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Division of Program Support
NHEON > Office of Educational Technology > Virtual Schools

Online Courses and Schools for K12 Students

The following list provides basic information about what other states are doing with virtual schools, some online providers of courses for K-12 students, and some research references and other sites of interest. It is not an exhaustive list, but rather a place to start.

Other sources of online learning information:

Virtual Schools
Virtual Schools Info

Virtual School

Description

New Hampshire!!!
Virtual Learning Academy Charter School http://www.vlacs.org

VLACS was first approved by the New Hampshire State Board of Education as a charter school in 2007. Their first cohort of classes began in January 2008. Initial content for all courses was purchased from the Florida Virtual School. Check out the courses offered on their website to see if VLACS can meet the needs of your New Hampshire students. These courses are FREE to NH resident students. Visit the site for details and availability of seats for the current or upcoming term.

Florida Virtual School
http://www.flvs.net/

The Florida Virtual School currently offers 75 online courses (2003-04) including 11 AP courses. Enrollment in 2002-03 was over 10,000 students supported by more than 100 certified teachers in Florida. Courses are at no cost to students. Their business partners include Aventa Learning, BellSouth, IBM, Jones Knowledge Inc., Sprint, Ucompass.com, and others.

Interstate
Virtual High School
http://www.govhs.org

Originally developed as part of a USDOE grant to the Concord Consortium in Concord, MA, the VHS enables schools everywhere to participate in a collaborative. "VHS, Inc. operates as a national non-profit organization, which charges tuition for professional development and an annual membership fee to all participating schools. This will provide for central administration, registration, server management, and all the other operational aspects of VHS. This fee is $6000 per year for schools offering one NetCourse. Additional courses that are sponsored by the school are $4000 per year. Each NetCourse that a school sponsors and teaches earns that school 20 student seats in both the fall and spring VHS courses. Schools entering VHS will pay for the professional developments costs of training their teacher and site coordinator - $3500 for the Teachers Learning Conference or NetCourse Instructional Methodology, and $1500 for the Site Coordinators Orientation."

The following NH high schools are involved in VHS in 2003-04:

  • Hinsdale High School in Hinsdale
  • Newmarket Junior-Senior High School in Newmarket
  • Newport Middle High School in Newport
  • Sunapee Middle High School in Sunapee
  • Winnacunnet High School in Hampton
  • Woodsville High School in Woodsville

Kentucky Virtual High School
http://www.kvhs.org/

Kentucky's virtual school initiative at http://www.kvhs.org/ The Kentucky Virtual High School is a statewide educational service delivering high school courses and online learning opportunity to Kentuckians. KVHS courses are delivered to public high schools through the Kentucky Education Technology System. The delivery system is licensed from eClassroom / eCollege.

Pennsylvania
Virtual Charter School
http://www.pavcs.org/

The state education agency's charter schools legislation enables the existence of virtual charter schools. The PAVCS uses curriculum content provided by "K12 Inc." and currently offers instruction in grades K - 7. The local school provides a computer system on loan to the student.

Texas
Investigating Quality of Online Courses Pilot Project (IQ Project)
http://www.IQstandards.info

This excellent resource identifies quality guidelines for Internet courses. Due to increased demand for distance education options in K-12, the Texas Education Agency funded this initiative in 2001 to develop a set of quality of service guidelines for K-12 Internet-based courses: the IQ Guidelines. The impetus for this project stemmed largely from research focusing on the efficacy of web-based courses, which showed that pedagogy and best practices in online teaching and learning can be significantly different from those used in traditional classrooms. The Texas Region IV Education Service Center is the administrator of the IQ Project and serves to coordinate the development and use of the guidelines for the state.

Wisconsin Virtual Academy
http://www.wivcs.org

The Wisconsin Virtual Academy opened on September 2, 2003. WVA offers home-based courses for Wisconsin children in grades K - 7. They intend to expand up to grade 12 in future.

The full program includes:

  • K12 curriculum for the school year in six subjects (Language Arts, Math, Science, History, Art and Music) provided by "K12 Inc."
  • Computer system with printer and Internet connection, provided at no cost
  • All instructional materials, including textbooks, workbooks, planning and progress tools, maps, math and science supplies, CDs, and videos
  • Access to an experienced teacher for guidance, support, and advice
  • Optional educational outings to enhance lessons and build a sense of school community
Companies Info
Companies
Description

Class.com
http://www.class.com

Numerous courses with content originally designed as part of USDOE grant at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln or at Columbia University. They maintain a helpful resource page of information on virtual schools at: http://www.class.com/default.asp?sec=5&cnt=resources_content

Jones Knowledge, Inc.
http://www.jonesknowledge.com
They helped develop the Florida Virtual High School as well as schools in other states. They currently offer a free platform license for developing online courses. See http://www.jonesadvisorygroup.com/standard.php

eClassroom
http://www.eclassroom.com

The company representative writes: "eClassroom has been working with many states over the last few years to build virtual high schools. We currently operate programs in Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Alaska - all of which provide online courses to supplement what students receive in the high schools." eClassroom and eCollege are two divisions of the same company. Colorado recently announced plans to use eClassroom for their state initiative. The MarcoPolo Foundation currently uses eCollege to power their online MarcoPolo courses to provide an online alternative to face to face Internet training for teachers. See also Kentucky's virtual school initiative at http://www.kvhs.org/

 
A Few References on Virtual Learning

Cavanaugh, C. (2001). The Effectiveness of Interactive Distance Education Technologies in K-12 Learning: A Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications 7(1), 73-88. [Online]. Available: http://dl.aace.org/6404

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (April 2002). Virtual Schools and E-Learning in K-12 Environments: Emerging Policy and Practice. NCREL Policy Issues, 11. [Online] Available: http://www.ncrel.org/policy/pubs/html/pivol11/apr2002.htm

Visit the following and run a search for virtual schools:

NH State Standards for Schools

Full text of the current NH state standards for schools related to distance education in K12 schools (Ed 306.22) may be found at: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rules/ed300.html.

 

 

 


Last updated: January 29, 2008