the south carolina virtual school program—options for districts chief academic officers’...
TRANSCRIPT
THE SOUTH CAROLINA VIRTUAL SCHOOL PROGRAM—OPTIONS FOR DISTRICTS
Chief Academic Officers’ Quarterly Meeting
June 12, 2014
Virtual School Changes
In June 2013, under the Virtual Learning Act, the General Assembly revised the SCVSP legislation as follows: Lifted caps on the number of courses (credits) a
student may take with the SCVSP from 3 per year and 12 over the high school career to unlimited.
Allowed for a program name change; rebranding in the fall.
New option for school districts—Franchise. Improved Student Support—Student Services Team
(Manager and 3 Student Services Coordinators).
Rebranding in Fall 2014
Name change—VirtualSC. New logo. New webpage. New student information system—
OpenSIS.
Program Description
Supplemental program—not a school; does not issue state high school diplomas.
Serves SC public, private, and homeschooled students under the age of 21 as well as Adult Education students in the diploma program.
Primary focus—offers courses for high school credit that are engaging, interactive, and mobile to motivate and excite students about learning.
Free-of-charge; funding remains with the school.
District/School Options
Enroll students individually in our program.
Use a blended learning model. Use us for credit recovery. Create your own online learning program
as a SCVSP franchise.
Individual Student Enrollment Students register through the online registration
portal.
Classes begin per the Dates and Deadlines Matrix posted on our web site.
No cap on number of online courses/credits; recommend no more than 2 at a time unless the student is a full-time online student.
Must have sponsor approval (public, private, or home school).
Final grade accepted by sponsoring school, which issues the credit and awards the diploma.
Course Options
Courses for high school credit: Advanced Placement. Honors. College Preparatory. Credit Recovery.
Advanced Placement Options
Offer College Board-approved courses for high school and college credit.
Taught by teachers who are: Highly qualified (HQ-NCLB) and South Carolina-certified in
their content areas. Endorsed to teach AP courses by both the state and the
College Board. Continuing courses—AP English Language and Composition;
AP English Literature and Composition; AP Statistics; AP US History; AP Latin; AP Art History.
New for fall 2014: AP Biology. AP Calculus AB. AP European History. AP Computer Science A.
Credit Recovery Options
Offered on a rolling enrollment basis.
Enroll students each Monday throughout the year except on State holidays and certain blackout days.
Opportunity to:
Begin each lesson by taking formative assessments (pretests);
Proceed to the next lesson when performance indicates readiness;
Complete the work in the areas of weakness only to earn credit for the successful completion of courses.
View a list of Credit Recovery courses on our web site.
Other Resources for Students and Districts/Schools
Test Preparation: Shmoop. SAT/ACT/PSAT. AP Exams. Students can get individual access. Teachers across state can get teacher
accounts and create classrooms for their students.
EdReady: Coming Soon! Personalized math study plans for different
goals. ELA coming in 2015.
Blended Learning Projects
Offer courses in a “blended” format.
Support the SCDE’s goal— to offer personalized and customized education for every student through an online choice option.
Targets schools with certified teacher vacancies and hard-to- fill teaching positions.
More about Blended Learning Projects on our web site.
SCVSP Franchise Option
Allows districts/schools to expand their curriculum. Addresses challenges:
Scheduling conflicts. Grade forgiveness. Middle school promotion. Expelled students. Homebound students. Adult education.
Personalizes learning. Makes a district/school online learning program
affordable.
District/School Benefits
Start a SCVSP franchise as an e-learning solution for students in grades 7-12.
Offer a 365-day flexible or 180-day traditional school calendar.
Use: Your own teachers. Our Student Information System (SIS) for registration. Our Learning Management System (LMS) Moodle. Our courses.
Receive student support and staff/teacher training. Retain FTE but pay $100/seat license (for active users
at a given time) per contract year.
Grades 2-6 Keyboarding Pilot Began during the first quarter of 2013 because of
inquiries from districts/schools throughout the state during the first quarter of 2013.
Objectives: To provide instruction in alphabetic keyboarding to
students in grades 2-6. To provide instruction and practice
in navigation through online open educational resources and activities.
To provide opportunity for students to compose paragraphs, short answers, or essay responses at the keyboard in a timely manner from writing prompts provided in the course.
Keyboarding Pilot Continued
During the first year of the pilot, the SCVSP worked with districts to implement the project, collect data, evaluate the results, and make recommendations for improvement for year two.
Districts/Schools (10): Bridgewater Academy. Charleston School District. Clarendon 2. Dillon 4. Greenwood 52. Hampton 2. Oconee. Orangeburg 3. Orangeburg 5. Spartanburg 2.
Keyboarding Pilot Continued
Soliciting districts/schools for 2014-15. Requiring the following technologies:
All Flash compatible browsers on PC, Mac and Linux.
Adobe Flash Player v.10.2 or newer required.
Contact Information
Bradley Mitchell, Director 803-734-7169 or [email protected]
Suzette Lee, SCVSP Team Leader803-734-8037 or [email protected]
Deirdre Edwards, SCVSP Curriculum Coordinator803-734-8124 or [email protected]
Sarah Rotureau, SCVSP Student Services Manager803-734-1719 or [email protected]
Sharon Dublin, OVE Special Projects Coordinator803-734-3160 or [email protected]