As students from around Molalla River School District filed into their classrooms on Monday morning, the new students of Molalla Online High School started up computers for orientation.

MRSD’s new online program, coordinated by Dr. Tony Valley, has 10 students enrolled so far, but room to grow.

“We’re starting slow, but we’ll pick up,” Valley said.

Unlike traditional schools where students miss out if they’re not in class, the online program is set up so that students can start at the beginning anytime and work at their own pace, Valley said.

For the rest of the article, go to With Molalla’s new online program, the schoolhouse is your house

It’s that time of year when parents and students are rushing around, getting ready to head back to school. Worrying about schedules and school supplies can be stressful. But at Oregon Connections Academy, there’s less anxiety because instead of students going to the classroom, the classroom comes to the students.

ORCA is Oregon’s biggest virtual school. It’s a public charter school, with no tuition, serving nearly 2,600 students across the state. My school year starts when I log onto my computer, the same as it does for my students. After 15 years of teaching in more traditional brick-and-mortar schools, I decided to try online learning. This is my sixth year with ORCA, so I made a choice that works for me.

For the rest of the article, go to The viewpoint of a virtual teacher

It is, of course, essential that Oregon ensure the rigor and quality of online charter schools and demand financial and academic transparency from the private vendors operating these “virtual schools.” But once the state is convinced that online students are receiving a quality education, why should it prevent other families from making the same choice?

The Oregon Board of Education recently spent several hours kicking this question around before concluding that parents should be allowed to choose online schools — but only up to a point. A majority of board members supported parent choice only if there was a cap on how many students could leave an individual school district. In other words, parent choice for some, but not necessarily all.

For the rest of the article, go to Choosing online schools

Oregon’s schools have at least two really big problems heading into the new school year: a graduation rate of only 66 percent, and a budget crisis of historic proportions. Some education officials say you can address both problems with one fix: getting more students to take classes online. Rob Manning reports on a new statewide online option.

Charter schools and local school districts have offered online classes for years. But a publicly-run online program for all of Oregon is new.

The Oregon Virtual Education Center was born literally across the street from high-tech giant, Intel, at the Northwest Regional Education Service District, in Hillsboro.

The ESD’s Paul Nelson says the center is starting with just five courses. Mainly those that can high schoolers need for graduation — but sometimes have difficulty with. Like Algebra 1, 9th grade English, and biology.

For the rest of the article, go to Could Online Classes Help Ease Oregon’s Education Problems?

This week, the Oregon Board of Education took a small step toward resolving one of the thorniest questions of the virtual schools movement: who decides whether a child can attend an online-only school?

In Oregon, education dollars follow the students. And this issue pits parent choice against school district stability.

Initially, each of six members of the state board suggested slightly different solutions. After nearly three hours of discussion, however, most board members said they would support parent choice but only if there was a cap on how many students could leave an individual school district.

For the rest of the article, go to Oregon Board of Education tackles parent choice and virtual schools

Demand for online education is growing among Oregon’s public school students. This fall is expected to be no different.

The debate over how to manage the rising need, though, pits entrenched forces, like the teachers’ union, against rising powers, like Oregon’s virtual charter schools. Rob Manning reports.

Oregon has a handful of online charter schools already in existence, but how to govern them is still in question.

Online schools raise questions that weren’t anticipated when Oregon’s charter school law was written.

For the rest of the article, go to Education Board Wrestles With Growing Need For Online Classes

At a recent information session in Bandon at The Barn, Oregon Connections Academy teacher Laura Howard explained how the process works. Virtual charter schools operate under similar state guidelines as traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Student to teacher ratios mirror those in public school classrooms around the state. Students enrollment is free and includes instructional materials. Students are also held accountable for assignments, testing and attendance.

The most obvious difference between the traditional 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday school routine is flexibility in time and space. But Howard says eliminating daily classroom interruptions makes her work with students more productive and rewarding.

“(Connections) is the best job I’ve ever had as a teacher,” said Howard. “Whenever I talk to a student, I’m focused only on that student.”

For the rest of the article, go to Online schools offer flexibility

Online education enrollment is growing quickly in K-12—about 30 percent a year. So some states have tempered that growth with caps on student enrollment, a legislative move that is now facing increasing scrutiny, educators and experts in the field say.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual Ed. Enrollment Caps Face Greater Scrutiny

“Of the kids who were full-time online, the program appeared to be successful,” said Jane Peschel, director of instruction for the Oregon School District. “Of the students who tried one course, we had about half of them actually complete the semester.”

For the 2009-10 school year, the Oregon School District offered online courses in an effort to recapture students attending virtual schools. Traditional high school students also were allowed to take one online course per semester.

For the rest of the article, go to Catching up: What did Oregon students think of online classes?

PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ — The number of K–12 students who are homeschooled in the United States and the number of K–12 students who take courses online in the country are both on the rise. There are 1.5 million homeschooled students in the US – growing between 7 and 15 percent per year – and the fastest growing part of this population is teens (NCES Issue Brief). Likewise, more than 1 million K–12 students now take all or part of their education online – an increase of 47 percent in just two years (Sloan Consortium). As a longtime educator, I not only expect these numbers to continue increasing, but I predict we’ll see much more crossover between these previously separate education paths.

Oftentimes, when students and their families decide to homeschool or enroll at an online school, their motives are similar. Consider the following:

For the rest of the article, go to Online Courses Offer Options, Support for Homeschooling Families