Virtual charter an option when one-size school doesn’t fit all – Nathan Currie

Why would students choose to go to school online?

As a superintendent of a tuition-free virtual public charter school, this question comes up a lot. Why would children choose to go to school online? 

For so long, students have had one option – their local brick-and-mortar school – but schools of thought around education have evolved to understand that learning is not one size fits all, and while traditional school might be a great fit for some students, others learn better in a different environment.

Take for instance Madison Kimrey, a high school student at North Carolina Connections Academy. Previously homeschooled, Madison was seeking an education option with diverse courses and the support of teachers. Her research led her to North Carolina Connections Academy where she found that the course catalog provided a range of core courses and unique electives, and fulfilled requirements for colleges she plans on applying to.

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ZIP CODE SHOULD NOT DETERMINE EDUCATION CHOICES

By Will Flanders, Ph.D. and Collin Roth

Education reformers like to say that a child’s zip code shouldn’t determine their future. It has been one of the core arguments of school choice for decades. But in Wisconsin, despite the best efforts of education reformers, we’ve created an unequal system where zip code doesdetermine what education options are available to parents. Bringing uniformity to school choice access in Wisconsin remains one of the key sticking points in current budget negotiations in Madison.

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Diver and virtual school student Delaney Schnell has eyes on 2020 Olympics

The details: Schnell is entering her freshman season as one of the most highly regarded recruits to join Arizona’s diving program in program history. Schnell — who started her prep career at Tucson High before switching to Arizona Connection Academy, an online school — is originally from Michigan and initially had planned to attend college in the Midwest, also considering Purdue before deciding that Arizona was the right fit because of the proximity to her family, the program’s history and the presence of her chosen major, psychology. Perhaps even more than all of that, though, Schnell will get to compete for UA coach Omar Ojeda, who has trained Schnell for the last three years.

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Local graduates from Indiana Connections Academy share their stories

As access to the internet becomes more widespread and the needs of students changes, more parents than ever are taking advantage virtual schooling programs.

Enrollment at Indiana Connections Academy (INCA), just one online public school option for Hoosiers, increased by nearly 1,000 from 2013 to 2016 according to the Indiana Department of Education. A total of 3,705 students across the state enrolled last year.

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Putting the blob ahead of the needs of parents and kids.

The 3-million member National Education Association is taking a new tack when it comes to charter schools, adopting a policy statement Tuesday aimed at limiting charter school growth and increasing accountability on the sector. 

NEA officials hailed the decision as a “fundamental shift” in the union’s stance on charter schools. 

“Charter schools were started by educators who dreamed of schools in which they would be free to innovate, unfettered by bureaucratic obstacles,” NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia said Tuesday in a statement. 

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Phoenix Rising: The Secrets Behind Arizona's School Choice Success

PHOENIX, Arizona – President Donald Trump wants to budget an extra $20 million for school choice but the big question is—does it work? CBN News decided to visit a state where, after years of trial and error, school choice has begun to make a real difference in the lives of students and their families. 

"Grow, achieve, lead! Grow, achieve, lead!" 

At 8 o'clock every morning, the K-8 students at Paideia Academies, a public charter school in south Phoenix, recite their mission statement and sing about their education "I'm going to use my synergy. I'm going to be in charge of me. You're going to love me when I lead!"

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Local View: Celebrate school choice in Nebraska

On the last day of the 105th legislative session's first year, I celebrated the advancement of LB295, the Opportunity Scholarship bill, as a former K-12 private- and public-school parent in Nebraska and a co-founder for School Choice Lincoln.

My son attended Catholic schools in Omaha and Lincoln through the fifth grade. When he entered sixth grade, I decided it would be better for him to attend Lincoln Public Schools for their accelerated curriculum options. To my surprise, when we registered, I was told he could not be in their accelerated program.

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3 Ways Charters Reform and Improve Schools

City Academy High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, will celebrate a milestone in September: twenty-five years as the nation's first charter school. During that quarter century, charter school growth has been remarkable. Today, forty-four states and Washington, D.C. contain some seven thousand of these independently operated public schools, serving nearly 3 million students. Remarkably, charters account for the entire growth in U.S. K–12 public school enrollments since 2006.

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The Cynical Dishonesty of Anti-Choice ‘Education Reformers’

Far too often, those who claim to fight for the interests of low-income students are actually doing the opposite. Donald Trump’s first budget proposal would allocate $1.4 billion for school-choice programs over the coming fiscal year, and many supposed education-reform advocates are not happy about it. In a Los Angeles Times op-ed last week, two prominent leaders in the field — Jonah Edelman, the president of the pro-charter school group Stand for Children, and Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers — claimed that Trump’s school-choice plan would “siphon billions of dollars from public schools to fund private and religious school vouchers.” In fact, the president’s budget would invest $1.15 billion in public school-choice programs and a mere $250 million in private school-choice scholarships. Edelman and Weingarten argue that this allocation of funds would “deal a terrible blow to public schools and to the 90% of America’s children who attend them, while doing almost nothing to benefit children who receive vouchers.” They go on to claim that “facts” and “research” have shown that vouchers harm student learning and achievement. This assertion is, to be blunt, completely unsubstantiated by the evidence. Of the 15 empirical studies of private school-choice programs, ten found improved test scores, while just two found declining academic performance. Meanwhile, 21 studies assessed the academic outcomes associated with public school choice, and 20 of them found that it had improved student performance.

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