The South Carolina Virtual School Program—Options for Districts

1. The South Carolina Virtual School Program—Options for Districts Chief Academic Officers’ Quarterly Meeting June 12, 2014

2. Virtual School Changes • In June 2013, under the Virtual Learning Act, the General Assembly revised the SCVSP legislation as follows: • Lifted caps on the number of courses (credits) a student may take with the SCVSP from 3 per year and 12 over the high school career to unlimited. • Allowed for a program name change; rebranding in the fall. • New option for school districts—Franchise. • Improved Student Support—Student Services Team (Manager and 3 Student Services Coordinators).

3. Rebranding in Fall 2014 • Name change—VirtualSC. • New logo. • New webpage. • New student information system—OpenSIS.

4. Program Description • Supplemental program—not a school; does not issue state high school diplomas. • Serves SC public, private, and homeschooled students under the age of 21 as well as Adult Education students in the diploma program. • Primary focus—offers courses for high school credit that are engaging, interactive, and mobile to motivate and excite students about learning. • Free-of-charge; funding remains with the school.

5. District/School Options • Enroll students individually in our program. • Use a blended learning model. • Use us for credit recovery. • Create your own online learning program as a SCVSP franchise.

6. Individual Student Enrollment • Students register through the online registration portal. • Classes begin per the Dates and Deadlines Matrix posted on our web site. • No cap on number of online courses/credits; recommend no more than 2 at a time unless the student is a full-time online student. • Must have sponsor approval (public, private, or home school). • Final grade accepted by sponsoring school, which issues the credit and awards the diploma.

7. Course Options • Courses for high school credit: • Advanced Placement. • Honors. • College Preparatory. • Credit Recovery.

8. Advanced Placement Options • Offer College Board-approved courses for high school and college credit. • Taught by teachers who are: • Highly qualified (HQ-NCLB) and South Carolina-certified in their content areas. • Endorsed to teach AP courses by both the state and the College Board. • Continuing courses—AP English Language and Composition; AP English Literature and Composition; AP Statistics; AP US History; AP Latin; AP Art History. • New for fall 2014: • AP Biology. • AP Calculus AB. • AP European History. • AP Computer Science A.

9. Credit Recovery Options • Offered on a rolling enrollment basis.  • Enroll students each Monday throughout the year except on State holidays and certain blackout days. • Opportunity to: • Begin each lesson by taking formative assessments (pretests); • Proceed to the next lesson when performance indicates readiness; • Complete the work in the areas of weakness only to earn credit for the successful completion of courses. • View a list of Credit Recovery courses on our web site.

10. Other Resources for Students and Districts/Schools • Test Preparation: Shmoop. • SAT/ACT/PSAT. • AP Exams. • Students can get individual access. • Teachers across state can get teacher accounts and create classrooms for their students. • EdReady: Coming Soon! • Personalized math study plans for different goals. • ELA coming in 2015.

11. Blended Learning Projects • Offer courses in a “blended” format. • Support the SCDE’s goal— to offer personalized and customized education for every student through an online choice option. • Targets schools with certified teacher vacancies and hard-to- fill teaching positions. • More about Blended Learning Projects on our web site.

12. SCVSP Franchise Option • Allows districts/schools to expand their curriculum. • Addresses challenges: • Scheduling conflicts. • Grade forgiveness. • Middle school promotion. • Expelled students. • Homebound students. • Adult education. • Personalizes learning. • Makes a district/school online learning program affordable.

13. District/School Benefits • Start a SCVSP franchise as an e-learning solution for students in grades 7-12. • Offer a 365-day flexible or 180-day traditional school calendar. • Use: • Your own teachers. • Our Student Information System (SIS) for registration. • Our Learning Management System (LMS) Moodle. • Our courses. • Receive student support and staff/teacher training. • Retain FTE but pay $100/seat license (for active users at a given time) per contract year.

14. Grades 2-6 Keyboarding Pilot • Began during the first quarter of 2013 because of inquiries from districts/schools throughout the state during the first quarter of 2013.  • Objectives: • To provide instruction in alphabetic keyboarding to students in grades 2-6. • To provide instruction and practice in navigation through online open educational resources and activities. • To provide opportunity for students to compose paragraphs, short answers, or essay responses at the keyboard in a timely manner from writing prompts provided in the course.

15. Keyboarding Pilot Continued • During the first year of the pilot, the SCVSP worked with districts to implement the project, collect data, evaluate the results, and make recommendations for improvement for year two. • Districts/Schools (10): • Bridgewater Academy. • Charleston School District. • Clarendon 2. • Dillon 4. • Greenwood 52. • Hampton 2. • Oconee. • Orangeburg 3. • Orangeburg 5. • Spartanburg 2.

16. Keyboarding Pilot Continued • Soliciting districts/schools for 2014-15. • Requiring the following technologies: • All Flash compatible browsers on PC, Mac and Linux. • Adobe Flash Player v.10.2 or newer required.

17. Contact Information • Bradley Mitchell, Director 803-734-7169 or bmitchell@ed.sc.gov • Suzette Lee, SCVSP Team Leader 803-734-8037 or slee@ed.sc.gov • Deirdre Edwards, SCVSP Curriculum Coordinator 803-734-8124 or dredward@ed.sc.gov • Sarah Rotureau, SCVSP Student Services Manager 803-734-1719 or srotureau@ed.sc.gov • Sharon Dublin, OVE Special Projects Coordinator 803-734-3160 or swdublin@ed.sc.gov