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<p>Minnesota Education / Online high schools are niche some kids need
Diverse student bodies evolve as Web paves way to earning a diploma
BY MARY BAUER
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 08/06/2007 07:05:22 PM CDT</p>
<p>Kevin Johnson remembers the fourth grade painfully well.</p>
<p>It was the year educators finally diagnosed the communication chasm that separated him from other children: He is a genius.</p>
<p>“That was his worst year emotionally,” recalls his mom, Holly. “He didn’t mix well with the other students. Kids picked on him because he had a different vocabulary and spoke differently.”</p>
<p>Now 15, the math whiz from Farmington has a host of friends he met through his online high school, MTS Minnesota Connections Academy, and he’s working at a pace more suitable to his talents. Last year, he finished a college-level honors calculus class.</p>
<p>Kevin is one of a growing number of high school students earning their diplomas online. Enrollment numbers for Minnesota’s 20 online schools were unavailable from the Minnesota Department of Education on Friday, but some of the most established schools report skyrocketing growth.</p>
<p>BlueSky Charter School, Minnesota’s first all online school, finished the 2005-06 school year with 155 students, said Tom Ellis, director and principal. It finished its most recent school year with 600. Minnesota Connections Academy ended last year with 400 students and expects to start the fall with 500 students.</p>
<p>Interest has spread largely through word of mouth, or in the case of the millennial generation, through text messaging, MySpace and blogs, online school officials said.</p>
<p>“They live in virtual worlds,” said Stephanie Hoffman, lead teacher at Minnesota
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Connections. “Kids are wired like that, so going to school like that is just a natural extension of the life they live outside schools.”</p>
<p>Advocates say online learning is a better fit for students who, for a variety of reasons, don’t fit the mold at bricks-and-mortar schools. Students with physical handicaps that impair mobility, teen moms, professional athletes, gifted students and struggling students are among those who make up the student body.</p>
<p>The schools also are popular with parents home schooling their children, though many wait until the high school years to sign up. Holly Johnson has home schooled Kevin for several years, but said she wasn’t comfortable putting together a high school curriculum.</p>
<p>And for many, administrators point out, life in school is not a bowl of cherries.</p>
<p>“There are a lot of things about online learning that appeal to students and their families,” Ellis said. “It’s convenient - students can go to school on their own schedule. There’s no bullying, no harassment, no teasing and no weapons being brought to school. It’s a very safe environment.”</p>
<p>The schools have overcome doubts that shadowed their early years. After BlueSky opened in 2000, legislators passed a law requiring online students to attend a physical school at least 2 days a week. The law was later repealed.</p>
<p>The schools have won respect with attendance standards that use online tracking and logs verified by parents. Students who don’t comply are expelled.</p>
<p>“This is a highly accountable program,” Hoffman said. “We’re not here to help kids not go to school.” Results on state standards tests are equal or better than those of brick-and-mortar schools, Ellis said. Students take the tests through contracted proctors around the state.</p>
<p>Online schools are public, meaning they charge no tuition and are open to any student in Minnesota. It also means the schools qualify for state per-pupil funding, about $7,500 each for high school students.</p>
<p>Most online schools have live sessions in which students talk live to the teacher and other students, whom they can view using webcams. Some, but not all, have regular field trips to museums, state parks and theaters.</p>
<p>Beyond that, the schools vary in approach. BlueSky offers a standard curriculum. Minnesota Connections lets students have a hand in planning their curriculum and assignments. They also offer 23 advanced placement classes.</p>
<p>Edvisions Off Campus High School does project-based learning, said Gigi Dobosenski, the school’s co-director. Students devise projects and papers that incorporate state learning standards, she said.</p>
<p>For example, one student studied public displays of affection and reactions to it. The final project involved technical writing, science, a bit of history on social psychology and math to compute her results.</p>
<p>“It’s an inquiry-based learning,” Dobosenski said. “We teach them how to learn rather than specific content.”</p>
<p>The schools are not for everybody, administrators say. Students vested in traditional sports and activities often want the camaraderie of seeing teammates daily in the halls. Some kids thrive on the social interaction that comes with riding the bus and sharing classes.</p>
<p>Kevin Johnson’s two younger siblings both attend brick-and-mortar schools.</p>
<p>But for Kevin, there is no turning back. He said he has made friends through his school’s field trips and interactive classes. He contacts them outside of school and takes time to socialize. He likes speaking the same language as his classmates, he said.</p>
<p>“We all speak the same gibberish,” Kevin said.</p>
<p>On The Web</p>
<p>For a list of other Minnesota online learning options for grades K-12, go to <a href=“http://www.education.state.mn.us%5B/url%5D”>www.education.state.mn.us</a>, click on School Choice and then Online Learning.</p>
<p>MTS Minnesota Connections, <a href=“http://www.mtcs.org%5B/url%5D”>www.mtcs.org</a>, is holding a series of information sessions in August:</p>
<h1>11 a.m. Thursday, Rosemount Community Center, 13885 S. Robert Trail, Rosemount.</h1>
<h1>6:30 p.m. Thursday, Maplewood Community Center, 2100 White Bear Ave., Maplewood.</h1>
<h1>6:30 p.m. Aug. 15, Holiday Inn Select, 3 Appletree Square, I-494 and 34th Avenue, Bloomington.</h1>
<h1>6:30 p.m. Aug. 16, Brookdale Library, 6125 Shingle Creek Parkway, Brooklyn Center.</h1>
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