How Can Virtual Schools Be a Vibrant Part of Meeting the Choice Provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (Wk 8)

Variations to "traditional" education have been occuring for years. Charter schools and home schooling are no longer as outside of the norm. I don't see why a virtual school environment would be any less effective than being in a classroom. Similar to other alternatives, I don't think that virtual schools are for every student. I certainly don't agree that it enhances communication as the article states.

I have taken several on-line classes here at UML, but as the difficulty of the classes increased, the more I needed to be in the classroom to get assistance. For Introduction to Programming with C part 1, I was able to complete the class on-line. When it came to the second have of the class, part 2, I failed. So in my case, a virtual school didn't meet the needs for two different classes with the same teacher.

I do think that a virtual classroom is a good opportunity for some students. If there is a child who is often sick, instead of missing school, they could have a virtual alternative for those times when they cannot travel to the classroom.

Another situation that may benefit from a virtual classroom is a teen parent or someone who needs to work to support a family. Many of these students need to leave school and have no alternative to a GED due to the time of day for the traditional High School classes. If they could have a virtual school environment that can be attended at alternative times, it may decrease the drop out rate.


www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/plan/2004/site/documents/Hassel-Terrell-VirtualSchools.pdf

I think that students that are self motivated can receive just as good, if not better education in a virtual school than in a traditional environment.