Whether the reshaping of schools passes — and whether the St. Louis Public Schools win approval to sponsor two charter schools this fall — is now up to the Missouri legislature and the state Board of Education. State Sen. Jane Cunningham, the Chesterfield Republican whose bill would bring about the most drastic changes, says if lawmakers don’t act to settle what has become known as the Turner case, the courts will.

Her bill, introduced Thursday and set for a hearing next week, would go much further than just the provisions addressing Turner. It would include these changes to Missouri education law:

• Establish the Passport Scholarship Program, to grant financial assistance for students up to the age of 21 who live in unaccredited public school districts for use at a non-public elementary or secondary school. Taxpayers could contribute to a qualified educational assistance organization and claim a tax credit for what they give.
• Allow an accredited school district or cooperative association of accredited districts to sponsor or operate a charter school in or for an unaccredited district.
• Remove the two-year waiting period between the time a district loses accreditation and the time the state may take it over; under the bill, the takeover could happen immediately after accreditation is lost.
• To change the current Turner situation, require an unaccredited district to pay tuition and transportation for resident students to attend an accredited district in an adjoining area. Receiving districts could establish criteria for how many students they would accept, based on the availability of “highly qualified teachers in existing classroom space.” Receiving districts would not have to include the test scores of transfer students in their assessments for up to five years.
• In what is called the Hinson Plan, after the superintendent of the Independence School District outside Kansas City, require that if a district outside St. Louis or St. Louis County loses accreditation, surrounding accredited districts must divide up its territory, annex it and draw up new attendance boundaries.
• Direct the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to establish a clearinghouse to help students in unaccredited districts transfer to an accredited district, a charter school, a virtual school or a nonpublic school using a Passport scholarship.
• Require student performance to be a factor in teacher evaluations.
• Give school principals the right to select teachers for their schools who have shown they are qualified and effective.

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Yes, that Stanford — the elite research university known for producing graduates who win Nobels and found Googles, not for teaching basic algebra to teenagers. Five years after the opening of the experimental program, some education experts consider Stanford’s decision to attach its name to the effort a milestone for online education.

“This is significant,” said Bill Tucker, managing director of Education Sector, a nonpartisan policy institute. “One of our country’s most prestigious universities feels comfortable putting its considerable prestige and brand behind it.”

As the line between virtual and classroom-based learning continues to blur, some see Stanford’s move as a sign that so, too, will the line between secondary and higher education. Several other universities — though none with the pedigree of Stanford — already operate online high schools, a development that has raised some questions about expertise and motives.

About 275,000 students nationwide are enrolled full time in online schools, according to Susan Patrick, president of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, a nonprofit advocacy group. Most of these are free public charter schools, but colleges — private and public — have begun to get into the business as well.

The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and the University of Missouri have awarded diplomas to about 250 and 85 students, respectively, annually for the last several years. The George Washington University Online High School opened in January.

For the rest of the article, go to Online High Schools Attracting Elite Names

For the rest of the article, go to How I Got the Job | Alison Gromer, 50

Five students from The Virtual Sight, a Berrien Springs Public Schools virtual school hosted by Summit Pointe in downtown Battle Creek, were graduated in Tuesday’s ceremony at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation headquarters. The students were Danny Bates, Choris Jacobsen, Anna Lucas, Danielle Sanders and Harley Wagner, according to the program for Tuesday’s event.

This is the second commencement ceremony for the students. They also walked during the Berrien Springs Alternative Education Program ceremony last month and received Berrien Springs diplomas.

For the rest of the article, go to 5 graduate from first class of Virtual Sight school

But there are obstacles, too. Many families don’t have Internet access with speeds that would support complex classroom-style work, especially in rural areas and impoverished inner cities. Families with multiple children — without multiple computers — could be hard-pressed to keep up.

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He’s trying to convince parents of home-schooled children to send their kids to the Mehlville School District.

Not the most amenable audience, perhaps. Educating your child at home is a major task that requires serious motivation. And many home-schoolers opt out for religious or cultural reasons.

But Catalana’s offering something a little different: the ability to attend Mehlville without leaving home.

It’s called the Virtual Program.

“It’s distance learning with an online curriculum,” said Catalana, director of alternate programs for the Mehlville School District.

The program started two years ago for students who don’t fit well in a classroom setting.

For the rest of the article, go to District seeks to attract home-schoolers with ‘virtual classroom’

One school in Parkville, MO used this new system, called virtual snow days, this winter when schools were closed due to ice and snow.

The idea is that students can access lessons and homework over the Internet by using a computer at home or even a cell phone.

Virtual snow days could one day eliminate the problem of schools having to tack on extra days to the end of the school year to make up for missed days.

“Whenever the pencil was invented, it changed everything,” said Sikeston Schools Superintendent Steve Borgsmiller. “The new idea of virtual school could be the same stroke of brilliance.”

For the rest of the article, go to Could computers replace snow days?

For the rest of the article, go to Mehlville School District Hosts Open House For Virtual Program

“Mom!” called her 11-year-old daughter, Danielle, from an upstairs bedroom. “Can you help me?”

“Mom?” This was another voice, 12-year-old son Ryan, calling from his bedroom.

It was 10:25 a.m. on a recent Friday. The Callahan family was about an hour into St. Therese School’s “Virtual Day,” in which all 643 of the Parkville, Mo., Catholic school’s students were schooling from home.

For the rest of the article, go to VIRTUALLY AT SCHOOL: Missouri students make up snow day at home

A task force created late last year is finalizing a proposal that shows a reorganized system that would put MU High School, online classes and supporting departments under the helm of one e-learning administrator.

For the rest of the article, go to MU works to streamline online learning