A bill passed by the Virginia General Assembly this year refines the application process for charter schools, requiring applications to first be sent to the state Board of Education, which will review the application and provide suggestions for improvement. The applicant would then go before the jurisdiction’s school board, which will review the application and, if rejected, provide detailed responses to why that decision was made. The applicant can then refine the proposal and come before the board once more. If again rejected, an appeal can be made to the Board of Education.

Forsyth County, GA, another community that has experienced rapid growth in student populations, will launch a new program this fall that Jennifer Caracciolo, spokeswomen for Forsyth County Public Schools, said could help defer construction costs of new high schools in the coming years.

The iAchieve Virtual Academy will go online this fall, offering approximately 60 students in Forsyth and around the state an alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar learning environments. Students in grades 6-12 will be able to take courses online from their homes or other locations while earning credits toward a standard high school diploma.

For the rest of the article, go to Finding Alternatives To The Traditional Classroom

HERNDON, Va., Jul 26, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — K12 Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!lrn/quotes/nls/lrn (LRN 25.37, +1.07, +4.40%) , one of the nation’s largest providers of proprietary curriculum and online school programs for students in kindergarten through high school, announced today the all-stock acquisition of KC Distance Learning, Inc. (KCDL), a privately-held, nationally-recognized provider of distance learning programs for middle and high school students, with a newly-issued class of non-voting shares having a value of $63.1 million under the terms of the Merger Agreement.

The acquisition bolsters K12′s position as a leader in K-12 online education and a premier provider of virtual school solutions. The move adds a new line of products and services to K12′s robust offerings for public and private schools, international schools, and individual consumers. Additionally, K12(R) significantly increases the size of its online private school offering through the acquisition of KCDL.

For the rest of the article, go to K12 Inc. Announces Acquisition of KC Distance Learning, Inc.

James W. Lanham, the state’s director of teacher licensure and school leadership, said his team will bring evaluation models to the Board in January or February. He said his goals are better professional development, lower teacher turnover and more equitable staffing.

The department is also moving forward on new guidelines and accountability procedures for virtual schools serving multiple districts. The issue of how the contractors will be paid is being left up to the General Assembly.

“We need to make sure, ultimately, that what is provided is good for the kids and is going to improve their learning and test scores,” said Lan Neugent, assistant superintendent for technology.

For the rest of the article, go to Virginia plans to weigh student growth in teacher evaluations

There are several platforms for online programs. The simplest platform is an example like Verizon Foundaton’s Thinkfinity – recently named a “Best in Tech” website by Scholastic Administrator magazine. It offers lesson plans and supplemental aids for classroom teachers, students and home-school parents that will soon be linked to Virginia’s Standards of Learning by grade level and subject.

The oldest example is a state virtual school. Virtual Virginia, operated by the state Department of Education, offers more than 60 middle and high school courses ranging from Latin and AP Art History to Spanish and AP Statistics. But enrollment in Virtual Virginia is capped and has significant restrictions – one reason why, in 2008-09, fewer than 5,000 students were enrolled. In fact, Virginia’s enrollment ranks only midway among states with state virtual schools and is far outpaced by states like Florida, South Carolina and Alabama.

For the rest of the article, go to Delivering Education Direct to the Desktop

Courses in Spanish and Latin, above year three and in Advanced Placement, will be offered online through Virtual Virginia. This is a new tactic in teaching a foreign language to students — especially a “dead language” such as Latin — but it’s not without concern from parents.

“I was really surprised,” said Vandeveer, whose daughters take Latin and Spanish at Smithfield High School. “It messed up their plans in progressing through the classes.”

Virtual Virginia, a program of the Virginia Department of Education, offers online courses in AP studies, foreign language, core academics and elective classes to students across the nation.

For the rest of the article, go to Views differ on online classes

Virtual Virginia

Virginia has passed new legislation that will expand charter schools throughout the state. The bills are part of the Governor’s “Opportunity to Learn” agenda, focused on education reform.

The laws aim to improve the application and review process for public charter school applicants, as well as establishing uniform statewide input standards for the application process. Children will also be allowed to choose schools that fall outside their zip codes, expand college laboratory schools and improve and promote virtual learning.

For the rest of the article, go to Virginia passes new legislation expanding charter schools

HERNDON, Va., Jun 28, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Over 1,000 students graduated this year from virtual schools using the award winning, nationally-acclaimed K12(R) curriculum and online school program.

K12 Inc., America’s largest provider of proprietary curriculum and online school programs for students in kindergarten through high school, operates public virtual schools in 25 states (and D.C.) in partnership with charter schools and school districts.

The majority of graduates — 93 percent — plan to continue their education at colleges and universities, according to K12′s 2010 senior survey. The survey also indicated that K12 graduates received over 1 million dollars in combined scholarship money.

K12 students from this year’s class have been accepted to many of the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities, including Cornell, Duke, Middlebury College, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford, Vanderbilt, University of Southern California, and many more schools across the U.S.

“All of us at K12 are extremely proud of these students,” said Ron Packard, founder and CEO of K12 Inc. “These students are tomorrow’s leaders. Their achievements are the result of a tremendous amount of hard work and perseverance. The parents, family members and friends of these graduates also deserve praise for providing encouragement, love and support through the years. Congratulations to the Class of 2010.”

For the rest of the article, go to K12 Virtual Schools Graduate Over 1,000 Students

Richmond, Va. –Subsets of the Virginia Board of Education meet today for the first time on two of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s marquee education initiatives — charter schools and college laboratory schools — as members begin delving into implementation.

The two committees will meet in Richmond this afternoon, starting with national education sources addressing the panel on charters, a topic of particularly high interest for education advocates in the state.

Meanwhile, work is proceeding on the governor’s third education initiative, creating criteria for approving virtual school providers, including on how the state should pay local school systems for students who attend the online academies.

For the rest of the article, go to Financing for virtual schools under study

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.