The Jan. 18 surge from rain-swollen Thomas Creek swept into the headquarters of the online charter school, which likely will take a month or more to be repaired, said Todd Miller, ORCA’s executive director.

In the meantime, ORCA is camped out in a classroom at Centennial, 38875 N.W. First Ave., trying to juggle work spaces for nearly a dozen people. Many of the school’s materials were put into storage, but the files for the 2,500-plus students the school serves statewide had to be on hand for immediate access.

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Mid-valley charter and alternative high schools did not fare as well. Just 15 of the 88 students at the alternative Albany Options School received a regular diploma last year, for a four-year cohort rate of 17 percent. That’s up from 11 percent last year. Twenty-three students were recorded as dropouts. Another 29 received GEDs and 21 chose to continue their education at the options school.

At Oregon Connections Academy, the statewide online charter school headquartered in Scio, 99 of 292 students received a regular diploma last year, for a rate of just under 34 percent.  Another 28 received GEDs, 44 chose to continue enrollment and 121 dropped out.

For the rest of the article, go to Mid-valley grad rates beat state average

“I have always enjoyed giving tours of the bakery and explaining how the process works,” Schlatter said. “I hope the students will gain an understanding of how much time and work goes into a loaf of bread. I try to explain there is a science to baking bread and different methods can create their own unique flavors and textures. If all goes well, the kids will have fun while learning.”

Three years ago Schlatter decided to school his children at home, enrolling them in Oregon Connections Academy, and he said it has been a perfect fit for his family.

For the rest of the article, go to Oregon Connections Academy offers its students a sweet trip

But the school board was torn, Tuesday night, over whether to stick with the suggested name, NW Online Academy, or localize it as Hillsboro Online Academy. They weren’t budging on “online academy.”

They debated the merits of both. The NW version would have broader reach and might draw in students who aren’t interested in Hillsboro School District, such as some of the 497 homeschooled kids in the district. But a few board members said it was boring and generic.

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The work session, which begins at 6 p.m., is for discussion only. No decisions will be made.

The board is considering the name Northwest Online Academy for its virtual school, which is expected to open next September. The school is part of the district’s move toward offering its students learning options.

For the rest of the article, go to Hillsboro School Board will consider names for its future online school

The trouble is, when they enroll in an online school, state aid goes with them. Hometown schools can’t afford the loss.

In 2012, the Coquille School District will expand its online course offerings in an effort to lure back some of its 16 students who have enrolled in online schools. If the effort succeeds, the district could recapture thousands of dollars in state funding.

For the rest of the article, go to Oregon Editorial Rdp

Interim Superintendent Wade Smith called the trend toward online learning a revolution, one that is luring students away from traditional, brick-and-mortar public schools.

For the rest of the article, go to Hermiston schools reach out to learners with virtual delivery 

‘We find that a lot of students … try online schools and then are back within a few weeks of having left the district,” he said.

Generally that occurs because students don’t have the support they need to successfully complete work, he said. ‘But if you’re stuck and you don’t’ have an answer, it’d be nice to drive five minutes and say, ‘Hey, can you help me out with this part of it?” he added.

For the rest of the article, go to Online, real-life interaction combined

Under the old law, online charter schools had a cap on the total number of students who could enroll. Starting this school year, lawmakers chose instead to allow up to three percent of the students in any public school district across the state to enroll in one of Oregon’s full-time virtual schools.

Todd Miller is executive director of Oregon Connections Academy, the state’s largest online public charter school. Miller says enrollment has grown by nearly 25 percent this school year to more than 3,000 students.

For the rest of the article, go to Enrollment Cap Change Leads To Rapid Growth For Oregon’s Virtual Schools

Reps. Brian Clem, D-Salem, and Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, also changed their votes to support the measure after initially opposing it.

Rep. Michael Dembrow, a Portland Democrat who chaired the task force, said the field of online learning is rapidly evolving and the committee wanted specific authority from the Legislature to study more than just full-time online schooling.

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