Submitted by Patricia MacIntyre, Principal
Note: The information in this profile represents SY2012-13 unless otherwise indicated.
School Overview
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School Description
An online credit recovery program was piloted at each high school in SY2007-08. A small-scale iHigh Virtual Academy pilot online program with four core subject teachers was piloted in SY2008-09, serving a small population of full-time and dual enrollment students. In August 2009, iHigh was assigned a CDS code and became a district high school. This was partly to retain a growing number of high school students who were seeking online charter schools or other online options, as well as partly to provide students with an opportunity to experience online learning prior to post-secondary courses. Perceived savings on staffing, facilities and building maintenance were also factors.
Blended Learning Program (1 of 2)
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Program Model
Program model: Enriched Virtual
Model description
Our fulltime students divide their time between learning remotely using online delivery of content and instruction and attending our brick-and-mortar campus, although most instruction is online. Students only come to campus for tutoring, proctored exams, a few on-site classes, and extra-curricular activities.
Program Description
How much time do students spend on campus in this blended-learning program? How much of this time do students spend learning online or with educational software?
It depends on the student’s classes whether they must report to campus weekly or can do most work offline. Science labs are 2-hour blocks; P.E. and electives are 1 hour. Most coursework is done online, for an equivalent of at least 20 hours of per week.
Briefly describe the offline components of this blended-learning program.
University of CA currently does not accept online science courses. We either use the district courses and textbooks, supplemented with online resources, or the University of CA’s own approved online science courses with virtual labs. We provide mostly hands-on labs. University of CA requires a performance-based visual/performing art, so our theatre class meets weekly for 1-2 hours. A student government class meets twice per week to plan and implement student activities.
How does this blended-learning program fit into the rest of the students’ school day?
The blended-learning program “is” students’ school program. When they are not on site, full-time students are doing their other coursework at home (or library, coffee shop, etc.). If a student has no site-based courses, that student usually works from home and only comes in to take proctored exams, get tutoring, or to turn in required work samples to meet state independent study requirements.
What are the teachers’ roles and responsibilities in both the online and offline components of this blended-learning program?
All classes have some type of online component. Teachers spend a large part of their day on their keyboards, triaging email questions, grading assignments, providing feedback, directing students to supplemental resources, corresponding with parents, etc. Teachers are responsible for ongoing progress monitoring and academic support. Almost all teachers teach at least one face-to-face course during the week, for which they create and implement classroom-based lesson plans. Each site-based class has an accompanying online portal, where teachers post and update resources, assignments, assessments and online gradebooks. Each teacher also serves in an advisor role as a supervising teacher to a cadre of students.
What other adults are involved in this blended-learning program (e.g., paraprofessionals, learning coaches, counselors) and what are their roles and responsibilities?
We have one full-time head counselor, who provides academic counseling to determine class schedules, college and career readiness activities (local college tours, college admissions test information, college application and financial aid workshops, etc.), and coordination of all state and district academic testing. The counselor also contributes oversight for special needs students (IEP/4504), and personal-social-family counseling and referrals.
Briefly describe the set-up of physical space for this blended-learning program.
We have one main classroom (a wireless computer lab) for drop-in tutoring, testing and independent worktime. The desks are modular to accommodate individual and group work. We have a science lab in an adjacent building (sink, science tables, chairs, fridge for science perishables, presentation station, wireless laptops). There is a third classroom adjoining the science lab, used for P.E. lessons, student government, theatre class and other activities.
How are students grouped within this blended-learning program?
Full-time students work independently except for the site-based classes, which involve small groups: Biology lab, Chemistry lab, Physics lab, Earth Science lab, Theatre, and Student Government.
Do students have some element of control over the pacing of their learning? Are students tied to a semester-based course schedule or can they complete courses at any time? Briefly describe any requirements or benchmarks in place to ensure student progress.
There is a pacing guide for each class, which students use as a guideline to ensure completion of the course by a designated deadline. Students control when and where they complete their work. There is a set of required assignments for each course, but the sequence for completion need not be linear. While there is some flexibility in pacing, teachers intervene if students fall more than one week behind the pacing guide. Teachers constantly monitor student progress via the online gradebooks, which are also viewable by the principal, head counselor and program coordinator. Students may work ahead as much as they like. The time periods for posting grades on student transcripts are directed by the district’s quarterly marking periods. However, students may complete a course early and begin the next course, even if the completed course will not be posted until the next marking period. There is some flexibility to grant 1-2 week extensions, if needed. Most district courses must have designated timeframes to qualify for district and college-admissions approval.
Describe any other distinctive characteristics of this blended-learning program if they have not been captured above.
Our school serves up to 100 full-time students and over 800 dual-enrollment students, which are students who attend most of their classes at their traditional neighborhood high school, but take one or two online classes with us. Another distinction is that all of our teachers (7) are credentialed in at least two subject areas, which allows us to provide a comprehensive high school curriculum with a small number of teachers.
Describe the academic results of the program, using quantitative data where possible.
While there is great variation between individual students, our state academic results have been above the state average in English Language Arts (76% proficient) and below the state average in overall Mathematics (11% proficient). The vast majority of on-site tutoring is requested for mathematics, especially Intermediate Algebra and PreCalculus.
Describe any financial impact this blended-learning program has had on your cost of operations. Use numbers when possible.
The main financial impact is that we do not receive district funding for our part-time (dual-enrollment) students, only for our full-time students. The number of requests for dual enrollment grew 50% in SY2012-13 over SY2011-12. State requirements dictate that online student:teacher ratios cannot exceed designated classroom-based student:teacher ratios. If the growth trends continue, we will need additional teachers.
What have been the biggest obstacles in implementing this blended-learning program? What has needed adjustment along the way?
The biggest obstacles have been: 1) the ongoing changes in state and district requirements related to approvals for online courses, and 2) state and district budget cuts have drastically reduced our site discretionary budget over the past four years. As a result, 1) we are constantly reviewing online content and submitting lengthy course-approval-request packets to the district curriculum committee, and 2) we were fortunate to be the recipients of a sizable virtual learning grant that will support us financially through summer 2015.
Blended Learning Program (2 of 2)
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Program Model
Program model: A La Carte
Model description
In the dual-enrollment program, content and instruction are delivered primarily by the Internet, usually in a lab setting where individual students are completing online courses for a variety of different subject areas. The online teacher is the teacher-of-record; a local certificated teacher (mentor) supervises and oversees the on-site students.
Program Description
How much time do students spend on campus in this blended-learning program? How much of this time do students spend learning online or with educational software?
Some dual-enrollment schools schedule their online students into the computer lab for a regular class period (50 mins.). Others allow students to take online courses completely outside of the school day, often to make room in the student’s daily schedule for courses such as band, JROTC, student government, athletics, or Advanced Placement classes. Most courses require about one hour per day to keep pace, although this varies widely based on the subject matter and student strengths, motivation level, and computer/Internet expertise.
Briefly describe the offline components of this blended-learning program.
There are proctored (offline) written unit exams for most courses, which help ensure accountability for students doing their own work. (Most courses also include online assignments and computer-scored assessments.) Dual-enrollment students are excluded from the face-to-face courses taken by full-time iHigh students.
How does this blended-learning program fit into the rest of the students’ school day?
Dual-enrollment students must take at least four seat-based courses at their local school in order to get attendance credit. Beyond that, they may take one or two courses with iHigh, either as part of their school day or outside of the school day. Enrollment approvals and on-site/off-site scheduling decisions are made by the counselors at the participating high schools.
What are the teachers’ roles and responsibilities in both the online and offline components of this blended-learning program?
As the students work through the online tutorials and activities, the online teachers monitor student progress, respond to questions, provide supplemental resources, grade teacher-scored assignments and assessments (some are computer-scored), maintain ongoing communications with students and mentors (usually via email), provide necessary interventions for struggling students, and provide the final grades. Offline, the online teacher usually makes at least one site visit to meet the students.
What other adults are involved in this blended-learning program (e.g., paraprofessionals, learning coaches, counselors) and what are their roles and responsibilities?
As described, each participating high school has a “mentor” (also known as a grad coach) who provides local support and progress monitoring for students taking online classes. The mentor works closely with the iHigh teachers and also proctors the student exams.
Briefly describe the set-up of physical space for this blended-learning program.
It varies, but most schools have a designated computer lab where students are scheduled to go for one period per day to work on their online courses. On an given day, the lab usually has a mixture of students taking online credit-recovery classes or core online courses, in a variety of different subjects and levels. Some schools allow students to complete our online courses entire outside of the regular school day.
How are students grouped within this blended-learning program?
Students are usually grouped as a class within a computer lab, where each student is working independently under the supervision of a certificated teacher (mentor). Some students are allowed to work from home outside of the school day.
Do students have some element of control over the pacing of their learning? Are students tied to a semester-based course schedule or can they complete courses at any time? Briefly describe any requirements or benchmarks in place to ensure student progress.
As with full-time students, the dual-enrollment students must complete their online courses within the district marking periods. There is a pacing guide for each course to help students stay on track. Students may access the online courses 24/7, at any time and any place. The path (scope and sequence) is defined within each course, although students have the ability to do the assignments and assessments in any order. Teachers can intervene and “lock” items if students are rushing through or skipping key assignments. Teachers also intervene if students fall more than one week behind their pacing guide. Students may work ahead. There is reasonable flexibility for late starts, extensions, and quiz re-sets.
Describe any other distinctive characteristics of this blended-learning program if they have not been captured above.
The local counselors are responsible for screening dual-enrollment students for ability to be successful taking online classes: reading/writing at grade level; no special needs that cannot be accommodated within the limitations of the online program; students must be reasonably self-motivated, self-directed and able to manage their time, willing to contact teacher for help when needed, etc. Many dual-enrollment students lack an initial “readiness” to be successful in an online class, especially the time management piece. As students become more familiar with the online format and learning process, they tend to do better academically.
Describe the academic results of the program, using quantitative data where possible.
Academic results are wide-ranging and based on a variety of factors. In general, students earn better grades in the humanities classes and lower grades in the math classes. Students who are not good time managers (procrastinators) may end up with a low grade due to time running out to complete all assignments rather than failure to master the content standards.
Describe any financial impact this blended-learning program has had on your cost of operations. Use numbers when possible.
Dual-enrollment is a great service to the district high schools. It does not cost them anything to enroll students with our teachers. Their only cost is to designate a local mentor. Most schools use the same teacher and computer lab that is used for their site-based credit-recovery program, so there is not an extra staff position involved, in most cases.
What have been the biggest obstacles in implementing this blended-learning program? What has needed adjustment along the way?
Ongoing budget cuts and two years of significant layoffs have resulted in a lot of teacher mobility across our large urban district. Many of the mentors have changed schools, or been replaced by someone new serving as the site mentor teacher. Providing ongoing training for site counselors (schedulers) and mentors, to ensure efficiency of the remote online programs, continues to be a challenge.
Contact Information
Name: Patricia MacIntyre
Title: Principal
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.sandi.net