National Parent Network for Online Learning

by Rose Fernandez

“Bully” premieres on March 30.

Here’s the trailer. It brings many to tears. Just the 3 minute trailer.

It is just a movie to many of us. Most of us. Those of us who have kids who are happy in school. Those who, for whatever reason, are spared.

For many it is no movie. It is every day. It doesn’t let up. Bullying changes who children are. Parents see it and don’t know what to do to stop it.

I met such a father two weeks ago in Iowa. He came up to me and told me he thought online schooling could save his boy.

His boy is in 6th grade. He is 12. He has red hair. He is smarter than most of the kids in his traditional classroom. He is a target. He is bullied. Because red hair is different.

One of the boys in the movie is going to school in Iowa.

Iowa is opening two statewide online public schools in the fall. Parents will have a choice.

Iowa joins about 30 other states in offering statewide online public schools. Failure of the classroom to meet learning needs and bullying are common reasons parents choose this new way of public schooling.

One quarter of a million children in America learn this way. Kids just like other kids.

Some are free to learn for the first time.

One 12 year old redheaded boy growing up in Iowa will have a better school year in 7th grade. Finally.

By Rose Fernandez

Yesterday, I met some Michigan families that spent the day helping their state lawmakers understand why cyber schools are so important in public education. These kids, moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas traveled from all over the state to the Capitol in Lansing to ask for votes on a bill that will eliminate an arbitrary cap on seats in Michigan cyber schools.

The bill, SB619, has already passed the State Senate. A vote in the House is expected before the end the month. Michigan cyber school families are anxious to help their State Representatives understand why online instruction isn’t to be feared. So, they made visits all over the House office building introducing their children and explaining how their cyber schools with individualized instruction, flexibility not found in the classroom setting, professional educators, and rigorous curriculums make all the difference for them.

Since their kids are already in these schools holding spots others only dream of, you may wonder why they took the trouble to be in Lansing.

That’s the remarkable thing. These families know that cyber schooling turned their child’s school life from sour to sweet. They know the power of learning in the way that works. Maybe that way isn’t the same for all kids. Maybe it isn’t the way it has always been done. These parents know what letting teaching out of the classroom’s one-size-fits-all box can mean for some kids – When it isn’t working; When nothing is working; When parents are desperate to find a different way; When getting their child into a school that makes learning happen is paramount; When it is life-changing.

So, they pleaded for cyber school slots for other people’s kids and other parents who don’t even know yet that they will need a cyber school one day next year. They will need it one day when enough is enough. They will need it one day when everybody knows that the traditional classroom isn’t good enough.

There are desperate parents in Michigan now who are locked out of the public school of their choice by this onerous and baseless enrollment cap. Locked out!

Thank heaven for Sandy and Laurie and Steve and Dakota and Maureen and all the others from the Michigan Chapter of the National Coalition for Public School Options. Thank heaven for these parents who see the need, who have lived the urgency of finding a better way to learn, and who pleaded for votes yesterday…For all other Michigan families.

By Rose Fernandez

On Tuesday, Michigan families visited the state capitol in Lansing to ask lawmakers to abolish the enrollment cap on charter schools. They filled the steps of the Capitol with children who love their charter school and others who are locked out of that same opportunity.

Here’s some video of the event. Watch for Artavia Ceteways, a Michigan mother who took the microphone to tell about her children who are students at the Michigan Virtual Academy.

I’ve met Artavia and my money is on her and her fellow parents of the Michigan Chapter of the National Coalition for Public School Options. Look for them to make more news as they push to free the 4000 boys and girls who sit on the Michigan waiting list for spots in a charter school.

By Rose Fernandez

We bought hundreds of dollars of textbooks again this fall for our two boys, one in college and one in high school. A few minutes in the car line watching one high schooler after the other lugging in their overloaded, heavy backpacks is enough to make anybody wonder why we still do that to them. We all know that textbooks are over-priced, over-sized, and over-rated. The content is all too often outdated before they reach print let alone five or ten years later.

This Washington Post piece describes a move in Virginia districts near Washington, DC to convert to online content. “Many of our kids — if not all of our kids — are coming to us as digital natives,” (Supt.) Noonan said. “We should really allow our students to learn the way they live outside of school.”

Earlier this year I met the superintendent of the Mooresville Graded School District in North Carolina where they moved to a district-wide, entirely digital textbook model a few years ago. Check out the improved outcomes they’ve achieved already.

By Rose Fernandez

Isabella Kessinger,a 10 year old Georgia Cyber Academy student, shares her recent family field trip and how she learned on the go all the while. It is a fantastic video about a typical online student who learns efficiently so she can share all her extra time with friends and family doing things she loves.

Isabella is amazing – a great example to those concerned about socialization when a child learns outside the traditional classroom.

CLICK HERE to watch the video report from NBC11.

By Rose Fernandez

Fresh from a college visit yesterday with my high school senior, The Innovative University is on my must read list.

I asked our tour guide about online coursework and was told proudly that, “We don’t do that here. We do have an online grading report system that students can use to communicate with their professors, though.” Not exactly what I had in mind.

This is what I’m looking for – real innovation at our universities that cuts cost while enriching learning like nothing before.

Pride in doing things the old fashioned way in education is short-sighted and most unfortunate for students and faculty. Not to mention those who pay the ever rising tuition bills with an eye to the return on this massive investment. Let’s hope that disruptive innovation acts quickly to bring the changes to our universities that our children and our country need more than ever.

As Dr. Christensen, also one of the authors of the groundbreaking Disrupting Class says so well:

“Rather than entirely replacing face-to-face learning, online technology enhances it. Students can prepare for class via interactive, adaptive online tutorials that include the content formerly delivered via lectures and textbooks. They can also tutor one another in small-group discussions, which may occur online or face-to-face. When they arrive at class they are prepared to be led by their professor in high-level explorations like those of the best law and graduate business schools. This hybrid form of learning is better than either purely online or purely face-to-face instruction.”

By Rose Fernandez

Lori Cooney of Colorado is a longtime champion of online education first in her state and then nationally. She was the founding president of the National Coalition for Public School Options which now has chapters in over 20 states. Each of those NCPSO chapters is run by a volunteer board of parent leaders just like Lori. She is personally responsible for much of this wealth of parent perspective on the realities of online learning.

Lori’s experiences in Colorado and beyond inspire so many. Here she shares why her advocacy work is so important to her.

By Rose Fernandez

Families vote in favor of variety of educational options since we know better than anyone that each child is unique. A school system that offers only one way, or very few ways, to learn will miss the mark for some boys and girls. For us as parents, that “missing the mark” is much more than low test scores or disengagement from the classroom or disruptive behavior at school. Missing the mark means our child will not be all she can be. Missing the mark means our child will get lost, slip through the cracks, slide by. Missing the mark means our child loses out.

Any honest district superintendent, even those who run our most stellar school systems, realizes that their district schools fail at least some subset of children. To hit the mark for more, ways have to be found to meet those individual learning needs.

Tom VanderArk hits the nail on the head that digital instruction is finally the tool that will allow teachers to customize classroom instruction, but that we have a long way to go until the education establishment sees and embraces this.

As parents who see this promise every day, right now, the delay is intolerable. We see what instruction that is tailored to our children’s talents and challenges means to their learning. We know teachers who are convinced that digital instruction and keystroke, immediate assessment of competency will revolutionize not only learning but teaching. We encourage decision makers in our schools to get on board as soon as possible. We see and we challenge our legislatures and school officials to see this promise also and to open the doors to it.

From Teton Valley News

The Idaho State Board of Education Friday unanimously approved an administrative rule that requires two credits of online learning for high school graduation.

“This is important,” said Board Secretary Don Soltman of Rathdrum. “We live in a digital age and we must do right by our students and give them an opportunity to learn in this environment before they go on to their post-secondary education.”

CLICK HERE to read the full article.

From KPVI News 6
Reported by Diana Nguyen

This may look like your typical family home, but in Rebecca Bohman’s case she has completely transformed the upstairs of her house to a fully equipped classroom for her four children.

“I’m really excited about it because virtual education offers limitless options for kids,” says parent Rebecca Bohman.

Bohman says Bonneville School District 93′s Virtual Academy issued free laptops, books, and learning materials for each of her children and says the program has many perks.

“It’s customized for each individual child so they can kind of learn at their own pace,” she said. “If they don’t understand something, they can go back and review it. They can spend more time on something that peaks their interest, less time on something they can quickly move though.”

District 93 representative Guy Bliesner says online learning offers the same, if not better, education than traditional classrooms.

“You get the best of both worlds,” says Bliesner. “It opens up some flexibility in a way that teachers brick and mortar generally has a hard time doing.”

And for those struggling in school, help isn’t too far away.

“Our teachers are available here, they can do tutoring sessions and if you have a child struggling with the online approach, you can meet with them and address the problem,” says Bliesner.

CLICK HERE to read the full article.