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Online classes in KHSD?
Trustee believes timing's right for technology
| Saturday, Feb 2 2008 9:15 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, Feb 2 2008 9:35 PM
What if high school history didn't mean a classroom with 30 other kids? Instead, a student could settle into a comfy chair at home and log on to a history chat-room.
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That's the vision of a Kern High School District trustee who has been tossing around an idea for Web-based classes in the 37,000-student district.
"I think the timing's right," trustee Joel Heinrichs said. Distance learning "is certainly increasing."
Experiments in online learning have filtered into K-12 curriculum across the country.
According to a 2007 report, 42 states including California offer some sort of online course, either to supplement a traditional schedule at a brick and mortar campus or in a comprehensive distance learning school.
Heinrichs, as chief executive for a company that provides network security systems for schools, keeps tabs on trends in technology and education. Initially, he'd like to see students, for example, take a history class online so they can take band or art during the school day. In a report to the school board.
Heinrichs had requested, distance learning was one option when considering ways to bolster KHSD's career technical programs. Somewhere down the road, however, he could see the district operating a complete virtual high school.
'NOT FOR EVERYONE'
But online classes aren't for everyone, said David Parr, who teaches at a virtual charter school in Wisconsin where students work almost entirely outside the classroom.
"For a student that's having difficulty with the social aspects of high school but wants to excel, this is perfect," Parr said. "This is totally at your own pace, they can finish a class as quick as they want. For a student whose academic ability may not be as high, this is not a good fit."
Online classes may include instruction videos, timed assignments and required participation in message boards. Students come to class for testing or help sessions. And certified teachers talk to students one-on-one over the phone, conducting oral exams and reviewing materials, Parr said.
Students in California who want to venture into cyber-school have a few options already.
California Virtual Academies are K-12 online charter schools sponsored by several districts throughout the state, including Maricopa Unified School District in Kern County.
University of California College Prep Online offers Advanced Placement classes, such as AP government, for high school students.
And a private company provides online make-up classes for students who lack credits but can't meet the summer school schedule, said KHSD's director of instruction Katie Kleier. The high school would have to pay for that service, though, she said.
None of the district's 16 comprehensive campuses are using either the UC online program or the private make-up classes, Kleier said.
FUNDING CHALLENGES
But public schools that want to offer supplemental classes in the regular schedule face some challenges.
California has specific requirements for funding public schools, and new legislation would be needed to develop a new funding structure, said Barbara Thalacker, California Department of Education's education technology director.
As it stands now, schools lose money if a student is not physically in a classroom a certain number of hours each day.
In a pilot program that ran from 2003 to 2007, the state relaxed some of those rules. That allowed nearly 1,800 students from 40 schools in 11 districts to take classes online, according to the state department of education.
Clovis Unified School District, near Fresno, had been operating virtual classes for a couple of years before it joined the program, instructional resources coordinator Rob Darrow said. But the district couldn't come up with a consistent way to fund it.
It was running on grant money, but that didn't last. The district canceled its online courses last year, Darrow said.
A bill introduced in 2006 to extend the pilot program rules to all districts went nowhere.