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Cyber Charter Schools: An Educational Alternative For The 21st Century
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| Pennsylvania Leadership Cyber Charter School students may take advantage of the school's flexibility and resources to pursue interests in the performing arts. |
By EMILY RICE, The Bulletin
“Any Time, Any Place, Any Path, Any Pace.” The title of a 2001 National Association of State Boards of Education report on the future of e-learning still says it all. Cyber charter schools offer students unparalleled opportunities to design their own school programs.
Cyber charter schools emerged in the late 1990s as a natural fusion of advances in internet accessibility and the charter school movement. With eleven of the approximately 30 such schools nationwide, Pennsylvania is in the vanguard of this movement.
Students in a cyber school log in daily for lessons and class discussions, which they access via the internet from their home computers, wherever “home” may be. Cyber students are held accountable to state standards for attendance and performance, and receive diplomas at the completion of their educational programs. While daily attendance is required and assignments must be completed on schedule, the pace and specific content of each student’s program can be individually tailored.
Cyber charter schools operate as part of Pennsylvania’s public school system, so tuition is free to instate students. The cyber schools are reimbursed at a rate of 75% of the cost of educating a student in his or her home district. These funds are used to provide textbooks and other traditional learning materials as well as the technical equipment and support necessary for students to participate in online learning sessions.
At the heart of a cyber school’s flexibility is the inherent efficiency of a school program reduced to its academic core. It is suggested that students budget one hour a day for each major subject. Compared to a typical seven-hour school day with a bus ride at either end, that schedule creates significant additional time for students who need to spend it on their studies. Those who don’t, are able to use the extra time to dig deeper into course material that interests them, or to pursue outside activities.
“Typical” cyber charter school students include the physically disabled and junior Olympians; musicians, dancers, actors and other artists; as well as young parents and working teens who support themselves or their families while earning their diplomas.
This diverse mix of student interests and backgrounds raises a common question from outsiders about the cyber school environment: what about socialization? Ann Marie Daly from Achievement House Cyber Charter School in Bryn Mawr answers this question with the assurance of real life experience. In a cyber classroom, she says, “you can’t see the person you’re interacting with, but the kids certainly do interact.” Unencumbered by the superficial elements of socialization, students are free to make friends based on shared values and beliefs.
By maintaining a relatively small size, Achievement House deliberately cultivates an environment in which every student is known as an individual and given personal attention. Mrs. Daly concludes, “Every kid who comes here deserves that level of support.”
The Pennsylvania Leadership Cyber Charter School (PALCS) in West Chester also creates Individualized Programs of Instruction for students. As its name suggests though, the school’s institutional focus is on the development of leadership skills.
In the words of PALCS founder and CEO Dr. James Hanak, “We want our students to believe that ‘thinking outside the box’ is the norm, not the exception.” Attending a cyber school like this one is itself a practical lesson in unconventional thinking. “Every aspect of our school is designed to help our students experience new ways of exploring our world.”
In addition to offering students flexibility in developing their curriculum, PALCS offers several programs to enhance the educational experience. An extracurricular Leadership Development and Global Citizenship program offers service-based cultural immersion programs in several countries. Special Education support is available for those who need it, and academically gifted students can take advanced classes in the University Scholars Program. A Performing and Fine Arts Center is available for students wishing to pursue advanced training in those areas. In all these programs, the typical on-line cyber school experience is periodically supplemented by more conventional in-class or in-studio instruction.
Other students use the resource of internet education on a course by course basis. Albert and Gianni Manginelli are local home schoolers taking Latin through Regina Coeli Online Academy, based in Arizona. Distinct from a cyber charter school, Regina Coeli is intended “to support, but not to supplant” an existing educational program. Because Regina Coeli is not a charter school the Manginelli’s pay tuition for their classes, but even so, “it’s much less expensive than hiring a private tutor,” says their mother, Regina. Bi-weekly classes are broadcast in live audio, with opportunities for students to respond verbally or via typed response. The Manginelli’s, too, find the virtual classroom socially advantageous, as it minimizes the potential awkwardness of middle school-aged students in an advanced high school level course.
Whatever form it takes, online education requires a significant commitment on the part of students and their families. But for a growing number of Pennsylvanians, the freedom and flexibility to direct their own educational destinies make cyber charter schools worth the effort.
Emily Rice can be reached at erice@thebulletin.us.
Cyber charter schools emerged in the late 1990s as a natural fusion of advances in internet accessibility and the charter school movement. With eleven of the approximately 30 such schools nationwide, Pennsylvania is in the vanguard of this movement.
Students in a cyber school log in daily for lessons and class discussions, which they access via the internet from their home computers, wherever “home” may be. Cyber students are held accountable to state standards for attendance and performance, and receive diplomas at the completion of their educational programs. While daily attendance is required and assignments must be completed on schedule, the pace and specific content of each student’s program can be individually tailored.
Cyber charter schools operate as part of Pennsylvania’s public school system, so tuition is free to instate students. The cyber schools are reimbursed at a rate of 75% of the cost of educating a student in his or her home district. These funds are used to provide textbooks and other traditional learning materials as well as the technical equipment and support necessary for students to participate in online learning sessions.
At the heart of a cyber school’s flexibility is the inherent efficiency of a school program reduced to its academic core. It is suggested that students budget one hour a day for each major subject. Compared to a typical seven-hour school day with a bus ride at either end, that schedule creates significant additional time for students who need to spend it on their studies. Those who don’t, are able to use the extra time to dig deeper into course material that interests them, or to pursue outside activities.
“Typical” cyber charter school students include the physically disabled and junior Olympians; musicians, dancers, actors and other artists; as well as young parents and working teens who support themselves or their families while earning their diplomas.
This diverse mix of student interests and backgrounds raises a common question from outsiders about the cyber school environment: what about socialization? Ann Marie Daly from Achievement House Cyber Charter School in Bryn Mawr answers this question with the assurance of real life experience. In a cyber classroom, she says, “you can’t see the person you’re interacting with, but the kids certainly do interact.” Unencumbered by the superficial elements of socialization, students are free to make friends based on shared values and beliefs.
By maintaining a relatively small size, Achievement House deliberately cultivates an environment in which every student is known as an individual and given personal attention. Mrs. Daly concludes, “Every kid who comes here deserves that level of support.”
The Pennsylvania Leadership Cyber Charter School (PALCS) in West Chester also creates Individualized Programs of Instruction for students. As its name suggests though, the school’s institutional focus is on the development of leadership skills.
In the words of PALCS founder and CEO Dr. James Hanak, “We want our students to believe that ‘thinking outside the box’ is the norm, not the exception.” Attending a cyber school like this one is itself a practical lesson in unconventional thinking. “Every aspect of our school is designed to help our students experience new ways of exploring our world.”
In addition to offering students flexibility in developing their curriculum, PALCS offers several programs to enhance the educational experience. An extracurricular Leadership Development and Global Citizenship program offers service-based cultural immersion programs in several countries. Special Education support is available for those who need it, and academically gifted students can take advanced classes in the University Scholars Program. A Performing and Fine Arts Center is available for students wishing to pursue advanced training in those areas. In all these programs, the typical on-line cyber school experience is periodically supplemented by more conventional in-class or in-studio instruction.
Other students use the resource of internet education on a course by course basis. Albert and Gianni Manginelli are local home schoolers taking Latin through Regina Coeli Online Academy, based in Arizona. Distinct from a cyber charter school, Regina Coeli is intended “to support, but not to supplant” an existing educational program. Because Regina Coeli is not a charter school the Manginelli’s pay tuition for their classes, but even so, “it’s much less expensive than hiring a private tutor,” says their mother, Regina. Bi-weekly classes are broadcast in live audio, with opportunities for students to respond verbally or via typed response. The Manginelli’s, too, find the virtual classroom socially advantageous, as it minimizes the potential awkwardness of middle school-aged students in an advanced high school level course.
Whatever form it takes, online education requires a significant commitment on the part of students and their families. But for a growing number of Pennsylvanians, the freedom and flexibility to direct their own educational destinies make cyber charter schools worth the effort.
Emily Rice can be reached at erice@thebulletin.us.
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