Two sisters, at home in their kitchen classroom.
The Jefferson Virtual Academy is part of Jefferson County Schools’ commitment to offer education options to meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of a diverse student population. Sherry FitzGerald, Director of Responsive Education for the school district, explained that the program has evolved over the past several years. “The district initially used WVLearns, operated by the West Virginia Department of Education. Our original vision was to have a one-stop shop. The reality is that the platform didn’t have all of the course options our students needed. Four years ago, the state legislature approved changes in the law to allow counties to have their own [online learning platforms]. Jefferson decided to work with Odysseyware.”
“The pilot program started with 6th grade,” continued FitzGerald. “Several years later most of the initial participants have continued, and the program has expanded to include K through 12 classes. The pandemic has really expanded interest in the program and this year we have about 400 students, pretty evenly distributed across the elementary, middle, and high school levels. We added a new platform this year, Canvas, so students have more options for classes.”
“The program is not a one-size-fits-all approach, but it does require structure,” FitzGerald emphasizes. Especially for the upper grades, “asynchronous learning requires students who are intrinsically motivated to learn. Without the 5 or 12 adults [that an in-school student will see each day] to cheerlead their progress, the team of reminders is much smaller for these students.” Technology issues are important to consider too: “The family, not just the student, needs to be comfortable with the technology, at least a willingness to learn and try.”
Beyond the home and family, the school system helps provide structure as well. FitzGerald describes that, “Each middle and high school student has a faculty mentor who monitors the student’s progress and is their point of contact. The mentor is a certified teacher; they also teach classes and are available for tutoring. Even though it’s virtual, we still have to follow the state’s guidelines for student/teacher ratios. We currently have 42 staff assigned to the program.”
FitzGerald described how the Virtual Academy is more than just the computer experience. “The program is structured so that middle and high school students have homeroom time [via Zoom] with their mentors and peers. Elementary students are taught in a synchronous session so they are live with other children. The students also have access to athletics and co-curricular activities at their school of record. For lab work, we provide online demos and virtual experiments. Before (and after) Covid we scheduled field trips for the children too.”
FitzGerald sees the programs as still evolving. “We gather data, record results, and look at what tools become available. We’re definitely not wedded to a specific platform. We see this as expanding our toolkit to respond to student needs.”
A glimpse of a Virtual School Day
Teachers and students engage over virtual learning options to ensure learning continues despite in-person limitations.
By Steve Pearson