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K-12 School Students Using More Online Education Programs, Tools
Photo: iwannt/Flickr (CC)
Jody Lawrence-Turner/The Spokesman-Review, Spokane
November 09, 2009
Nov. 9 – Cassie Tompkins wanted her children to receive a quality education, but the Seattle resident also wanted Bailey and Brannon to pursue their blossoming acting careers.
“After months of research, what we found at East Valley (Online School) meets both of these,” Tompkins said of a program launched this year by East Valley School District. Bailey, a fourth-grader, and Brannon, a high school sophomore, were enrolled in the district’s new program earlier this year.
Online education is quickly becoming a popular option for K-12 students nationwide for a variety of reasons: highly motivated students trying to add on one more course; students who need to make up a failed class; socially awkward kids who work better in an alternative environment; or students like the Tompkinses who are unable to attend traditional classes.
Some studies suggest that in 10 years, 50 percent of learning will be done online.
Online learning isn’t for everyone, said Judy Margrath-Huge, director of a new division in the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction devoted to digital learning. “This is not a silver bullet answer for every student. This is just another option,” she said.
But during the 2008-‘09 school year, 14,126 of Washington’s secondary students were enrolled in one or more online courses for credit, and of those, 3,810 were taking all of their courses online, state officials said.
Idaho is also seeing growing interest in online learning. An estimated 15,400 students are currently enrolled in online courses.
“We just started the Idaho Education Network, which will connect every district in the state,” said Melissa McGrath, spokeswoman for the Idaho State Department of Education. “Every high school will have at least one classroom set up to be a virtual classroom. (Students) will be able to take classes from other districts or even community colleges.”
East Valley’s Online School, the newest in the region, “is different than other online programs in that our (full-time online) students can enroll in two or three courses at a time,” said Barbara Cruse, the online school’s principal. That’s different than the usual course load of six online classes at a time.
“They concentrate their 25 hours per week on those courses. That allows them to finish within four to six weeks,” and move on to the next courses, Cruse said.
Tompkins said her children often travel to Los Angeles for acting jobs – sometimes at just a moment’s notice – so they need flexibility that traditional classrooms can’t provide.
