“Our goal is to help schools and districts to improve student achievement. The Plato Virtual Academy is an important step forward in doing that,” said Jamie Candee, Plato Learning vice president of product and marketing. “We are here to partner–not compete–with educators to meet the needs of 21st century learners.”

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1. Poverty. The level of challenge was ratcheted up this year as most U.S. schools faced a double whammy of budget cuts and more kids in poverty. Despite heroic efforts, we lost a little ground on the equity front this year.

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The Brighton High senior has a full course load, is a competitive snowboarder, captain of her school’s dance company and an intern at a clothing business.

Students like Krueger figure to benefit the most now that Canyons School District has launched the Canyons Virtual High School, according to the Salt Lake Tribune (http://bit.ly/naoohq ).

By taking two of her classes online this year, the 17-year-old will have more time to hit the slopes and prepare to attend the Art Institute of Portland next spring.

Canyons, which opens its virtual doors this fall, is now one of several Utah public school districts — including Murray City, Granite and Jordan — that offer similar online classes.

Canyons will offer 64 classes online.

Karen Sterling, Canyons director of federal and state programs, said online schooling is the future of education.

“There’s been some research out that within the next four years, 40 percent of all high-school credits will be provided online; it is emerging,” Sterling told the Tribune. “A lot of our kids will go on to college. Many of their basic courses in college are online classes, so this is a good way to get them ready for that.”

Utah Senate Bill 65, which passed the 2011 state Legislature, allows online courses to provide students with more options.

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She’s exactly the type of student Canyons School District had in mind when it launched the Canyons Virtual High School (CVHS), which opens its doors (not real, but figurative ones) this fall.

By taking two of her classes online this year (health and language arts), Krueger will only have to take three classes in each of her final two trimesters within the brick-and-mortar walls of Brighton High School, leaving her time to hit the snowboarding slopes.

She’ll also get to avoid fraternizing with mere 10th-graders.

“I’m way excited, because health is all full of sophomores, and since I’m a senior, this was one reason I really wanted to take it online,” said the Holladay 17-year-old, who plans to attend the Art Institute of Portland after she graduates next spring.

Canyons is one of several public school districts (Murray City, Granite and Jordan are among the others) that will now offer online classes to students in grades 9-12 thanks to Utah Senate Bill 65, which the 2011 Legislature made law to provide students with more options.

Canyons will offer 64 classes online this year, including 13 Advanced Placement courses. This year and next, students will be able to take two credits online; the number of credits will be increased by one each year until 2016-17, when students will be allowed to take six credits online during a school year. CVHS classes are available to students throughout the state, not just those who live in district boundaries.

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The new law does allow students to utilize online classes being offered in state school districts outside of their home area. The new law does not apply to third party virtual schools, online college courses, or online options the student pays for. To find out more about EHS, the changes created by the new law, and how to look for an accredited online program go you can visit the following websites.

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The electronic high school classes are free to districts because they’re already funded by the state. The other classes cost districts money, but not $727. The consortium was able to negotiate prices with those vendors, getting the classes for about $500 a credit or less.

The second consortium, Utah Students Connect, also arose from those initial discussions, Grover said. The districts in that consortium — Nebo, Granite, Park City, Davis, Tooele, Jordan and Murray — share resources and won’t lose the $727 when a student takes a class throughConnect.

“We’re trying to provide the most high-quality classes for students but also stop the bleeding, unfortunately, which SB65 does,” said Patrick Colclough, Granite online credit coordinator.

Also, consortia leaders note, students who take online classes offered by their home districts or the electronic high school can take those classes on top of their regular schedules. But if they take online classes from outside providers through SB65, they have to take those classes in lieu of some regular school-day classes. It’s a limit included in the law to keep costs down, Stephenson said.

Though students have, in some cases, only a few more days to register for the online classes by going to their counselors, demand has been mixed.

Grover said Friday about 112 students had signed up through the Utah Education Online Consortium. Counts vary by district in the other consortium with, for example, about 300 students signed up in Granite.

Statewide, as of Thursday, students had signed up for about 136 courses offered by providers outside their districts and charter schools under the state program created by SB65, said Sean Thomas, audit and finance specialist at the state Office of Education.

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In a speech last November 2010 Duncan hailed the example of virtual school Utah Open High School. He stated, “Technology can play a huge role in increasing educational productivity,” adding, “the military calls it a force multiplier.” Urging “better use of online learning, virtual schools, and other smart uses of technology,” he said that educational success requires schools to reduce “wasted time, energy, and money.”

Doing more with less—at least the latter is true. A survey on 20 virtual charters in 14 states indicates the cost of online learning is “roughly half that of traditional public schools” or about $4300, according to a Brookings Institute study. [3]

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Various other parents spoke of their children’s learning disabilities, some disabilities recognized in the school system and others not. They said a virtual school would allow their children to learn at an appropriate pace and in a fitting setting.

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