Virtual School News» virtual schools

In Fort Worth stop, Perry calls for online high school classes

tcnixon — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:12:04 +0000

To whittle the state’s dropout rate, Gov. Rick Perry proposes creating a virtual high school that would let students take classes online if they can’t make it to school every day.

As an incentive for kids to stay in school, Perry said, he wants the state to require that high school students be taking classes in either bricks-and-mortar or virtual schools before they can get a driver’s license.

“We need to allow young people to have that flexibility,” he said Friday after speaking to about 400 people at a Leaders in Government lunch at the Petroleum Club. “There’s just some kids who can’t make it work, can’t take care of family needs [and at the same time] go to a bricks-and-mortar school and meet that rigorous schedule.

“So give them flexibility. And with the technology we have available today, it seems that will be a very cheap investment in the future of this state to help those young people get that GED or that diploma.”

Perry took a break from his Get Out the Vote tour, which took him to North Richland Hills, Weatherford and other cities, to speak at the Fort Worth luncheon.

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http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/02/19/1982878/in-fort-worth-stop-perry-calls.html

Why some students prefer virtual schooling

tcnixon — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:04:07 +0000

What motivates a growing number of virtual-school students to forgo the traditional school structure and take their classes entirely online?

At the Virtual School Symposium hosted in mid-October in Phoenix by the North American Council for Online Learning, virtual-school students explained they like being able to progress at their own pace–and some said they appreciate being able to take classes not offered by their traditional, bricks-and-mortar school.

Roger Sanchez said he left his conventional California school because he wanted to study at his own pace while holding a job outside of school and focusing his attention on out-of-school topics that related to his college interests.

“I was looking for something different to fit my schedule, and the traditional system wasn’t making the cut,” said Sanchez, who is taking multiple Advanced Placement courses and plans to study computer science or graphic design in college.

“You can create your own schedule. … It’s not the same routine I’d have in the traditional system, and I can get more of what I want to do done,” he said.

For the rest of the article, click here.

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Why some students prefer virtual schooling by Laura Devaney

From eSchoolNews.com