Education Week - October 24, 2012 - Special Report - S16

EVALUATING WHAT WORKS: STATE MODELS

ONLINE LEARNING GOES TO CLASS
Florida Virtual School incorporates face-to-face approaches BY MICHELLE R. DAVIS

A
RESULTS

t Florida’s Coral Glades High School, 13 classes of students take an online course in world history through the Florida Virtual School. Though the coursework is online and the instructor virtual, students see their teacher in person during weekly class visits. The students have another face-to-face support as well: a classroom facilitator who keeps them on track, helps with technical problems, and takes attendance. The Florida Virtual School, the nation’s largest state-sponsored online K-12 school, has always been quick to adapt to trends, but now the most-established virtual public school in the country is venturing into a blended learning model that is in growing demand. The move is in part the effect of market forces, as the flvs strives to meet the needs of school districts, and in part the evolution of the blended model, which mixes face-to-face instruction and virtual learning. Facing state-mandated class-size restrictions and a state requirement that all students take an online course before graduation, districts are turning to Florida Virtual to help meet both those obligations. The implementation is not without its kinks, but Steven G. Carruth, the principal of Coral Glades High, in the 258,000-student Broward County district, said the option saved him more than $100,000 last year on teachers he would have had to hire to meet class-size requirements, and it has given students the flexibility to work at their own pace. The face-to-face interaction for students with the flvs teacher is a plus, Mr. Carruth said. The online teacher visits every Tuesday to meet with students individually or teach mini-lessons, stays an extra hour after school that day for students who need additional help, and attends Coral Glades’ parent nights to educate families about the program. “It makes a difference for the students to actually get to meet the teacher versus just interacting with him over the phone or by email,” Mr. Carruth said. “There’s a human-connection piece that helps keep the students engaged and more accountable.” Forty-four districts in Florida have now put in place flvs hybrid or blended learning models, called Virtual Learning Labs, said Tania Clow, a spokeswoman for the flvs. The virtual school launched the blended programs during the 2010-11 school year, with 152 Virtual Learning

Labs across the state. The number has grown this school year to 314, Ms. Clow said. Face-to-face interaction includes the weekly teacher visits, the facilitator, and frequent visits from an flvs specialist in blended learning who troubleshoots school issues. State mandates for school districts have increased the speed of that growth. The state’s Class Size Reduction Amendment, which was adopted by voters in 2002, limits the number of students allowed in classrooms, but not in virtual labs. Those class-size limits were phased in, but by 2010-11, there could be no more than 25 students per core class in the high school grades. Meanwhile, starting with the last school year’s 9th grade, all incoming high school students must take an online course to graduate. So at Coral Glades High, for example, 35 to 40 students are in each of the 13 world-history classes. The online course can also count toward the students’ graduation requirement, Mr. Carruth said. The Virtual Learning Labs also offer a level playing ground for students when it comes to the online-course requirement, said Christopher McGuire, the principal of the Broward Virtual School. “Our kids will say they have Internet access at home, but it’s often from cellphones,” he said. “That’s not the best learning device, or what I would consider true Internet access.”

Moneyeke Martin, a 14-year-old student at Bair Middle School in Sunrise, Fla., works on an assignment during her Virtual Learning Lab with classmate Jasmine Royer, also 14. Students at the school collaborate with classmates to complete online assignments.

CLASS-SIZE COMPLIANCE
With a history that goes back to 1997, and with more than 303,000 half-credit course completions during the last school year, Florida Virtual has adapted its program to meet student and district needs. The school operates a full-time online school, offers its online teachers and courses to students and districts on a part-time basis, and also allows districts to operate flvs franchises, in which districts use flvs courses but provide their own online teachers. The Virtual Learning Labs are just another option for customers, said Jaryn Emhof, the director of state initiatives and communications for the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a Tallahassee, Fla.-based advocacy organization led by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “Flvs has been successful in adapting to a model that serves districts

Though the Florida Virtual School does not currently have data to determine whether students taking courses through the Virtual Learning Labs outperform those who have a completely online experience, the setup is becoming increasingly popular with school districts in the state. Florida districts are using those labs to help ease class-size limits and fulfill a graduation requirement in online

learning for students. According to the FLVS, 44 districts use the Virtual Learning Labs. The Miami-Dade County district is also using FLVS courses in its iPrep Academies, a hybrid learning program for accelerated students who want to take college-prep and college-level courses. While MiamiDade students take FLVS courses with virtual teachers in a more collaborative, less

traditional school setting (think couches and a cafe), the academies are also staffed with master teachers certified in core subjects, such as English/language arts and math. The district is collecting data on student achievement within the iPrep Academies. As it is, end-of-course test scores for geometry and biology for the program’s first crop of 9th graders were among the highest in the state.

SOURCE: Florida Virtual School

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S16

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EDUCATION WEEK: EVALUATING WHAT WORKS IN BLENDED LEARNING > www.edweek.org/go/elearning-blended

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OCTOBER 24, 2012


http://www.edweek.org/go/elearning-blended

Education Week - October 24, 2012 - Special Report

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - October 24, 2012 - Special Report

Education Week - October 24, 2012
‘Smart Pills’ Promising, Problematic
At S.C. School, Behavior Is One of the Basics
Obama Finding Teacher Support Secure, if Tepid
Focus On: Curriculum: Calif. Laws Shift Gears on Algebra, Textbooks
Table of Contents
News in Brief
Report Roundup
‘Value Added’ Use at Secondary Level Questioned
National Board Seeks to Revive Impact on Profession
Industry & Innovation
Blogs of the Week
Debates Push Fate of NCLB Waivers to Fore
Policy Menu Varies in State School Board Elections
Policy Brief
The Election: Debating Education
Genevieve LaFleur & Scott Poland: Schools Can Be the Difference in Preventing Suicide
Kenneth Wesson: From STEM to ST2REAM: Reassembling Our Disaggregated Curriculum
Letters
Top School Jobs Recruitment Marketplace
Erica Frankenberg & Gary Orfield: Diversity or Resegregation? Why Suburban Schools Need a Plan
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