Green light for virtual schools

The Virginia Department of Education on Monday said Chesterfield and York counties and 11 private companies have been approved as official providers of online programmes to students throughout the state, reveals the Richmond Times Dispatch.

The new 'virtual schools' will offer standards of learning-based courses taught by licensed teachers. They will be run by or through school systems, but students from outside the areas currently served by those systems will be allowed to attend.

School systems in the state are allowed to offer online courses to their own students, with no more than 10% of the students living outside the district's boundaries.

“School divisions now can broaden the array of courses they offer - and reach out to more non-traditional students - by contracting with virtual schools or online providers that meet criteria and standards set by the Board of Education,” state superintendent of public instruction, Patricia Wright, said in a statement, writes the Washington Post.

School divisions are required to post information on their own Web sites by 1 July about online courses and virtual school programmes they offer, along with related details.

The General Assembly passed legislation in 2010 that required the state to establish a framework for the operation of virtual schools and set guidelines for such programmes. Under the law, school divisions can use state-approved providers to offer online classes to students in multiple school divisions.

The Virginia Department of Education reviewed providers seeking to serve students in multiple divisions to ensure that their teachers are state-licensed and that their instruction aligns with the standards of learning, says Pilot Online.

Governor Bob McDonnell pushed for the expansion of online learning during the 2010 General Assembly session.

“No Virginia child's future should be limited by the walls of a particular school building or the boundaries of an attendance zone,” McDonnell said in a statement. “Virtual schools create additional choices and opportunities within our public education system.”