Technology opens a virtual world of learning opportunities for Oklahoma’s students, whether they’re looking to advance beyond what a local school offers or because the traditional classroom setting hasn’t worked well. But it also opens a not-so-virtual can of worms.
That has become obvious as state education officials try to sort out whether to accredit a tiny, financially struggling school district so desperate to survive that the community voted earlier this year to close the high school. The question now isn’t so much about whether the White Oak district in Craig County can provide a quality education for the remaining local students — expected to number about 70 in the coming school year — in prekindergarten through eighth grade. The focus is the other 839 students the school district wants to serve online.
Are students online for six hours — the required length of a school day? How can first-graders stay on the computer that long? Are students full time or supplementing homeschooling? Are parents at home monitoring the children?
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