availability of data and collection requirements.

As a company that serves teachers, schools and families across the country, we value the opportunity to use data. For instance, we can review student Algebra exams across 40 states to determine if there are curriculum or instruction issues. This data allows school leaders to see that most students missed question number 3 on an exam, which indicates either a problem with the question or the way material is presented through the online portal. For example, if students in Mr. Smith’s class all missed question number 3, then we know there is an instruction issue.

To successfully navigate through data privacy issues, it’s important to consider existing policies and safeguards in place.

These safeguards include several significant and far-reaching policies such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA). These policies describe rights afforded to parents/families, restrict access to data, and define the purposes for which data may be collected and used. Additionally, there are laws, policies and practices at the state and local levels that define state- and school-level business practices.

As lawmakers consider data privacy laws this year, there is a complicated balancing act they must perform. Laws and policies need to strike the appropriate balance between:

• Provision of relevant, timely information to parents to allow them to participate in state-level school choice options
• Opportunities to personalize learning, forge data-driven innovation and improve instruction products
• Obligations to ensure local flexibility, transparency and governance, capacity and training
• Responsibilities to safeguard the collection, use, and distribution of student and family information
   

At its core, strong data privacy legislation inventories what type of data is being collected, avoids unnecessary collection, ensures data remains close to the student, strongly defines parental access, and develops security plans.

There are, however, additional nuances to consider:

A very interesting debate is occurring among school choice supporters, in particular within the charter school community, regarding enrollment practices among public charter schools.  A recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal puts the issue front and center. 

Authored by two school choice proponents in N.Y., the op-ed throws light on how many charter schools are intentionally restricting enrollment but boasting about better results on state tests.

“But the charter sector has long avoided a difficult truth:  Most charter enrollment policies distort market forces and explicitly limit choices for families at certain grade levels.  In fact, most charters squander an opportunity to give the highest-need students access to the highest-quality education by failing to backfill empty seats.”

They go on:

“Why would charters schools not want to serve as many students as possible?  Perverse incentives.”

You can read the full piece here.

The authors explain how these perverse incentives – relentless focus state-mandated test scores – create restrictive enrollment policies.  By controlling enrollment, a school can maintain the “illusion of success” by, in effect, filtering out students who were not succeeding, while keeping those who are engaged and achieving good results on state tests, and not granting access to new students who are less likely to be proficient on state tests and more likely drive down the school’s overall performance rating.  Charters that put in place these enrollment controls tend to produce better results, but leave more students-- including those most in need-- stuck on waiting lists.  

Who is pushing these perverse incentives that result in less access to choice schools?  

Ironically, it’s been driven by the very policymakers and organizations that claim to be the strongest champions of educational choice. 

Like most online educators, I began my instructional career in a brick and mortar classroom, teaching K-3 grade levels over a period of 5 years. My switch to become a virtual educator was partially due to relocation for my family, but largely as a result of looking for a way to broaden my teaching experiences. Currently, as an early literacy, Tier 3 Reading Intervention Specialist for California Virtual Academies (CAVA) – a network of online charter schools serving students across the state – I interact predominantly with K-5 students, Learning Coaches, and other CAVA teachers across California on a daily basis.

Having had the opportunity to teach in both learning environments, I’m often asked to compare my current role as an online educator to my experience as a teacher in a traditional classroom setting. I believe that both settings have their individual merits when the student’s physical, emotional, and educational needs are a priority in deciding on the appropriate learning environment. Regardless of the classroom setting there are many responsibilities I have as an educator, but the commonality between these two spaces is my role to guide and support students’ journeys to becoming proficient readers.

Specifically, as an intervention teacher I identify each student’s areas of deficiency in their reading acquisition skillset and the data I obtain is used to set a specific goal to measure their progress. In an effort to ensure each student meets or exceeds their specified goal, I develop and execute a learning plan tailored to their individual needs. Fundamentally, this often involves working through a progression that can be frustrating at times for students; however the data driven instruction, tools, and techniques I employ to help each student overcome these hurdles are the same regardless of the classroom setting.  Although the classroom environment may be different between the virtual versus physical classroom, the end goals of knowledge and proficiency remain constant.

Frequently, I hear concerns regarding the perception that the lack of physical presence, afforded by a traditional classroom, prevents virtual educators from establishing connections with their students. In reality, as an intervention specialist I have the opportunity to work with my students in a small group setting each day. Within my classes, I have the ability to have individual ‘break out sessions’ which allows for uninterrupted one-on-one interaction between a single student and myself just as any teacher would work individually with a student in the brick and mortar classroom environment. Adding to this is the ability to consistently interact and work with students’ Learning Coaches in workshops, weekly classes, and open office hours in addition to the regular communication regarding their student’s progress. My relationship with each family is very close as we work together to provide the best learning environment and support for each student. 

Today, students from Newark Prep, a blended public charter school in New Jersey, rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the official start of National School Choice Week. Newark Prep students were joined by Andrew Campanella, President of National School Choice Week, educators from K12 Inc., and national school choice leaders.

National School Choice Week is the largest celebration of school choice in America raising awareness about the benefits of providing education options for all children and empowering parents with choice.

Throughout the week, over 11,000 events highlighting the importance of school choice will take place in the U.S. K12 and its school partners are participating in National School Choice Week events across the country in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and many other states.

The Greater Washington Dance Center will launch a comprehensive instructional program, The Academy for Elite Dancers & Athletes (The Academy EDA) through the K12 International Academy beginning fall 2015.

The Academy EDA will open for enrollment beginning fall 2015 for both dancers and athletes, grades 6-12 seeking flexibility in their schedule to support their learning needs. The Academy EDA will host, on campus, The K12 International Academy – a fully accredited, NCAA-approved, online college preparatory high school program.

K12 International Academy is a fully accredited, private online school serving students in all 50 states and more than 70 countries around the world. The school combines curriculum, academic services, and support to families to meet the diverse need of students.

Through The Academy EDA students will have the opportunity to study through a certification program for graduates to become a NASM (National Association of Sports Medicine) certified trainer.  For dancers, The Academy EDA offers the highest level of professional dance training in Northern Virginia, with classes in ballet, modern, jazz, regular workshops, strength and flexibility training, and courses in nutrition, kinesiology, anatomy, and sports psychology.

For more information on The Academy for Elite Dancers and Athletes, visit http://www.theacademyeda.com/ or visit K12 International Academy.