The River Valley Virtual Academy Features Aspects Similar To Traditional Schooling

VAN BUREN (KFSM) -- The River Valley Virtual Academy opens in August and is already drawing in quite a bit of attention from potential students and parents.

The tuition-free online school teaches classroom curriculum with a high-tech spin along with home-schooling features and scheduling that caters to anyone.

"We didn't feel like we were meeting the needs of all students because we saw some families that were providing their own education," Van Buren School District superintendent Harold Jeffcoat said. "We went out and decided we would create this model and it's been overwhelming the amount of support and the amount of positive feedback we have received."

Continue reading here.

Virtual school supports students with medical, personal needs

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — High school freshman Allen Shrewsbury doesn’t spend the majority of his schooldays in class, at his locker or with his friends. Instead, he spends his time outside of the classroom managing his antique business which yielded $120,000 in sales last year.

The 15-year-old is able to do this as a student in the Forsyth Virtual Academy. The Forsyth County Board of Education heard a presentation March 14 on the academy, which serves students from 6th-12th grad. Students and staff explained how the program works, how it’s successful and could be improved. There are seven career pathways for students, with the intent of adding two next year.

More here.

Student says virtual school helps her focus on music

A central Toledo teen is learning to connect with people from various cultures through music while taking a new approach to her education.

Lydia Napier, 16, recently enrolled as a 10th grader in the Ohio Virtual Academy, a full-time online public charter school for kindergarten through 12th grade. While it’s different from going to a physical school, Miss Napier said the virtual academy has the demands of a regular school.

Read more here.

Protect online charter funding

I have two boys, ages 12 and 14. Today, they are both doing very well in school, but it was not always that way. My oldest son has dyslexia and my youngest has epilepsy, Tourette’s and a severe food allergy, and for years they both struggled in the traditional school setting.

But thankfully, we were fortunate enough to have the choice to enroll our sons in one of Michigan’s online charter public schools. It took us time to come to this decision, but it was far and away the best decision we could have ever made for our boys.

Both of my sons are now thriving, and it’s because we were afforded the opportunity to seek out both a school and a setting that best meets their specific needs.

Read more here.

Virtual schools increasing in popularity

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Virtual schools are increasing in popularity. These schools are different than charter schools. It’s an online-based curriculum and virtual schools give students who may not have any other options a chance of graduating high school with a diploma.

For the Quinn Family in Carmel, learning is a kind of choice.

“I don’t feel like any of my children fit in the traditional box,” said Lynette Quinn. ”My little one has autism high functioning autism he’s very bright but a traditional environment is very over stimulating for him.”

Continue reading here.

The School Choice Movement That Puts Parents in Charge, Not the Government

WASHINGTON -- It is a question many parents have to consider: Where will I send my child to school? A new movement, called the school choice program, is working to give parents more options to answer that question.

Tenth grader Amaria Jones is learning about biology at Cornerstone, a Christian school in Washington, D.C. that she managed to get into thanks to school choice.

"I'm able to have more time to learn, I guess, and also go to teachers for extra help," the teen told CBN News.
 
Her mom, Chrystal Jones, noted, "She is excited about getting up every day to get here on time to learn and maintain her grades."  

Read more here. 

Opinion: The values of school choice

A child calls himself “dumb” after 6 years of failing grades. A boy has chemicals put in his milk by the rest of the boys in his class. A super creative, artistic student feels stifled by the structure of her school classes. Anxiety makes it hard for a teenager to get out of bed, let alone to the big union high school in the next town.

These are some of the children of our community and they, like all kids, deserve and need the opportunity to be successful in school. These are some of the kids for whom school choice can make the difference, literally and figuratively, between life and death.

Read more here.

Online school offers new kind of study for at-risk students

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A new online-only high school in St. Louis is allowing at-risk students a chance to get their diplomas.

St. Louis Public Radio (http://bit.ly/2nennGN ) reports that Workforce High is operated jointly by St. Louis Public Schools and the city's job agency, St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment (SLATE). It uses the same online curriculum as the district's three alternative schools and four credit-recovery programs. Twenty students are participating.

Click here to keep reading.