The Echo

Okla. Virtual Academy Receives State Accreditation
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/08/26/372526okeducationboard_ap.html
By The Associated Press

Oklahoma City

An online learning program aimed at students whose parents prefer to opt out of traditional bricks-and-mortar schools was accredited Thursday by a sharply divided Oklahoma Board of Education, which also placed the program’s tiny school district on probation with strict requirements.

White Oak school district, located near Vinita in northeastern Oklahoma, has only about 50 students onsite, but its online learning program draws more than 1,000 students from across Oklahoma. The program is run through a private Virginia-based vendor called K12.

The board last month tabled consideration of accrediting White Oak until it learned more about the district's program, dubbed "The Oklahoma Virtual Academy." Because White Oak only goes through eighth grade, Wynona Public Schools in Osage County enrolls the academy's students for ninth and 10th grades.

White Oak Superintendent David Money said the program served 476 students last year and has an enrollment of 1,005 for this school year.

Parents choose online programs for several reasons including dissatisfaction with their current school, a desire to transition from home schooling to a standardized curriculum, and behavioral or medical issues, said Mary Gifford, a senior vice president for K12.

Gifford said K12, a for-profit company, provides services to more than 75,000 students in 25 states and the District of Columbia. She said the Oklahoma online academy has students in 58 of the state's 77 counties and in 125 towns. Four K12 administrators are located in an office in Vinita, while 16 regular education teachers, two special education teachers and a high school counselor work from home offices.
Students entering the online program first transfer to White Oak or Wynona, which receive state funding for those students. Most of that money is passed along to K12, which contracts with the districts.

Board member Tim Gilpin of Tulsa questioned K12's for-profit motives and wondered whether parents who enrolled their children in the program would be sincere in its implementation. Another board member, former state Sen. Herb Rozell of Tahlequah, wondered how the academy meets physical education requirements for students and asked Gifford if it "is just a new way for a voucher system for people who are not interested in the public school system."

Gifford said the online academy "is a lifestyle choice. This is not for everybody. It requires a lot of discipline and is highly structured."

After initially voting against accrediting White Oak, the board ultimately voted in favor of accrediting the district with probation and requiring district and K12 officials to provide monthly reports to the board. Board member Gayle Miles-Scott of Oklahoma City, who sided with the majority in the vote against accreditation, switched sides for the third vote, swinging the 4-3 margin in White Oak's favor.

"I think this is new and we need to educate board members, legislators (and) policy makers on online schooling and whether or not it's a right fit for kids," Gifford said after the third vote. "We need to demonstrate our success."

State Superintendent Sandy Garrett, who supported accreditation, told board members that "location and place" of schools are "no longer what they used to be" and noted that "these children that we're educating today, they're plugged in, whether we like it or not, for most of the day." She said state education officials and legislators are working to develop guidelines for online programs operating in Oklahoma schools.

"Our responsibility is to look after the taxpayer dollar," she said. "... We're trying to develop an oversight process that ... ensures to the taxpayers that their money is not going down a rathole for an educational opportunity that might or might not be credible."