“We are going to be forced into looking at new ways to educate students,” Willis said. “With all the chaos of the economic environment, this could be an opportunity to do things differently, more effectively and more economically.”

Among the ideas he is considering:

* Replacing text books with eBooks and laptops.

* A virtual high school where courses can be taken online.

* Going paperless throughout the district.

And the timing is right for the district, which is beginning its $187.6 million capital project. Part of that includes a district-wide technology and building systems project that would improve electrical power distribution and upgrade data cabling to advance technology in the schools.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual high school diploma? Maybe, Utica superintendent says

Paulina Waski, 15, learned this first hand when she enrolled last year in the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (JKO) School, a national training program for young dancers at the American Ballet Theater in New York. Not only is Paulina committed to learning all of the skills and dance techniques necessary for a career in dance but she is also willing to sacrifice activities typically associated with teenage life in the suburbs.

For example, Paulina doesn’t attend high school with her local friends. Instead, she participates in a virtual school and takes courses online so that she is able to commute back and forth to classes six days a week at the prestigious New York City ballet company.

“She is technically gifted for her age, and has outstanding potential,” said Franco De Vita, principal of the JKO School. “Paulina has a positive attitude at all times with the staff and other students alike. She has a lovely, easy quality of movement, a joy for dancing, and is a natural performer.”

For the rest of the article, go to Waski puts her best foot foward

Cleveland Hill students studying online this summer might want to look up the proverb “Necessity is the mother of invention,” then take a look around their classroom.

After its partner district in summer school didn’t have money for the program this year, Cleve Hill decided to go it alone by offering an independent computer learning program.

“I’m excited to see if the kids like doing this better than the traditional summer school,” said Mary C. Pauly, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at Cleve Hill.

Many suburban students will travel to other districts this summer to retake courses they failed as budget cuts have forced elimination of some summer school programs.

Other students will go to their own school to work at their own pace at an online program in a computer lab.

For the rest of the article, go to Online courses replace area summer schools

Erie 1 BOCES was awarded nearly $600,000 from the American Recovering and Reinvesting Act’s Enhancing Education Through Technology Grant for training at area schools.

Grant funds will be allocated to professional development programs for teachers and to the purchase of hardware and software to implement virtual learning for students. Sixteen component school districts of Erie 1 BOCES will be able to purchase hardware and software, and both public and non-public schools will be invited to attend staff development programs.

Implementation of virtual learning will give students the opportunity to complete programs and courses online, which also can be used to make up coursework or earn additional course credits.

For the rest of the article, go to BOCES awarded $600K tech grant

Steve Lampert got up from his chair at Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn in mid-June, about two weeks before the final graduation in its history. He grabbed his cell phone and told his colleague Rachel Malabas that he was going to call a certain student. “I’m going to try to get him to graduate,” he said

Malabas warned Lampert that she’d already called and the student wouldn’t pick up. Lampert gave it a shot anyway.

Seconds later, Lampert, who, along with Malabas, acts as a supervisor and mentor of the credit-recovery program at Tilden, snapped his phone shut, smiled and admitted to his colleague that she was right. He was not particularly surprised.

In December 2006, the New York City Department of Education declared Tilden a failed school, because of its history of violence and low student achievement, and announced that it would be phased out and closed on June 30, 2010. Since then, three new mini-schools have opened within the Tilden building, with the remaining Tilden students occupying just a third of a floor.

Now, with Tilden’s demise only days away, teachers and administrators are scrambling to see that as many students as possible graduate. The staff is hoping that 60 percent of the 135 students will graduate before Tilden closes, which would be a substantial improvement from the 40 percent that graduated in 2009. (The New York City graduation rate in 2009 was 59 percent.) However, even by the school’s most optimistic calculations, at least 54 students will leave the school without a diploma. The reality is that many of those who do not finish Tilden by the end of the month likely will never graduate from high school.

Various programs have been adopted to help students make up classes, improve their grades and prepare for Regents exams. Credit-recovery is an online program that allows students to retake classes in which they’ve failed to earn credit. Tilden has also developed independent studies for students to make up work in classes in which they’ve struggled. Many Regents-prep courses are offered every week and one-on-one tutoring is arranged for students that have already failed their Regents exams.

“I think that the faculty is dedicated to getting the kids to graduate,” says Lampert. “But now that the school is closing and we’re under the gun, there are all these extra programs that they’re mounting. Everything that can be done to get them to graduate is being done.”

For the rest of the article, go to Tilden High School Offering Students Last Chance To Graduate

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For the rest for the article, go to The Web Can Help You Find The Perfect School For You!

Welcome to yet another state-specific website for online high schools. Brought to you by Best Online High Schools, this gives you information on all that is going on in your state with online high schools.