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N.H. Schools Embrace Competency-Based Learning

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

“The federal accountability system is based on a 20th-century model, and our state expectations are based on this new model,” said Paul K. Leather, the state’s deputy commissioner of education. He expressed hope, however, that new assessments being designed for the Common Core State Standards will help bridge those two models. Plans for those tests include some performance-based tasks.

Online learning can play a part in competency-based approaches, in part because of its potential to let students pace their coursework as they like. Students at Newfound Regional High can use New Hampshire’s Virtual Learning Academy Charter School, or VLACS, to take coursework online. In this rural community, where dial-up Internet service is not uncommon, students can do VLACS coursework at Newfound’s computer lab, or from home if technology permits.

But while online learning facilitates the “move-on-when-ready” approach that is ideal for competency-based learning, it’s not a complete solution if a state’s educational vision includes real-world learning, Ms. Sturgis said.

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Virtual Learning Grows in N.H.

June 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The number of students taking courses online is on the rise. According to the Sloan Foundation, which promotes online education, more than a million non-college students use some form of online learning. And that leaves some critics wondering whether these virtual classes are as effective as face-to-face instruction. New Hampshire Public Radio correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern has the story.

Bekah Gregory is a senior at Salem High.

On this busy morning, she’s at school.

But she’s not always able to attend.

“I’ve been sick a lot and I’ve been in and out of hospitals.”

Despite her illness, Gregory is determined to graduate with the rest of her class.

To make up for missing credits, she’s been taking classes online from New Hampshire’s Virtual Learning Academy Charter School.

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The Role of Charter Schools in New Hampshire

June 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

What are charter schools doing in New Hampshire? Five years ago, former Exeter Superintendent of Schools Skip Hanson and Assistant Superintendent of Schools Steve Kossakoski had an idea to create a virtual charter that would offer a range of courses beginning in middle school through high school that would be available to every student in New Hampshire. If a small rural high school could not offer AP Chemistry, the student could take the course virtually. The Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS) employs emerging distance learning technologies to provide any-time any-where access to a rigorous competency-based, personalized education. The VLACS meets the needs of a wide variety of students and fosters 21st century skills, self-directed learning skills, literacy, problem-solving skills, time management, and personal responsibility. The school offers programming to both full-time and part-time students and has a course enrollment of over 8,000 students.

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The Universal Notebook: Are virtual schools real schools?

February 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“Maine’s schools face a number of challenges in the years ahead, but digital learning holds the promise of improving student outcomes at a time of declining school funding and plunging student enrollment. The time has come for a major digital learning initiative, led by Maine’s next governor. With the right policies in place, Maine could ensure that all of its students have access to the digital learning programs they need to assure their success in school and beyond.”

Bowen then goes on to tout the virtues of the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School in New Hampshire as a model of what he foresees for Maine. The N.H. school serves some 7,000 high school kids with an online curriculum borrowed from the Florida Virtual School.

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NH friendlier, but still ‘severely constrains charter school growth’

January 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

New Hampshire has 10 charter schools, including the Academy for Science and Design in Merrimack. The school features an advanced curriculum focused on math, science and engineering for students in grades 7-12. The school is adding sixth grade next year and is expanding enrollment by 50 percent.

Also available to local students is the Exeter-based Virtual Learning Academy Charter School, which offers tuition-free online high school courses to New Hampshire students. Students can enroll on a part-time basis, taking courses beyond their own high school work, or full-time.

As of the 2009-10 school year, there were 816 students enrolled in charter schools in the state. State officials have been encouraging school districts, especially those in urban areas such as Nashua, to consider applying for part of the federal funding to create a charter school. Charter schools can be approved by the state Board of Education or through local authorization.

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Virtual diploma

August 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

CHESTERFIELD, N.H. — Chole McKeon, 17, of Chesterfield, has always had trouble with school work. Words and numbers would end up in the wrong place. She would write one word but mean to write another.

McKeon suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder as well as other spatial and learning disabilities, which made school extremely difficult, she said.

“It was very stressful,” McKeon said. “I would dread being in school the whole day and at the end. I would feel like I failed.”

This continued until her junior year of high school where she and her parents decided to take a new approach, online classes through the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School, New Hampshire’s first statewide online high school.

In June, McKeon and 11 other students were the first-ever graduating class of the program.

High school students who reside in New Hampshire are eligible to apply and once accepted may enroll for part-time or full-time studies, tuition free.

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Online high school grad continues education in college setting

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

NASHUA – Taylor Wilmot received her high school diploma in the mail, never having met any of her teachers or classmates.

Wilmot, 18, was one of the first graduates of the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School, an online public charter school. She graduated in June, along with 11 other students, making up the school’s first graduating class. The school is based in Exeter, but Wilmot never set foot in town, taking all of her courses from her Nashua home. She is spending her summer taking a writing class at Nashua Community College, where she will enroll full time in the fall. The class she is taking now isn’t online, but in a building with a teacher at the front of the classroom.

Going back to the old-school way of learning has been an adjustment.

“I love being around people. It’s nice and refreshing to go to a school,” Wilmot said. “But at the same time, I’m sitting there for four hours. I didn’t miss sitting in those hard chairs with a desk.”

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