Friday, June 01, 2012

Nazareth Area School District to launch cyber academy

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-nazareth-cyber-school-20120601,0,4958947.story FROM THE MORNING CALL With the click of a mouse, students will be able to earn a Nazareth Area High School diploma. The district will launch a cyber academy in the fall in an effort to lure back students who left to enroll in cyber charter schools. About 80 students have forgone Nazareth's traditional brick-and-mortar classes for alternative online learning, resulting in the loss of state aid, Superintendent Victor Lesky said. For each student who leaves, the district loses about $8,900. The cyber academy will cost the district about $4,500 for every student enrolled, Lesky said. But the district is expected to rack up savings with the return of state aid for those students, he said. The district is partnering with Bridges Virtual Education Services, a collaboration between Bucks County Intermediate Unit and the Quakertown Community School District, to prepare the online courses, which will be taught by Quakertown teachers. The program will be available for ninth- through 12th-grade cyber charter school students who wish to return to Nazareth Area School District. It offers basic core history, math and English classes, as well as other courses from personal finance to German. Laptops will be provided for all students enrolled. But the cyber school's main goal is to prepare students for the future with up-to-date technology. "Students learn differently than they did 10 to 20 years ago. They are very familiar with technology and can learn from the use of technology," Lesky said, noting that most colleges now offer online courses. "It's really giving kids experience. It's only proper to start this experience here in high school." Nazareth isn't alone into venturing into a Web-based school for its students. A number of Lehigh Valley school districts offer cyber learning. East Penn, Parkland, Southern Lehigh and Whitehall-Coplay school districts, for instance, developed Web-based courses that are offered to students through a program similar to Bridges. The partnership with Bridges is only Nazareth's first step in expanding online learning. The district plans to create an original Web-based Nazareth curriculum to be taught by Nazareth teachers. Once courses are transformed into an online format, courses provided by Bridges won't be used. Ninth-grade brick-and-mortar courses could go online by 2013. And a full online curriculum for grades seven through 12 may be available by 2016, Lesky said. After the curriculum is developed, all Nazareth students may be required to take at least one online class as a graduation requirement. Teachers will be encouraged to use the Web-based material in the classroom, as well.

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