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Utah became the first state in the nation to turn Digital Learning Now's Ten Elements of Quality Online Learning into a comprehensive state policy. Utah's Statewide Online Education Program Shifts the Paradigm. Funding Follows the Student to the Course.
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Utah became the first state in the nation to turn Digital Learning Now's Ten Elements of Quality Online Learninginto a comprehensive state policy.
Utah's Statewide Online Education Program Shifts the Paradigm
Funding Follows the Student to the Course • Through the Statewide Online Education Program every 9-12 grade student in Utah has access to the very best online courses and teachers regardless of zip code - whether they choose electives, foreign language, honors or AP, science, history, math, or anything in between.
Funding Based Upon Successful Completion • Most efficient and accountable use of public education funding • 50% upfront (25% per semester) - 50% upon credit earned (successful completion based on UT standard) • Credit recovery incentivized - 30% of final payment if student completes prior to graduation (based on statutory parameters of 9 additional weeks allowed for semester course and 12 months for full-year course)
Tiered Cost Structure • A tiered cost structure has been created based on such factors as course subject and difficulty and necessary level of teacher interaction. • These new course fees were designed to provide a reasonable and fair fee to the Public School Providers of online courses while ensuring students receive the high-quality curriculum and instruction necessary to prepare them for their post-secondary goals. (Based on .5 credit)
Course Fees • Notwithstanding the online course fees prescribed a school district or charter school may: • negotiate a fee with an online course provider for an amount up to the amount prescribed and • pay the negotiated fee instead of the fee prescribed • An online course provider who contracts with a vendor for the acquisition of online course content or online course instruction may negotiate the payment for the vendor's service independent of the fees specified
Students Customize Their Education with Blended Learning • Course selection tied to the student's education occupation plan (SEOP - counselor led plan that tracks credits needed for graduation and post-secondary goals) • Courses offered in the Statewide Online Education Program are not supplemental
Parents and Students are in the Driver’s Seat • They choose the courses • They choose the Course Providers • Blended Learning - Student chooses whether to take their course from the Statewide Online Education Program or from their primary school of enrollment
All Students Seeking High School Credits are Eligible • 9-12 grade public school students eligible • Homeschool and private school students eligible in year three • Students on track for early graduation eligible
Subject Mastery Replaces Seat Time • Allows students to advance based upon demonstrated competency • Open-entry, open-exit permitted based upon provider parameters • Provider administers required state assessments (CRTs) upon course completion - state required to make assessments available at any time
Multiple Course Providers - Multiple Courses • Incentivizes Competition • Allows students to customize their education to best meet their individual needs and academic goals • Provides access to the best courses and best teachers regardless of income level or zip code
Providers = Public and Private Partnership • Authorized Providers are already part of the public school system - Providers can and currently do contract with private providers. Eligible Providers are: • LEA (Local Education Agency - charter or district school) program created exclusively for the purpose of serving students online • Charter or District School created exclusively for the purpose of serving students online • Allows for growth - as any LEA can potentially qualify by creating a program to serve students exclusively online
Accountability for OnlineCourse Providers • As LEAs, Providers are already subject to USOE rule and • oversight. In addition they must provide the following • information on their website: • Description of Statewide Program & It's purposes • Eligibility & enrollment information • Course Catalog • Performance on statewide assessments • Successful completion rate • Student-Teacher Ratio
Program Expansion • Up to two online courses in years one and two, beginning in the 2011-12 school year • In year three it expands by one course per year - expanding to six courses in year six (based on Utah’s requirement of 24 credits for graduation) • A student may use the program to graduate early in accordance with their SEOP
“Online Course Offerings Explode for Utah Students” September 6, 2011 Q: Do you know what happens when you allow the money to follow the student to the online course of their choice? A:When you empower students and parents with the ability to choose, options increase exponentially! Since the Statewide Online Education Program law took effect on July 1, 2011, there has been a 585%increase in online learning options for Utah students.
Parents for Choice in Education is a grassroots non-profit dedicated to ensuring every child has equal access to a quality education by empowering parents, increasing choice, and promoting innovative solutions to Utah's educational challenges. www.ChoiceinEducation.org For questions about Utah’s law or inquiries on how to develop your own state digital learning policy, contact Parents for Choice in Education at: 801-710-2345 or visit
How Do We Accelerate the Adoption of Digital Learning in K-12 Education?
Commerce Vs.
Communication Vs.
Exploration Vs.
Education The Same?
Utah State University: Education Administration Graduate Program
The Problem: The current types of educational technology deployed generally focus on improving classroom presentations and create more work for teachers
When technology is placed in schools, it is often misused, or ignored.
Interactive Whiteboards I>Clicker Laptops
Badly Deployed Technology - a Learning Distraction Freedom Elem. (digital) vs. Highland Elem. Source: Utah State Office Education (USOE). Freedom Elementary was built from the ground up to implement 1:1 technology in the classroom.
Bozeman Science The Flipped Classroom
Socrates Opposed Manuscript Technology • “… for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness • in the learners' souls, because they will not use their • memories; they will trust to the external written characters • and not remember of themselves. The specific which you • have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to • reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only • the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many • things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to • be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will • be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without • the reality.”Plato's Phaedrus Dialog on Socrates' view of Writing
Many Died for Using Disruptive Technology On the morning of October 6, 1536, William Tyndale was tied to a stake, strangled, revived, then burned for the crime of mass producing the first English Bible.
The Future is Now? Disruptive Innovation
73% was good enough in the days of manual instruction because it had to be. With digital learning we can require the other 27% or mastery.
Legislators must exercise their Constitutional prerogative of funding digital learning tools in the classrooms through competitive vendor RFP’s and competitive license applications from schools.
Digital Learning Tools not likely to be in your schools • Smart Schools – 1:1 iPad student deployment with professional development, technical backup, and engaging instructional tools produces significant measurable student gains. • Software for English Language Learners provides engaging, individualized training which expedites English acquisition many times faster than manual methods, producing significant gains in student academic growth. • Connecting all public schools to fiber. Use E-rate federal taxes already collected in your state to fund fiber to every school and robust connectivity within every school. Plus, ensure all students devices are safe on the Internet whether in or out of school.
Self Contained Special Education Classroom –15 minutes a day of interactive animation software diminishes behavioral problems and accelerates academic performance. • Home based Pre-K software provides preschoolers with engaging individualized reading and math instruction, collapsing the achievement gap at home before students enter Kindergarten. • Online reading enhancement tool used only 7 minutes 3 times a week causes students to read faster, comprehend more and perform better in all subjects. The online program produces measurable results and accountability through back end reporting.
Post-secondary education choices are aligned with job market realities as students engage through “sticky” social media tool which pushes information, job offers, scholarship opportunities to students, parents, and counselors based on student academic performance, expressed interests, and aptitudes. Predictive analytics use soft and hard data to enhance success. • At-risk students from language-deprived homes enter school with brains unfit for school success. Repeated instruction is futile for children whose brains are not capable of comprehending the language of schooling. Just 30 minutes a day with engaging digital “games” successfully “wires” the brain for the child to catch up to peers within 14 weeks.
High school dropouts drop off the radar of public schools, but online providers contract with school districts to provide individualized online instruction and mentoring to now eager dropouts earning diplomas, not stigmatized GEDs. Nearly 80% of enrolled dropouts graduate as providers are paid only when students complete credits within narrow timelines. • 9th Review of highest rated statewide online education legislation which overcomes traditional school resistance to high quality online education and enables students to “vote with their feet” as the dollars follow the online providers based on student completion. Using digital individualized instruction to change the paradigm that 73% is “good enough” by requiring complete competency for all students by obtaining proficiency in the remaining 27%.
Contact Info: Senator Howard Stephenson Email: hstephenson@le.utah.gov Mobile: (801) 815-6800