Surge
As the pandemic-influenced new year begins for many families, we are learning of a surge in enrollment in virtual charter schools across the country. It stands to reason that parents and students are looking to those schools for certainty amid the shifting sand of reopening plans, calendar delays, and changing health guidelines. The Columbus Dispatch late last week reported the same surge occurring here in Ohio.
Success story
Also late last week, the Toledo Blade introduced us to Anthony Richardson, Jr., a rising senior attending Ohio Virtual Academy. He is an accomplished Christian rapper—his longtime career aspiration—but is also deep into computer coding these days, thanks to additional classes he’s taking via another online educational provider. Kudos and best wishes to Anthony for his bright future.
Researching the pandemic pivot
A new report from Gregg Vanourek looks into key actions taken by eight leading charter school networks to enable them to transition quickly and effectively to remote learning this past spring. Some of those actions included creating and enforcing a typical school day for students learning remotely and a team approach to teaching and instruction centered around a common curriculum. Further interesting details abound in the report.
More research, more praise for charters
Public Impact and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a far-reaching analysis of how public schools across the country served their students during the pandemic shutdowns in the spring. You can read the full report here. The 74 Million took a look at the findings and noted that charter schools were more likely to have teachers continue instruction (versus learning packets or outsourced videos), to provide synchronous instruction, to have teachers check in with students, and to track student attendance than were district schools. Author Linda Jacobson points out that this level of parental engagement and flexibility is largely baked in to charter school operations and thus their superior performance is not much of a surprise. That analysis is here.
New year, new school
Here is a quick look at a new dropout recovery high school—Buckeye Community School—opening in Marion soon. It will provide both an online version and a paper-and-pencil version of its courses, both of which were part of its model even before the pandemic, and aim to help students up to age 22 focus on missing credits and requirements and to complete their path to a high school diploma. Here’s to a great first year!
