District Administration - October 2011 - (Page 47)

Learning time and personalization by design in blended learning environments as reasons for better attainment of student learning. Districts and schools such as VOISE Academy in Chicago, Carpe Diem in Arizona, KIPP in Los Angeles and Rocketship in San Jose, Calif., are embracing blended learning and seeing the results in improved student outcomes, as well. They are also realizing additional advantages for students, teachers and administrators, including better access to data for personalizing instruction and dashboards for leaders to improve decision making. Good News The good news for district leaders seeking to implement blended learning programs is the ﬂexibility; there is no “one size ﬁts all” to implementation. Instead, the programs are shaped by their goals. Is the school looking to increase overall student proﬁciency? Improve high school graduation rates? Enhance foreign-language or college-level course offerings? Boost math and literacy rates? Administrators moving toward BY SUSAN PATRICK blended learning programs must ﬁrst articulate their objectives before developing an implementation plan. There are a number of other important issues that school leaders and administrators must tackle before implementing online learning. Don’t forget the importance of community outreach—sharing the trends in online and blended learning, how your teachers are involved, what it looks like for students, and what they can expect—before you start a new program. Stakeholders, including parents and students, should be informed of the process and be given opportunities for feedback. Administrators will need to consider redesigned teacher training and professional development. Product offerings will need to be evaluated for the best quality and ﬁt for each school district’s needs. Critically, local and state policies that help or hinder online learning must also be addressed. The single biggest barrier to adoption is funding that is based on seattime, which restricts what is possible in a blended learning environment. States need to offer seat-time waivers and other ﬂexibilities that allow credits to be redeﬁned as competencies, which require students to achieve mastery before moving to the next level. Another obstacle is procurement. Oldfashioned rules can restrict how funds are spent on instructional materials and can favor textbooks over digital learning. This is rapidly changing, but it remains a problem in about half of the states. We will continue to push the ﬁeld of K12 education through new, innovative models of online and blended learning. Quality is key, and together we can ensure that all students have access to a world-class education no matter where they live. Administrators can learn how to get started on developing their own implementation plan in How to Start an Online Program. Details are available at www. virtualschoolsymposium.org. Susan Patrick is president and CEO of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL). She can be contacted at spatrick@inacol.org. grace delicacy dignity proficiency proficiency enlightenment forward ONLINE refinement ACHIEVEMENT training accomplishment www.plato.com/blended tact proficiency delicacy dignity www.plato.com | 1.800.44.PLATO kindness refinement elegance October 2011 47 forward training accomplishment www.DistrictAdministration.com grace dignity fashion http://www.virtualschoolsymposium.org http://www.plato.com/blended http://www.plato.com http://www.plato.com http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - October 2011

District Administration - October 2011
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Transportation Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Building a Blended Learning Program
How Are Science Fairs Fairing?
A New Age for Algebra
Early College High Schools
Changing of the Guard in Florida
CIO News
How Much Computing Power Do You Need?
An Unconventional Approach to 1:1
New Books
Problem/ Solution
Research Center
Product Focus
New Products
Professional Opinion
Going Mobile
Online Edge

District Administration - October 2011