What is up with all these "online public schools" I'm hearing commercials for.

[SlipperySlope]

All of a sudden it seems like the radio is full of these commercials for "online public schools" as an alternative for all grades K-12.

I don't think I've heard these advertised before, but I guess they are trying to drum up business now it is back-to-school time.

My question is; is this some sort of scam? The commercials all sound a little phony to me, and the websites seem short on information other than trying to draw you in. On the other hand, all the commercials insist they are public schools.

Anybody know more?

[FedUpWithIt All]

1. My children attend one. They have a full curriculum online It is free and open to everyone

They send all the equipment and text books and materials as part of the program.

The kids in the program count toward their home district's student head count.

[exboyfil]

3. What state are you in if you

don't mind me asking. In our state we are behind the times in technology. I paid for 7th grade Science from North Dakota Center for Distance Education for my daughter this summer. I am trying to get her in 8th grade Science as a 7th grader, but I am getting some friction. She did well, and the course was probably more rigorous than the one taught at the school (at in the opinion of my older daughter).

Our so called state Virtual Academy has to be done through the approval of the local school system, but, at least at the middle school level, they have no knowledge of it. I am not impressed with the content in general (I played in a sandbox of the actual courses). The courses come from APEX. I would take my daughter's Algebra, Pre-Algebra, Life Science, Earth Science, and Physical Science teachers over those courses anyday.

I think Virtual education should be a supplement to the traditional education for my children. I think my children benefit from the give and take of the classroom in Math and Science. I would be reluctant to take that away. I could see Social Studies, especially the way it is being taught at our public school, being easily replaced by a Virtual Academy.

Don't get me started on English. Unless you have strong teacher feedback from the Virtual School (something a computer cannot do), then I think it would be inadequate. Of course I plan to Homeschool my 7th grader in English because of the lack of feedback from the English teacher at the middle school (all he does is assign a grade without a graded rubric or editing mark ups). Our English department is a disaster. We lost three of five of our English teachers, and one of the ones remaining should not be teaching English (he is also now the chair of the department). I still would never consider doing APEX courses for English education.

[SlipperySlope]

4. I'm in Colorado

I guess from what I'm reading here these schools might be legitimate. The commercials had me very skeptical.

[FedUpWithIt All]

5. Ohio. The program we use is designed for a parent or other adult to act as a learning coach.

The teacher for each course offers a virtual class session several times a week. During the classes the children are able to hear their teacher and communicate, if the teacher allows, to the other students. The kids have regular contact and prompt response from their teachers if they have questions or need help. The remainder of the time I, or their father, make sure they are completing their work, check over the completed work and enrich their existing work load. They get additional attendance credit for learning activities outside their given work. Any time spent reading, gardening, creating art and performing physical activities, for example, count toward their attendance time. Their grade, given by their teacher, is based on their online lesson quizzes, virtual classroom attendance and mailed in materials.

There are definitely benefits to actual public school for the majority of children, IMHO. We had our kids in public school until last year. There was a move in our family which would have severely affected the time the kids were able to spend with their father. We have always shared nearly equal parenting responsibilities and this program allows us to each continue being active part of their lives.

Fortunately, the kids are easy learners and have attended years self contained accelerated programs in their early years so they were accustomed to independent learning. My 17 yr old graduated last June and she felt that the curriculum in the Virtual school was more challenging and engaging than the one she previously studied under. The high school she had attended was a large and well funded school.

As i mentioned before, the funding for each kid is through the district where they would otherwise be attending public school. In this way the parent's vote and taxes also affect their own child even if this child is not a part of the physical public school.

[exboyfil]

6. Sounds like a nice model

I served as the coach for my daughter's Life Science class. It worked well since I love Science. Our interaction with the teacher mainly came with some of the grading. The course was totally correspondence, but it did have labs which needed to be completed.

[WinkyDink]

9. Not exactly "free" to tax-payers. Public school districts' funds are diverted to "cyber-schools."

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:W7ou1Z-8dkoJ:issuespa.org/content/cyber-school-funding+funding+for+cyber-schools&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[FedUpWithIt All]

10. The parents of the child in the cyber school also pay taxes. n/t

[SeattleGirl]

2. One of my husband's nieces completed high school at an

on-line school. It worked out great for her.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[Odin2005]

8. I wish I would have had something like that.

It would have spared me the PTSD from the bullies and emotionally abusive teachers.

[FedUpWithIt All]

11. A long time friend of mine recently enrolled her daughter in a cyber school because of bullying.

Her daughter has a variety of medical issues from a genetic issue and the medical conditions are evident in her stature and appearance. She had been dealing with more bullying once she started middle school and her parents were not getting a helpful response from the school's staff after repeated pleas for help.

[Hannah Bell]

12. school deform. online schools get the same funding as brick & mortar schools = big $$ to the

franchises.

[Odin2005]

13. I have to disagree with you, here, unforntunately, Hannah.

For the reasons I posted above.

[Hannah Bell]

15. you may like online schools for personal reasons, but they're part of school deform.

and they're a cash cow. and private, international corps are the big beneficiaries.

for example, here's one: mercury online academy, affiliated with mosaica.

http://mercuryonlineacademy.com/


what's mosaica? a for-profit, global corp.

http://mosaicaeducationinter.com/

About Mosaica

Mosaica Education, Inc. is a global leader in education reform. Mosaica-managed schools have yielded superior academic results to date by utilizing a unique school design, which combines a proprietary curriculum Paragon®, with state-of-the-art technology.

Mosaica has served more than 40,000 students in the last 13 years. It currently operates over 80 elementary, middle and high school programs in seven states, the District of Columbia and internationally.

here's the ceo:

note: "the education INDUSTRY association" = private corps.

ATLANTA, GA. (Mosaica Education, Inc.) July 23, 2010 – Gene Eidelman, President and Co-Founder of Mosaica Education, Inc., will be among other top leaders in education participating in a panel discussion at the Education Industry Association’s (EIA) EdVentures 20th anniversary conference.

Eidelman will participate in the “Legends: Two Decades of Leadership in Education,” panel for the EdVentures 20th anniversary conference, July 22 to 24, at Chicago, Ill. The conference will host more than 450 senior executives, business owners and educational leaders seeking office solutions, academic materials and assessment tools

http://educationturnarounds.com/tag/mosaica-education/

[LWolf]

14. We have a charter school that is mostly online.

Students show up once a week to meet with a teacher face to face.

The school is entirely student driven. They decide what to study, how to study it, how much time to put in...minimal adult oversight. They work at home.

The teachers who show up in the building to meet with students once a week and to correct papers get a STARTING salary of $75,000.

The school sucks funds from our starving district, and has been trying to expand the number of students allowed under the original charter. Our union put up a big fight over that one, and, for now, they are restricted to their original charter.

Two of my former students are attending; a girl who is a junior and a boy who is a freshman. They began attending there last year. Both of them very intelligent and capable, from a strict fundamentalist family, and the girl with serious attitude issues. She was my student for 3 years, and we worked well together. She publicly owns her bad attitude; she's proud of it. The brother was my student for one year.

She likes to brag. Last year, she bragged to me that this new school was "great." She didn't even have to do a lot of her work to get credit. She just pays her brother to do it for her. He smirked and said he didn't mind taking her for every cent she earned; if only she made more money, he'd earn her whole diploma for her. The things they were doing, he told me, were so easy that it was really no effort for him to do her supposedly more advanced work as well as his.

[Dappleganger]

16. Florida has a wonderful online, accredited public school system.

http://www.flvs.net/

The classes are taught by certified FL public school teachers, and some counties even have their own para-school within the system consisting of teachers from that county alone who teach exactly what that counties schools are teaching at each grade level. Our youngest daughter opted to use this last school year and is returning back to her middle school (8th grade) on Monday. Quite honestly she had more interaction with her online teachers and individualized help than she did during ps 6th grade. If a child needs to use it, it's good to know that's available.

So no, the one here in FL is NOT a scam. There are no free rides and there is a ton of work!