North American Council for Online Learning © 2008 North American Council for Online Learning All rights reserved. Lessons Learned: The Virtual High School

North American Council for Online Learning© 2008 North American Council for Online Learning All rights reserved.

Lessons Learned: The Virtual High School Global Consortium Model

Liz PapeVirtual High School Global Consortium

© 2008 North American Council for Online Learning All rights reserved.

North American Council for Online Learning

About VHS: Overview and History

• A non profit global consortium of over 500 high schools offering innovative online courses

• Currently in 12th year of online course delivery

• Originally funded by the Federal DOE through a 7.8M tech. grant – five years of research & development, 1996-2001



About VHS

In 30 states And 39 countries



VHS Leadership & Recognition

•Accredited by Middle States Commission

•USDLA 21st Century Best Practices Award 2005, 2007 and 2008

•USDLA Best Practices K-12 Course 2005 and 2008

•Blackboard Course Content Award 2005 & 2007

•NCTET Community Builder Award 2004

•Stockholm Challenge 2001 Award



The VHS Model

VHS’s global consortium model – partnership with high school in online education cooperate, not compete Supplement, not supplant

Preparing classroom teachers to teach online &/or develop online courses Member school classroom teachers in TLC/NIM Online design standards and online delivery standards

21st century skills development Teaching skills for both classroom and online Learning skills through virtual global classrooms

Accountability – hard data points and survey input



What VHS students learn

• Content/curriculum• Access to courses not otherwise available

• Information literacy skills

• Online collaboration• Online teams and group projects

• Multimedia presentation skills

• Critical thinking, project-based learning

• Global citizenship skills• Extending the learning experience beyond the classroom

walls

• Online discussions with students of different cultures



Lessons Learned: A Critical Funding Model Transition

•Grant funding ended 2001

•2001: VHS incorporates as non-profit and maintains staff and services•Critical mass of remaining grant-funded schools

•Shorter training and membership cycle through NIM

•Noyce Foundation funding to support incorporation and development of NIM

•VHS business model•Membership fees-based

•Schools share in costs of delivering courses through cooperative VHS model

•Acceptance by teachers unions



About VHS: Administration & Policy

• Cooperative model fosters new models of teacher management

• Site coordinators as valuable school resources for online students

• Policy development and implementation supports cooperative model• Teacher expectations and

probation policies

• Student discipline and AUPs

• Registration policies

• Grading and IEP policies



Administration and Policy:VHS Program Evaluation

•Annual Program Evaluation tied to mission statement and annual goals•Review and validation of VHS Quality Program

Indicators

•Review of customer surveys: teachers, site coordinators, students, principals and superintendents

•Review of school, course and teacher data to identify programmatic issues



Quality Program Indicators

Course Quality

Professional Development

Program Services



Course Quality Measures

AP pass rates: 66% AP exam take rates:73% Course completion rates: 79% Credit recovery rate (summer):63% Satisfaction with VHS course quality:

92% superintendents 100% principals 98% Site Coordinators

Course features, teacher satisfaction: 92%: engagement in course work 78%: collaborative learning 97%: 21st century skills development



Professional Development Measures

Professional development grad rate: 91% 1st-semester teacher success rate: 87% % of all teachers remaining with mentor: 5% Satisfied with VHS professional development

99% principals

Applying VHS pedagogy to f2f teaching 79% teachers



Program and Services Measures

Membership retention rates: 84%(07/08) 88%(3-yr cumulative) Course seat utilization: 85% Satisfaction with electronic communications: email

Teachers: 99%, SCs: 96% Website

Teachers: 97%, SCs: 98% Newsletter/Annual Report

Superintendents: 86%/68% Principals: 78%/79% Teachers: 79%/54% SCs: 84%/54%



VHS Growth Indicators

VHS Schools

28 3087

232183 174

207278

345

461523

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08

VHS Courses

30 37

94

156134 121

154184

216241

297

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08

VHS Students(07/08 projected)

710 943

25163675 3736 4063

50696114

76049111

11,000

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08



Lessons Learned: Administration and Policy

•Proactive development of VHS policies•Included in VHS teacher and SC training

•Incorporation into VHS Faculty website

•Measure and evaluate against mission and goals



Outcomes and Lessons Learned

•Proactive development of VHS policies•Included in VHS teacher and SC training

•Incorporation into VHS Faculty website

•Measure and evaluate against mission and goals




Course Quality Benchmark Indicators

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07

AP exam pass rate

AP exam take Rate

Course completion rate

Credit recovery rate




Professional Development Quality Benchmark Indicators

86% 84% 80%87% 92%

4% 3% 3% 6% 5%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07

PD Graduation Rate

Remain on High LevelAdvising




Program Services Quality Benchmark Indicators

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

90%

95%

02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07

Membership RetentionRate

Course Seat UtilizationRate

c




Course Completion Rate over Enrollments

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

Course completion rate

VHS Students




PD Quality Indicators - First-year Teachers

0%20%40%60%80%

100%

02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08

PD GraduationRate

PD EffectivenessRate



Best Practices

•Focus on online pedagogy, not online tools

•Focus on standards

•Model-the-model teacher preparation format

•Site-based support for online students

•Partnership with member schools

•Preparing students for online courses•Pre-enrollment survey

•Student orientation

•Communications with membership



Future Plans

•Accreditation improvement plan•Increased content knowledge and online navigational

skills through increases in course completion rates

•Increased participation in VHS program services and increased satisfaction with VHS program quality

North American Council for Online Learning© 2008 North American Council for Online Learning All rights reserved.

Thanks for your interest! Questions or comments?

Liz Pape, [email protected]

Documents

North American Council for Online Learning © 2008 North American Council for Online Learning All rights reserved. Lessons Learned: The Virtual High School