A record number of students are heading back to school this year – without ever stepping foot inside a classroom. A growing number of virtual schools (also known as cyber schools or e-schools), combined with booming parent (and student) demand for high-quality virtual education, have more students than ever logging on, instead of boarding a school bus, this back-to-school season.

More than 2 million children in kindergarten through 12th grade are learning online, and their ranks are growing by almost 20 percent each year, according to research by Ambient Insight. Currently, 45 states have significant supplemental online learning programs, or full-time programs, in which students take most or all of their courses online.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual schools ‘clicking’ for many students this school year

WATERLOO — Students enrolled in self-paced online classes at East and West high schools during the past year are completing more credits, earning higher grades and behaving better, school officials say.

The performance-based diploma academies started last fall at both schools for those that struggle with traditional classroom learning approaches. Classes are offered in math, English, social studies and science using an Internet-based curriculum aligned to Waterloo Community Schools’ standards.

Students complete computer-guided tutorials, practice the concept and take a test. To move on to another concept, they need to earn at least 80 percent on the test. Plato Learning created the software.

For the rest of the article, go to School officials report gains for online students.

All Iowa educators have opportunity to be trained in Google Apps for Education

Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs) announced today that they have entered into an exciting agreement with Google to provide all K-12 schools in Iowa with free access to Google Apps for Education. 550,000 students and educators will have the opportunity to be connected to a common e-mail, chat and calendar system (Gmail, Google Talk and Google Calendar), cloud collaboration tools (Google Docs, Google Sites, & Groups) and multimedia tools (Google Sites & Video) that will enable them to work together and learn more effectively.

“Iowa’s AEAs are proud to work with Google to bring these innovative tools to our classrooms,” Brent Siegrist, Director of Iowa AEA Services, said. “As a former teacher, I can see how these tools will engage students, make the classroom a more vibrant place and allow teachers to work together more collaboratively.”

For the rest of the article, go to Iowa’s AEAs to provide k-12 schools with Google’s online tools

CLINTON, Iowa, June 29 /PRNewswire/ — Ashford University, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs online and at its Clinton, Iowa, campus, has been recognized by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education as a Top 100 degree producer for African American students.

Annually, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education identifies universities that confer the most degrees to students of color. The magazine is focused on the coverage, commentary and analysis of higher education for and about underrepresented and historically excluded groups.

The publication’s analysis was based upon U.S. Department of Education reports on data submitted by institutions for the year 2008-2009.

For the rest of the article, go to Ashford University Recognized Among Top Universities for African Americans

WATERLOO – Brianna Evans used to love school.

That began changing when she arrived at Central Middle School and “they started giving us all this homework.” A fight last fall followed by seven weeks at the Waterloo Educational and Behavioral Center further deepened the eighth-grader’s academic troubles. But Evans is finally experiencing success after starting summer school last week.

She spends mornings at Hoover Middle School, working at her own pace to complete online lessons in math and reading. She goes through tutorials, practices the skills being taught and takes tests over the materials. And that old positive attitude about school is slowly returning.

Students are required to get at least 80 percent correct on the tests before moving on. Evans has been regularly exceeding that, especially in pre-algebra, which she had difficulties with during the past year.

“Every time I get 100 percent on my work, I feel good about it,” said Evans.

She is among 35 struggling Waterloo Community Schools’ students doing advance preparation for their freshman year with the summer classes. The district also is offering online summer school classes at East High, with 120 attendees, and West High, with 146 attendees. The programs run through July 2 at all three schools.

The software powering those lessons is made by Plato Learning, the same company supplying curriculum for performance-based diploma academies at East and West. A third academy will start this fall at Expo High School. East and West are drawing a mix of students for credit recovery, completing performance-based diploma classes and credit acceleration.

For the rest of the article, go to Summer school helps students transition

Welcome to yet another state-specific website for online high schools. Brought to you by Best Online High Schools, this gives you information on all that is going on in your state with online high schools.