School Focus: Virtual High School

The CEO

Whether high schoolers should take classes online is a difficult consumer decision. There are few tools to make it easier -- no Consumer Reports, or state and national school-by-school ranking systems to guide the way. That results in challenges, even for 11-year old Virtual High School, the acknowledged leader in the field.

“One of the challenges that VHS continues to face is how to help educators and non-educators alike understand how to see quality in an online course,” said CEO Liz Pape. The quality is there -- VHS students exceeded the national Advanced Placement pass rate, according to Pape. In 2007, VHS students passed AP exams at a 61% rate, surpassing the national 57% figure. In addition to 200 full-semester courses in Arts, Business, English Language Arts, Foreign Language, Life Skills, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Technology, VHS offers full-year AP courses and pre-AP semester-length courses. It also offers middle-school courses for Gifted and Talented students.

VHS Global Consortium is a nonprofit, and schools pay an annual membership fee for their students to take its online courses. Accredited through the Middle States Commission on Secondary Education, VHS is meant to supplement - not replace -- traditional high school education. Its teachers give grades, but member schools determine course credit students receive. Professional development for VHS teachers is done online, with graduate credit offered through Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire. 

Just how does a virtual high school handle the necessary contact with parents and community?  In the case of VHS, there are two ways: One, through a Web site that's almost overloaded with information.

Two: A real person -- the site coordinator -- at every member school offering courses. The site coordinator has had VHS training and is available for face-to-face meetings with parents around any issues students may have in their online courses, Pape said. In the works are plans to increase the cyberspace academy's International Baccalaureate offerings. “We're very pleased with that because our philosophy for 21rst century skills development in students includes global awareness skills,” Pape said. “These IB courses are one additional way to do that.”

The Site Coordinator

Christine Randall is in her eleventh year of coordinating VHS classes at Marlborough High School in Marlborough, Massachusetts. The 1,550-student, four-year public school is 25 miles west of Boston. Randall teaches computer applications classes and coordinates the school's business department, along with being the official go-between for students and VHS. She recruits students, registers them for appropriate courses, represents VHS to parents, and checks in with the 21 VHS students every two weeks.

VHS fits a specific need, she said. “When you have a course that only one or two are interested in, this is perfect,” Randall said. Marlborough High School's 21 VHS students take AP computer science, international business, mythology, music composition and arranging, Visual Basic, forensic science, and screenwriting fundamentals. It works well for everyone, she said. The students get what they want, and the school can offer subjects through VHS that it couldn't on its own.

“We wouldn't be able to afford to have the staff to teach all these highly specialized classes,” Randall said. Marlborough prefers that its students take only VHS courses that it doesn't offer face-to-face.

Parents are often concerned that students will be working in isolation, but that's not the case, Randall said. They have to interact with each other online, and they do collaborative projects in every class. VHS classes take place in a “scheduled asynchronous mode.” That means classes follow a semester schedule, and assignments are due at specified weekly intervals. However, students can complete their work anytime during the week, as long as it's posted by specified due dates. Cyberspace courses taken in high school give students an edge when they take "blended" college courses with classroom and online components, Randall said. Most Marlborough students enjoy their virtual classes, she said. Those who don't usually find out right away and tell Randall, “It wasn't for me. I'd rather be in a class with other students around.”

The Teacher

Marlborough High School language arts teacher Mark Vital loves movies and creative writing. He has found a way to combine those interests teaching screenwriting for Virtual High School. Vital, who has been at Marlborough for six years and with VHS for four, teaches an online screenwriting class of 18 students this semester. The final project students undertake is writing a full-length film script. One of the advantages of teaching online is the international student body, he said. He has had students from Korea, China, South America, Switzerland, France, England, and Poland. It makes life interesting.

“They bring a whole different dynamic to the classroom,” Vital said. He took two graduate-level courses to prepare for his VHS gig -- one in Blackboard online classroom management software and one content course. Vital teaches one fewer face-to-face class at Marlborough because of his VHS commitment, but he makes it clear that his workload isn't less online.  

“Virtual High School is more work. Everybody thinks it's less work,” he said. One reason is the individual contact he has with students. While assignment threads are public to all students, there are also private threads only for a student and instructor. And in a traditional class, one person raises a hand, but in a VHS class, ten might ask the same question through a private thread, Vital said. There's another important difference between cyberspace and brick-and-mortar classrooms. Online, high school social dynamics change, often for the better. “In Virtual High School, student equality is more possible than in a mainstream classroom,” he said.

An online course can be a godsend for students struggling socially, Vital said. Any issues based on appearance, an inevitable feature of traditional high school, disappear online. Sometimes in a thread, a student will suddenly say something personal that indicates racial, ethnic, or religious background, and the other students will express surprise. “The other kids will say, 'Are you this or that?' It eliminates any bias or prejudice,” Vital said. Vital also has found that kids who are introverted in mainstream classes can become extroverted online. His VHS students behave themselves. There's never been an instance of hate posting or cyberbullying. If it did happen, the other students would likely police it, he said.

For Vital, it all comes down to choice. “The cool thing about online courses is that they provide a different way to be taught and to learn,” Vital said. “And it's that simple.”