Virtual School News » Blogs http://virtualschoolnews.com Thu, 08 Jul 2010 06:33:18 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Racing to Read, and Virtual Learning http://virtualschoolnews.com/racing-to-read-and-virtual-learning/ http://virtualschoolnews.com/racing-to-read-and-virtual-learning/#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 08:00:53 +0000 tcnixon http://virtualschoolnews.com/?p=376 After declining to release the state’s Race to the Top application, last Friday [New York] posted the entire application online. Predictably, the application mostly includes language like “bold” and “transform.” The state had publicized many of its most radical changes, such as changing teacher certification and tracking student achievement to individual teachers.

But tucked into the application were a couple of ideas we had heard little about. There’s the “New York State Virtual High School,” an online learning program that the state said would provide students with “options for alternative pathways to meet state and national learning standards.” According to the application, Virtual High School will give students who are behind on credits for graduating a chance to catch up and also give students in rural areas a way to participate in classes they don’t have at their own school.

The application states that they school will be for anyone who wants to participate in school “anytime, anywhere,” but gives few details, except to say that the school will be available free of cost to 20,000 students in the state by 2014.

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From New York Times.

]]> http://virtualschoolnews.com/racing-to-read-and-virtual-learning/feed/ 0 Free Online High Schools http://virtualschoolnews.com/free-online-high-schools/ http://virtualschoolnews.com/free-online-high-schools/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:03:43 +0000 tcnixon http://virtualschoolnews.com/?p=342 The single-most common question concerning online high schools is about whether there are any free ones available. Just a few short years ago, the answer was mostly in the negative. That fact is changing almost faster than it is possible to keep up.

There are several reasons for this phenomenon, but the main one is that schools, states, and companies have figured out a way to use public money to create online high schools and online courses. All perfectly legal and a reasonable use of our tax dollars.

However, before you decide to sign up for that free online high school, there are some things that you need to know.

Free Online High Schools: Finding and comparing online HS programs by Thomas Nixon

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For the rest of the article by Thomas Nixon  go to eLearners.com.

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