“We’ve had a lot of good, positive comments from the students that are participating and the parents so I feel like it’s been a good experience so far,” Maryetta Principal Rhonda Brown.

From their home computers, students interact daily with teachers to complete state-accredited courses. All online courses and curriculum are based on core curriculum standards.

“Everything that they take is coordinated with the state standards,” Brown said.

Nancy Neff, who oversees the virtual school, stays in contact with the parents and students.

“She can monitor how many times the child is logging in, how long they’re staying on because that’s a way of checking roll and keeping up with the students’ progress,” Brown said.

The virtual school was designed for families who consider home schooling and other options to a traditional classroom and have children who want more flexibility regarding time and pace of learning.

For the rest of the article, go to Maryetta School offers virtual school

In addition to leading school choice advocates from Oklahoma, presenters at the event will include John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, and former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, a former member of Congress from Norman.

The event comes just a few months after national news stories pointed to Oklahoma as an apt metaphor for what advocates dubbed “The Year of School Choice.”

Context for the gathering, and some of the national attention it is gaining in advance of the event, comes from the Sooner State’s recent history.

Choice legislation was enacted both in 2010 — when then-Governor Brad Henry (a Democrat) supported and signed a bill benefitting special needs children – and in 2011, when Governor Mary Fallin (a Republican) supported and signed into law the Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Act.

In an interview with CapitolBeatOK, Jolly, Oklahoma state director for Americans for Prosperity (AFP) said, “the core appeal, the central issue, is parental rights to choose. Parents simply have the right to select the school to which they send their kids. I’m looking forward to this conference, as we look back to celebrate and support what has already passed in Oklahoma, and what we have planned for the future.”

Americans for Prosperity is a national activist organization that works for limited government and free markets.

Another sponsor of the school choice event is the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a “think tank” that focuses on economic liberty, tax policy and state governance issues.

Concerning this year’s likely or potential legislation at the state Capitol, Jolly reflected, “I expect to see a virtual school bill, a process to create a clearinghouse at the state Department of Education. I believe Senators John Ford [a Bartlesville Republican] and Gary Stanislawski [a Tulsa Republican] may both be pushing that idea. Another proposal is to relieve individual school districts from the burden of negotiating with virtual education providers.”

For the rest of the article, go to Oklahoma City to host Jan. 24 “town hall” during National School Choice Week

While most virtual school advocates in the past may have focused on gaining exposure for their programs, they should shift toward emphasizing accountability and transparency in those programs to a community at-large becoming more aware of virtual education, the panel said. And despite some recent negative press about online schooling’s benefit or lack thereof, they agreed that many virtual providers are doing this.

“When these programs started, they started out of a point of pain,” said Andy Scantland, the vice president of sales and marketing for Advanced Academics Inc., the Oklahoma City-based provider of public and private online programs, and a sponsor of the report from the Evergreen Group of Durango, Colo. “As a result, there wasn’t a lot of measurability or a lot of accountability. I think that’s changed a lot, and the report reflects that.”

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual Education Sees Shift to Accountability

“We are taking it pretty slowly so we can identify and take care of any unforeseen problems,” DeSpain said, “and teachers at every site are giving feedback as to the way the program is progressing.”

“We chose APEX over Odyssey because eventually we are looking at offering a virtual school where the students will do coursework at home.

“Although this is something we are looking at in the future, the school board members decided last spring to take changes in measured steps. Odyssey was not as rigorous and complete as APEX.”

DeSpain added APEX also has an AP component, where students can enroll in different levels, to appeal to the different needs of students.

For the rest of the article, go to APEX offers students online credit recovery

Epic is a virtual charter school where students will attend classes and get instruction almost exclusively online, but they also will meet with their virtual teachers in a face-to-face setting on occasion.

Students from anywhere in the state can transfer into Graham Public Schools and attend the school for free.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual charter school in Oklahoma hits snag for physical locations

The school, using curriculum from K12, is accepting applications from students who will be in grades K through 11 during the 2011-2012 school year. The OVCA will add students in grade 12 for the 2012-2013 school year.

For the rest of the article, go to Oklahoma To Offer Free Online School

Charter schools have been granted so much broader authority that they are a threat to our public schools.

Virtual schools are becoming increasingly available to those that do not want to actually attend public school.

State funding to private schools is increasing and that erodes the money available for the public schools and students.

For the rest of the article, go to From the Capitol: Time will tell if it was a good session

Current students will have class until May 26th.

Next year, TPS has plans to offer a virtual high school for anyone of any age. Students can work to get their high school diploma online.

School Board members will make a final decision to end the adult education program at Monday’s meeting. Most of the steps to end the program have already been put in place.

For the rest of the article, go to Tulsa Public Schools plans to eliminate adult education, including GED classes

FOX23′s Jamie Oberg tells us about that and the Sand Springs district opening its options, online.

Letters from Tulsa public schools are going out Tuesday night and Wednesday morning; telling parents if they have to send their child to a new school.
While reporting on project schoolhouse many parents we talked to worried they would lose out on the community school feeling with closures and consolidations.

For the rest of the article, go to Sand Springs Makes Room for Virtual School; TPS Students Too?

For whatever reasons, some students cannot cope in a traditional classroom. Now, even your first grader can trade a pencil and paper for a mouse and a keyboard.

Welcome to online school in Oklahoma.

Blink and you might miss White Oak school. But don’t be fooled. This school is larger than it looks.

First grade only has six students, 2nd only has four students and the entire physical school only has fifty five students. But the online enrollment is bursting with 881 statewide virtual students–more than most urban high schools.

For the rest of the article, go to Online School Grows in Oklahoma