The Virtual Classroom: How Students at Pali High are Customizing Their Education

Online learning is one of the fastest growing trends in educational uses of technology.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than half of public school districts have high school students enrolled in distance education courses, up from only 30 percent in 2003. In high schools, more than 1.3 million students enrolled in distance education courses in 2010, an increase from just over 300,000 enrollments in 2005.

Palisades High School now accounts for 46 of those student enrollments thanks to an individualized one-to-one virtual learning program. When the Board recognized a need for a virtual program to allow Pali students to remain at the school, the Virtual Academy was launched in January of last year.

“Many students were seeking independent, private online schools and leaving. This program allows us to maintain our student body,” said Principal Pam Magee, adding that many schools have added virtual programs to stay on the cutting edge of education.

Pali High expanded its virtual classroom to facilitate a specialized experience for their student body. The school achieves this through a
combination of online curriculum and seminar-based teacher instruction courses, supported by a program called APEX.

As a result, students who were unfulfilled by the traditional education models and looking for an alternative classroom setting now have a place to turn.

CUSTOMIZED CLASSROOM

Randy Tenan-Snow, independent studies coordinator at Pali High, said the addition of the Virtual Academy has allowed students with a variety of academic needs to have access to new teaching methods with a more flexible schedule.

The program serves students who are responsible enough to independently access curriculum.

For many students, taking classes online gives them the opportunity to move through their work at an accelerated pace or take courses that otherwise aren’t offered. For others, it removes the pressures and anxieties caused by being in an overcrowded classroom.

The program also fits students who have excessive on-site attendance concerns, scheduling problems or individual learning styles not met in the traditional classroom.

“Teachers effectively differentiate instruction and spend more time working one-on-one with students to address individual needs,” Tenan-Snow said. “Students move at their own pace, taking as much — or as little — time as they need to master the material.”

Some students like Kennedy Frederick are pursuing professional careers in the arts. Frederick, a sophomore, entered the program this year to balance a budding professional singing career while maintaining her academic obligations.

Her customized schedule allows her to simultaneously attend community college and earn college credit while still in high school.

“I dedicate a lot of time to singing every week, but I am also really dedicated to school,” Frederick said. “Having my classes online allows me to do both.”

When a medical emergency pulled Spencer Kleyweg out of the classroom and into the hospital for an extended stay last year, he was able to keep up schoolwork by taking online courses.

“It allowed me to stay in school when otherwise, I would have had to drop out,” he said. “My parents were more than happy to see me making it work.”

Kleyweb noticed a serious improvement in his academics, even while battling an illness and decided to apply to the program again in his sophomore year. This year, he is working a part-time job and maintaining a mix of online and traditional courses that better cater to his learning style.

“This program really allows me to learn and to better understand the material because I’m learning the way I need to. I can’t get that in a regular classroom setting,” Kleyweg said. “I’m taking higher level classes, moving at a faster pace and I’m done earlier.”

The program requires students be enrolled in four online classes, but they have the option to take two or more classes at the traditional campus as well. Kleyweg, who takes his electives on campus, added that a combination of virtual and traditional classes is a great way to maintain a balanced learning style and the ever-important social component of high school.

His classmate Elijah Hays takes a similar approach. A sophomore in his first year of Virtual Academy, Hays said the added responsibility of taking online classes has pushed him to be more productive.

“I think taking classes online is more work because it’s a huge responsibility. Things move at a faster pace and I know I can’t fail or I won’t be able to stay in the program,” he said.

It is the policy at Pali High that all students enrolled in the Virtual Academy cannot be failing two or more classes at any time or they will be excused from the program.

“This isn’t the place to let yourself slip. We give these students a lot of freedom but that comes with incredible responsibility, whereas in a traditional classroom, you can be failing as many classes as you want and continue to come to class,” Tenan-Snow said.

MISEDUCATION

As with any new program, the Virtual Academy has met challenges, like merging the virtual program with the school’s traditional attendance and grading policies.

Principal Magee has worked to increase understanding of the virtual program among the faculty and community. By educating and involving the faculty in curriculum and aligning the program with the faculty-developed assessments, Magee said understanding is increasing.

But it’s not just the administration catching raised eyebrows. Several of the students enrolled in Virtual Academy said they often feel misunderstood by their peers in the traditional campus at Pali High.

Eleventh grader Katherine Venturini, who is in her second year with the program, said she doesn’t think most of the students outside the program really understand what the Virtual Academy is.

“They either think we don’t have to do any work or that we’re not normal. But honestly, I think it’s more work. We have a lot of responsibility and we can’t fail. We work really hard,” Venturini said. “It’s a very tight-knit group in here too. It’s great to have friends who understand and this is just what works for us.”

While the program does provide students with a progressive alternative to the traditional classroom, all courses are Common Core and A-G aligned. Students work independently to access curriculum while adhering to all due dates, seminar dates and coordinator meetings.

“During our pilot year, there were some students we had to remove from the program because they thought this was a chance to get out of doing any work – which is not the case,” Tenan-Snow said. “For a student to succeed in this program, they must be highly independent and highly motivated.”

Virtual Academy students are required to attend weekly meetings with a coordinator and seminar meetings for core classes, which Tenan-Snow said is an important factor in the students’ success. While the students have some autonomy and freedom to work on subjects at various times of the day, they are bound by weekly assignments, which are rigorously tracked. Students must present material one-on-one to a coordinator every Monday. The weekly use of the Academic Seminar aligns the student with all Pali High assessments and keeps students in touch with a live teacher who works to keep them on track.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT

Chloe Nelson came in the program during the second semester of her sophomore year after she and her parents had explored both private and homeschooling options. For the current junior, Virtual Academy was a last resort – and her saving grace.

“I wasn’t sure how well it would work at first, with less structure, if we would have to keep close tabs on her work, but Chloe is very motivated and this has been fantastic for us,” said Chloe’s mom Jolie Nelson.

Her choice to use the word “us” isn’t by accident.

For a student in the Virtual Academy to succeed, parents need to be involved – something the coordinators address when reviewing applications to the program.

Nelson acknowledges that she and her husband are involved in their daughter’s education, but had to find a healthy balance and let Chloe navigate the new program for herself.

“It’s important to let her learn the consequences on her own, but we do check in and if I see a decline, we talk about what we’re going to do to fix that,” she said. “The challenge with having the freedom to work at your own pace is not to get behind. But the weekly check-ins really help. Learning how to handle that independence is really going to prepare her for college.”

Virtual Academy is currently accepting applications for January. For more information, palihigh.org/virtualacademy.