Virtual High School offers quality distance-learning educational opportunities for middle and high school students and professional development courses for teachers. After a federal education grant proved their methods successful, VHS became a non-profit entity in 1996. The focus at VHS is on the student: classes are small, content-focused, and facilitated by trained educators. VHS offers full-year as well as semester courses, Advanced Placement (AP) and Pre-AP courses, summer school for enrichment or credit recovery, and gifted courses.
VHS classes are taken over the internet so any school or independent student has access. Home-schooled students find that the AP classes provide an opportunity to advance beyond the home classroom. Classes are held in “scheduled asynchronous” mode, which means assignments are due on a weekly schedule, and students can work on their activities at any time night or day.
All courses are monitored and adhere to National Education Association (NEA) principles. All VHS course management uses Blackboard software, which contains forums including lessons, discussions, media center, announcements, grades, private threads, teams, classmates, teacher info, and tools. You can view a demo course to see a typical class structure. Click this link to see the demo course.
Instructors bring a significant amount of know-how to the VHS classroom: over 70% hold master’s degrees and about 50% have over 20 years of experience in the classroom. The average class size is 20 and the maximum number in any class is 25. VHS partners with 419 schools in 28 states and 23 countries, bringing international students into almost every classroom.
Flexible scheduling opens learning for students who cannot attend a traditional classroom. Students who may be physically unable to attend a full day of class because of health issues can attend a virtual classroom with full instructor participation and enjoy collaboration with other students. Class discussions take place in a setting where social status, disability, and other differences are not apparent. VHS is continually updating their course catalog to meet the needs of the “non-traditional” student as well as the “traditional” student seeking coursework to augment their education.
Gifted middle school learners can sign up for credit-bearing high school classes. A sampling of classes includes Academic Writing, Algebra, History and American Pop Music, Introduction to Economics, Mythology, and Web Design. Pre-AP classes provide high school students with courses to strengthen their background knowledge in preparation for taking AP classes. For example, a student interested in AP Algebra classes but without a solid foundation in Algebra should take a Pre-AP Algebra class online to build up to academic success.
If your student needs to make up credits to graduate on schedule, needs flexible scheduling because of personal issues, or would benefit from an alternate learning modality, consider VHS Summer School. There are two four-week sessions and an extended eight-week session for credit recovery classes. Count on about 90 minutes of instruction per day Monday through Friday. Registration for 2009 classes is $225 for a four-week class and $400 for an eight-week class – a real bargain for quality education.
Educators can build on their skills at VHS, too. Each class is six weeks long and graduate credits are available. Professional development courses for instructors include 21st Century Teaching and Learning, Web-enhanced Classroom, Online-extended Teaching, Web 2.0: Collaborative Instruction, and Becoming an Online Teacher. The course Becoming an Online Teacher allows participants to partner with an instructor in a real VHS high school classroom. This type of hands-on learning is crucial to seeing the real-time effectiveness of distance-learning methodologies.
Virtual High School provides distance-learning classes to educators and students. Teachers can build on their skill sets and discover new ways to adapt to how education is changing. Students can recover from lost credits, take core courses, extend basic knowledge, or prepare for college through AP classes. VHS classes provide quality educational opportunities to engage students and instructors through online learning.
Learn More:
Virtual High School
VHS NetCourse demo
Virtual High School: An Interview with Carol Arnold
Part One: Virtual High School: VHS and distance-learning
Part Two: Virtual High School: VHS impacts Richmond, the state of Virginia, and beyond
Part Three: Virtual High School: Challenges to distance-learning
© 2009 Cindy Wolfe
Comments
My family was part of a pilot program for virtual k-12 schooling. My children did so well in it that I am trying to bring legislation to Maryland for all children to have the choice to participate.
I think virtual high school and distance-learning would be great for students. I've taken distance education at community college and have enjoyed the freedom of being at home but also the structure of the course online as well. I think many students could benefit from this type of learning.
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