You are here: Home / Archives for BestOnlineHighSchools.com

County may offer ‘virtual schools’

August 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The online program would be made available not only to public school students in Robertson County, but also to home-schooled students and students currently enrolled in private schools.

The school would be operated through a company called K 12 Inc. The school system would receive revenue from the new school, which is funded by the state on a per-pupil basis.

At the Aug. 8 school board meeting, Schools Director Dan Whitlow told board members if they adopt the virtual school, the school system would benefit.

For the rest of the article, go to County may offer ‘virtual schools’

Filed Under: BestOnlineHighSchools.com, Home Page Tagged With:

Teachers get a true voice in their destiny

August 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This year we saw some of the most dramatic education reforms in generations become law in Tennessee, among them tenure reform, the abolition of mandatory union contracts, home-school reform, the creation of virtual schools and the end of social promotion. We Republicans put our focus on these issues for one reason: Every child deserves access to the best education this state can provide.

Republicans know that government cannot create jobs, but we can help foster a highly qualified and educated workforce. Republicans know that the success of our state’s education system and our state’s economy are inextricably linked. Businesses need qualified, educated workers and good schools for their children. The education issue and the jobs issue are quite often one and the same.

For the rest of the article, go to Teachers get a true voice in their destiny

Filed Under: BestOnlineHighSchools.com, Home Page Tagged With:

‘Virtual school’ in Tennessee may drain taxpayer funds

July 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

State officials are anxious to see how many students across Tennessee enroll in a public “virtual school” run by a for-profit Virginia company — and how much state taxpayer money automatically follows them.

Sales teams for K12 Inc. on Friday completed a two-week sales blitz, holding information meetings in a dozen towns and cities for families interested in the new Tennessee Virtual Academy.

For the rest of the article, go to ‘Virtual school’ in Tennessee may drain taxpayer funds

Filed Under: BestOnlineHighSchools.com, Home Page Tagged With:

Lawmaker used lobbyist template Bill clearing way for online school based on model

July 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

NASHVILLE – Rep. Harry Brooks says he worked with a lobbyist on legislation that cleared the way for Union County to operate an online school system with K12 Inc., but was unaware that the bill was based on a model drafted by an organization of conservative state legislators.

The Knoxville Republican said in an interview that his interest in providing virtual schools to students dates back to his service on the Knox County School Board several years ago when he studied use of such efforts at the county’s juvenile detention facility.

Portions of the bill (HB1030) are identical to a model law developed by the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization for state legislators largely funded by corporations. ALEC has sometimes been controversial, and last week the Center for Media and Democracy posted on the Internet some 800 model ALEC bills.

For the rest of the article, go to Lawmaker used lobbyist template Bill clearing way for online school based on model

Filed Under: BestOnlineHighSchools.com, Home Page Tagged With: ,

Board stalls on home school sports policy

July 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Williamson County school officials proposed amending an existing interscholastic athletics policy, proposing that only full time students — those taking at least one class on the campus of their zoned school — would be eligible to try out for sports.

The idea was that the amended proposal would catch the home-schooled students and those students who may attend virtual schools in the future.

The state recently approved a measure allowing virtual schools.

Board members were hung up mostly on procedures. For example, they asked how either a home-schooled or virtual school student would they be academically assessed to prove to TSSAA that they were meeting requirements.

For the rest of the article, go to Board stalls on home school sports policy

Filed Under: BestOnlineHighSchools.com, Home Page Tagged With:

Union County to open state’s first online school

July 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

An East Tennessee school is blazing a trail when it comes to education by opening the first online school in the state.

Union County school officials announced on Thursday that they are opening the Tennessee Virtual Academy, which will allow students from across the state to attend school online.

“Our students throughout the state are very involved in social media and social aspects of the technology that’s going on, and schools will either need to embrace that or they are going to be not successful,” said Wayne Goforth, Union County’s director of schools.

The Virtual Public Schools Act went into effect July 1, paving the way for the new school.

For the rest of the article, go to Union County to open state’s first online school

Filed Under: BestOnlineHighSchools.com, Home Page Tagged With: ,

Student education continues into summer with virtual programs

July 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Summer may mean the end of classes for many, but in schools across Hamilton County, more than 700 students are continuing their education over the summer through a Virtual Schools program.

The program, which serves K-8 students in core learning areas, has been ongoing since the beginning of June and will continue into mid-July.

The Hamilton County Virtual Schools program was founded in 2005, to provide students with a way to stay focused on their specific educational needs between school years.

For the rest of the article, go to Student education continues into summer with virtual programs

Filed Under: BestOnlineHighSchools.com, Home Page Tagged With:

Gail Kerr: Metro school scores are curiously absent from election ads

June 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

School leaders just announced a major reshuffling of 13 middle school principals.

The school board has already renewed Schools Director Jesse Register’s contract for four years.

The number of privately run charter schools will vastly expand this fall.

The school board is wrestling with starting the 2012-13 school year in July, adding more days of instruction.

Metro has requested permission from the state to start Nashville Virtual School, offering online courses to about 100 students.

For the rest of the article, go to Gail Kerr: Metro school scores are curiously absent from election ads

Filed Under: BestOnlineHighSchools.com, Home Page Tagged With: ,

School year ends with high marks

May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Dickson County High School graduated 91.7 percent of seniors, compared to 87 percent last year.

Chandler attributes those increases to the implementation of graduation coaches.

“Coach Julian Holly at Dickson County and Rodney Parker at Creek Wood, they work with those kids on keeping them on track with any credits that they’re behind and need to make up,” Chandler said.

In addition to Holly and Parker, the implementation of the virtual high school this year has also bolstered the graduation rates.

“We had 61 graduates that graduated because they got to make up some credits that they wouldn’t have,” Chandler said.

According to Chandler, 438.5 credit hours were awarded for online coursework.

For the rest of the article, go to School year ends with high marks

Filed Under: BestOnlineHighSchools.com, Home Page Tagged With:

On the 2011 Session

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

To give the current all-GOP leadership of Tennessee state government its due, there were a number of bills in the legislative session that just ended —ranging from the questionable to the downright crazy — that got sidetracked, either temporarily or permanently. As an example of the questionable, we would cite Germantown state senator Brian Kelsey’s measure to provide state vouchers for use in private educational institutions, including parochial schools.

We agree with the skeptics that a last-minute add-on to the legislative education package — something called “The Virtual Public Schools Act” — would improperly extend state largesse to the profit-minded proprietors of charter schools via the Internet. Very likely these entrepreneurs, operating from God knows where, could seriously denude numerous school districts of funding by siphoning off state stipends, according to the long-established principle that “the money follows the student.”

For the rest of the article, go to On the 2011 Session

Filed Under: BestOnlineHighSchools.com, Home Page Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »