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Virtual schools gearing up to provide at-home education for Missouri students
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By Kris Hilgedick
khil@newstribune.com
A new program allowing Missouri students to learn at home, as well as at school, is taking shape within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education this winter.
Mid-Missouri school principals and counselors learned more about MoVIP - the Missouri Virtual Instruction Program - at a Thursday seminar. Seated in a classroom at Jefferson City's Lewis and Clark Middle School, they learned MoVIP will connect students and teachers via modern technologies, such as the Internet.
“Is it a correspondence class?” asked Director Curt Fuchs rhetorically. “No. Our teachers will communicate several times a week with their students via phone, e-mail and conference calls.”
Fuchs said a teacher with the proper equipment could work a math problem or edit an essay for a learner 300 miles away.
A private vendor will provide the curriculum at first and hire the new teachers. In the beginning, class offerings will stick to the basics - English I and geometry, for example.
Which students will benefit?
The program is designed to meet the needs of students who are homebound due to long-term illness.
Home-schooled students are expected to sign up for the classes.
Rural schools could use MoVIP to offer courses such as Latin and trigonometry. “Our scheduling is so tight that it opens up some classes students might not have access to,” said Kevin Kohler, Jamestown principal.
And, students could accelerate their academic careers; several Advanced Placement courses are proposed. (Of Missouri's 524 districts, only 175 of them provide AP courses, said Fuchs.)
The classes also could help failing or expelled students gain the 24 credits they need to graduate. For example, a student who failed the first semester of Algebra I at school in the fall, could retake the same semester online in the spring, instead of waiting.
Fuchs said the courses will be offered with “rolling enrollment,” meaning students can sign up at any time, but must complete the work within six months.
Teachers will be given toll-free numbers, so that students can reach them easily, and will be asked to keep regular “office hours.” Teachers will be paid per student, plus bonuses for those who complete the course.
“It's not a new concept,” said Fuchs, adding 24 states already provide Internet-based distance learning programs. “We'll be 25th,” he said of Missouri.
Because MoVIP will be available to students age kindergarten to age 12, Missouri's program is different from other states.
The proposal is part of an ever-increasing trend, explained Fuchs. He said higher education institutions regularly provide online courses; 30 percent of businesses train on-line.
“It's a popular delivery method,” he said.
Funding for the program starts in August. Fuchs is planning to have the program up and running by this fall.
Even though it hasn't even launched, the program already has doubled in size.
Gov. Matt Blunt increased budget funding to $2.6 million - enough to create space for 12,000 “seats.”
Even so, Fuchs is expected to use a lottery system - based on geography and population -to parcel out those seats, because he expects demand to exceed supply. Fuchs struggled to devise a system that treated all students equally.
“We're fielding about 30 calls a day from people interested in the program,” he said.
But students won't be limited to just hoping to get selected. Instead, the state has made arrangements for parents - or schools - to pay tuition, which is estimated at about $300 per course, per semester. Compared with hiring a science teacher, a rural school, for example, might find it cheaper to pay $600 in tuition for a single chemistry student.
Students have two ways of enrolling: directly with DESE or through their local schools.
The conversation about the program highlighted some of its perceived flaws.
For instance, local school districts are bound by law to accept MoVIP credits - even if the student has already earned credit for the same class.
The news didn't appear to sit well with educators in the room. “I guess we could count it as an elective credit,” said one reluctantly.
School officials may be required to allow students to graduate as juniors, even if it contradicts school policy. And block scheduling complicates the picture for educators, who also worry the program has implications for drop-out rates and No-Child-Left-Behind mandates.
Fuchs warned MoVIP will mean changes in schools' policy.
“Granted, we will have some parents and students who abuse the system and it will create headaches,” said Fuchs.
All students who take a MoVIP class - even home-schooled ones - will be required to take the state's Missouri Assessment Program test.
Finally, the program doesn't provide computer equipment; students have to provide their own computers with 56K modems. “Enrolling in MoVIP is a choice,” said Fuchs.
Enrollment is scheduled for May.
Mid-Missouri school principals and counselors learned more about MoVIP - the Missouri Virtual Instruction Program - at a Thursday seminar. Seated in a classroom at Jefferson City's Lewis and Clark Middle School, they learned MoVIP will connect students and teachers via modern technologies, such as the Internet.
“Is it a correspondence class?” asked Director Curt Fuchs rhetorically. “No. Our teachers will communicate several times a week with their students via phone, e-mail and conference calls.”
Fuchs said a teacher with the proper equipment could work a math problem or edit an essay for a learner 300 miles away.
A private vendor will provide the curriculum at first and hire the new teachers. In the beginning, class offerings will stick to the basics - English I and geometry, for example.
Which students will benefit?
The program is designed to meet the needs of students who are homebound due to long-term illness.
Home-schooled students are expected to sign up for the classes.
Rural schools could use MoVIP to offer courses such as Latin and trigonometry. “Our scheduling is so tight that it opens up some classes students might not have access to,” said Kevin Kohler, Jamestown principal.
And, students could accelerate their academic careers; several Advanced Placement courses are proposed. (Of Missouri's 524 districts, only 175 of them provide AP courses, said Fuchs.)
The classes also could help failing or expelled students gain the 24 credits they need to graduate. For example, a student who failed the first semester of Algebra I at school in the fall, could retake the same semester online in the spring, instead of waiting.
Fuchs said the courses will be offered with “rolling enrollment,” meaning students can sign up at any time, but must complete the work within six months.
Teachers will be given toll-free numbers, so that students can reach them easily, and will be asked to keep regular “office hours.” Teachers will be paid per student, plus bonuses for those who complete the course.
“It's not a new concept,” said Fuchs, adding 24 states already provide Internet-based distance learning programs. “We'll be 25th,” he said of Missouri.
Because MoVIP will be available to students age kindergarten to age 12, Missouri's program is different from other states.
The proposal is part of an ever-increasing trend, explained Fuchs. He said higher education institutions regularly provide online courses; 30 percent of businesses train on-line.
“It's a popular delivery method,” he said.
Funding for the program starts in August. Fuchs is planning to have the program up and running by this fall.
Even though it hasn't even launched, the program already has doubled in size.
Gov. Matt Blunt increased budget funding to $2.6 million - enough to create space for 12,000 “seats.”
Even so, Fuchs is expected to use a lottery system - based on geography and population -to parcel out those seats, because he expects demand to exceed supply. Fuchs struggled to devise a system that treated all students equally.
“We're fielding about 30 calls a day from people interested in the program,” he said.
But students won't be limited to just hoping to get selected. Instead, the state has made arrangements for parents - or schools - to pay tuition, which is estimated at about $300 per course, per semester. Compared with hiring a science teacher, a rural school, for example, might find it cheaper to pay $600 in tuition for a single chemistry student.
Students have two ways of enrolling: directly with DESE or through their local schools.
The conversation about the program highlighted some of its perceived flaws.
For instance, local school districts are bound by law to accept MoVIP credits - even if the student has already earned credit for the same class.
The news didn't appear to sit well with educators in the room. “I guess we could count it as an elective credit,” said one reluctantly.
School officials may be required to allow students to graduate as juniors, even if it contradicts school policy. And block scheduling complicates the picture for educators, who also worry the program has implications for drop-out rates and No-Child-Left-Behind mandates.
Fuchs warned MoVIP will mean changes in schools' policy.
“Granted, we will have some parents and students who abuse the system and it will create headaches,” said Fuchs.
All students who take a MoVIP class - even home-schooled ones - will be required to take the state's Missouri Assessment Program test.
Finally, the program doesn't provide computer equipment; students have to provide their own computers with 56K modems. “Enrolling in MoVIP is a choice,” said Fuchs.
Enrollment is scheduled for May.
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