Education Week - August 29, 2012 - S9

Schools Open Doors to New E-Learning Rules, Ideas

EDUCATION WEEK AUGUST 29, 2012 > www.edweek.org/go/elearning-rules
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EXAMPLES:

Wisconsin
The state education department sets a flat rate for students who enroll in virtual charter schools through open enrollment.

critics of this funding mechanism warn that tying student performance to funding could give teachers an incentive to pass students who may not have actually learned the curricula.

Utah
Funding for students is based in part on successful completion of the course. Schools receive half the funding for students at the beginning of the course and the other half after the credit has been earned by the student.

Pennsylvania
Virtual charter schools receive aid based on the funding level of the student’s resident district. Virtual charters bill districts directly and receive about 72 percent of the average funding for a student in a regular school.

EXAMPLES:

Florida

The Florida Virtual School, the longestrunning and largest state-sponsored virtual school in the country, receives funding for each student only if that student successfully completes the course.

n Funding follows the student
In some states, the funding is tied to the student and will follow him or her to whichever school the student attends, whether brick-and-mortar or virtual. Advocates for virtual schools believe that this funding mechanism is the most effective for giving online schools the money they need to expand. The method ensures that virtual schools are receiving the same amount of aid as brick-and-mortar schools, and does not arbitrarily cap the number of students who can attend the virtual school because of funding constraints. But this method can create tension between virtual schools and regular school districts, which often see virtual schools as siphoning funding from traditional districts.

“ The Mimio system was the easiest to implement, the easiest to use, and the easiest to manage.”

EXAMPLES:

Maine

It recently passed a law that requires at least 99 percent of funding to follow the student to whichever school he or she is attending.

Julio Valesquez Technology Director Hempfield Area School District

Utah
The funding follows the student down to the course level. So, for a student taking one virtual course and five in-person classes, the money would be split so the virtual school would receive funds for educating the student in one course, while the brickand-mortar school would receive money for educating the student in five courses.

My Mimio. My Story.
As part of an extensive search for the best interactive teaching technology for the Hempfield Area School District (HASD), Julio Valesquez knew he wanted a solution that could be easily implemented and that wouldn’t just sit on a shelf unused. They chose Mimio®. Dr. Barbara Marin, Asst. Superintendent for HASD, says the choice was clear because “with other companies we would have paid 2 or 3 times more.” Watch Mr. Valesquez tell his Mimio Story. Learn why Mimio provides a better way to learn and a more empowering way to teach.

n Competency-based funding
A handful of states have adopted policies that allow virtual schools to be financed not on such time-based principles as seat-time or adm and ada, but rather on the basis of student outcomes. Virtual school backers believe this method gives online schools more flexibility in letting students progress at their own pace, since they are not required to be in courses for a certain amount of hours. A downside, though, is that this method may require a cumbersome amount of tracking and paperwork to ensure students are meeting proficiency standards. It also can be tricky to mesh this system with a time-based system if a student happens to transfer from one school to another. Lastly,

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Education Week - August 29, 2012

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