WOLCOTT —For all of the distractions, temptations and misinformation on the Web, there’s at least one place where computers serve only educational needs: Wolcott High School’s new “virtual learning lab.”

The classroom, which is equipped with 22 computers and is next to the Library Media Center, will house two sections of students who are taking online courses. It’s one of the new technology-based teaching tools students will find when the town’s public schools open Monday.

For the rest of the article, go to Computer classroom new at Wolcott High

“This is a very exciting opportunity. This will provide a model that all districts in Connecticut can adopt to transform what’s happening in the classroom,” Education Connection Executive Director Danuta Thibodeau said Monday.

“It’s a teacher-instructed class which uses the online learning environment. The teacher leads the course and all the materials are online.”

The program requires the grantees to provide a 20 percent match, which means about $860,000 in this case.

Thibodeau was confident the agency would raise the match and credited collaboration — especially among her agency, the state Department of Education and the state Office of Workforce Competitiveness — with the grant application being so strong.

For the rest of the article, go to Regional education agency wins $4.3 million grant

TORRINGTON — The school district took the first step Wednesday toward establishing opportunities for students to learn online.

Administrators said a new state law requires districts to offer online courses for “credit recovery,” or students who have failed the in-class version of a course.

For the rest of the article, go to Torrington school committee to study future of online courses

Eight high school students from Norwalk are participating this summer in the first run of an online credit-recovery program for Connecticut schools, supported by landmark education reform passed in May. The classes are offered through the Florida Virtual School.

As a boon to the program, the state Department of Education footed the bill for the first 300 students to register, including the four students from Brien McMahon High School and four from Norwalk High School, Sullivan said.

For other students, each class will cost $150.

“The transition to online courses is, no question, a trend,” said Karen Kaplan, educational technology director for the state Department of Education. “As we look to widen our course offerings at a time when finances are tough and districts are experiencing teacher shortages, it’s a great way to try and do that.”

For the rest of the article, go to Summer school set for 318 students

The district has a legal obligation to educate the expelled student, and Southington last year experimented successfully with online classes as a way of doing just that at a cost of $1,250 per student per year, thereby saving on the expense of a private tutor, $11,400 per year. This year, students will be asked to take the five courses offered by the Virtual Learning Academy on either their home computer or one available at the local library.

We like the fact that a staff member at the high school will oversee the Virtual Learning Academy, since, we’re certain, some students will need support in using an online learning package.

Even more, we like Southington’s determination to offer the program to as few students as possible because the goal is to keep kids in school.

That’s good for the youngster and it’s good for the community, too.

For the rest of the article, go to Our View: Expelled but not lost

SOUTHINGTON — Even though the number of middle and high school students expelled declined from 30 to 13 during the 2009-10 school year, this situation still poses a significant cost to the district.

With that in mind, the Board of Education has decided to use a new Virtual Learning Academy, an online program which will save money and allow expelled students to keep up with their classmates.

Superintendent of Schools Joseph Erardi Jr. said the district must still educate that student and the use of a tutor who provides 10 hours of instruction a week costs $11,400 for the school year. The Virtual Learning Academy costs $1,250 per student per year and teaches five courses, he said.

The board tested the program on six expelled students who all had computers at home and all kept up with their classwork.

For the rest of the article, go to Board of Education eyes virtual learning for suspended students

Online courses have proliferated in higher education, too. Nearly 4,200 online courses were offered on Connecticut college campuses in 2009, twice the number offered three years earlier, according to the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium. Enrollment in those courses also has nearly doubled since 2006, reaching about 65,000 last year.

The consortium also manages the Connecticut Virtual Learning Center offering online courses to high school students, but that program has not grown as fast as college level programs, said Diane Goldsmith, the consortium’s executive director.

“My prediction is, it’s going to grow,” she said. “I’m talking to superintendents. They’re laying off people. . . . I think increasingly schools have to look at online as a solution. It’s the cheapest solution. There’s not a building. You don’t have to hire staff. . . . You can have a computer lab [and] have 25 students taking 25 different courses.”

How well does online education work?

For the rest of the article, go to Students find variety at good ol’ Virtual High

It becomes extremely difficult to get ahead in life without a high school diploma. But sadly, the numbers of school drop out are on rise. In a recent speech, President Obama mentioned, more than 3,300 American youth are dropping out of high school every day. Socio economic reasons for high school dropping out are many and varied that range from poverty and teen pregnancy to discipline problem to boredom.

Often a long process of disengagement and academic struggle results into dropping out from the school. Clearly, those decide to drop out from school lack in motivation as well as encouragement from school or home. Whatever may be the reason, the discontinuation of study at an early age may mean havoc for the youth. Without a high school diploma, they will have a harder time finding a job, and they will earn much less when they do find one. They are more prone to health issues, living in poverty, and having children at an early age, who in turn have a higher propensity to drop out of high school themselves.

According to an estimate of U.S. Department of Labor, high school dropouts earn about $10,000 less each year compared to workers with diplomas. The downturn has made the job market fiercely competitive, where jobless baby boomers are seen competing for jobs with college graduates and undergraduates, and college students competing with high school students and dropouts.
March unemployment figures from the federal Bureau of Labor show that unemployment was 13.3 percent among people in the age group of 25 and older with less than a high school diploma, compared to 8.5 percent overall.

However, online education comes as the silver lining in the cloud.
It is true that many teen dropouts eventually go back to school to get their diploma and then on to earn a college degree. But with window for state-funded schooling closed, it becomes expensive for the returning students, who now must make the sacrifice to go to school as a working adult and pay tuition.

For the rest of the article,go to Online Education Offers Ray of Hope for the School Dropouts

Failed a class? Forget about spending glorious summer days inside a stuffy classroom.

Summer school is going high tech.

Starting this summer, Connecticut students can take classes online. That means rather than waking up early and climbing on a bus, summer school students can stay home and work on their laptops on their own schedule.

Even better, students usually don’t have to take the entire course over again. A diagnostic test determines what course material the student didn’t understand the first time around, then the course is tailored to cover only those areas, allowing students to finish more quickly.

For the rest of the article, go to Summer School Going High-Tech With Online Classes

Welcome to yet another state-specific website for online high schools. Brought to you by Best Online High Schools, this gives you information on all that is going on in your state with online high schools.