“We’ve found there’s a certain population of students who thrive in a virtual setting, and the pandemic has forced us to look at things through a different lens. “We’ve been looking at a virtual option for a few years,” notes Martin Mahan, deputy superintendent. The district is running focus groups with parents to obtain valuable feedback, and next year teachers will create a district-built virtual curriculum around state standards. Now, as officials plan to make the virtual option permanent, they are seeking ways to continuously improve. The district then hired teachers, many internally, specifically to staff the virtual program. “When you teach them the basics, they learn very quickly.” “The students are very tech savvy,” says Samantha Hall, assistant director of district innovation. Much of the district’s online instruction has been delivered via Zoom, and teachers frequently make use of free, game-based learning platforms such as Kahoot. Since then, FSPS educators have delivered 2,500 mobile hotspots to students and their families, turned school parking lots into Wi-Fi access hubs and ensured that all students have their own Chromebooks. “We were definitely building the airplane as we were taking off,” Udouj says.Ī remarkable achievement considering that, when the pandemic first hit last spring, many students lacked internet connectivity, and in trying to fill the gap, the district had to distribute 4,000 paper instruction packets each week. The district paid teachers a $500 stipend to complete a virtual training program standardized on a single learning management system, and it implemented a third-party online curriculum. “We were very quickly training staff and getting our resources together to make sure all of our students had the technology they needed.” “As we got closer, we were surprised to see our estimate keep growing,” says Gary Udouj, director of career education and district innovation for FSPS. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), file ccd_sch_129_1920_w_1a_082120, 2019–20, Version Provisional 1a, file ccd_sch_029_1920_w_1a_082120, 2019–20, Version Provisional 1a, and file ccd_SCH_052_1920_l_1a_082120, 2019–20, Version Provisional 1a.When officials at Fort Smith Public Schools in Arkansas began preparing an online-only option for fall 2020, they expected to have about 500 sign-ups from the district’s 14,000 students. Students vary in the extent to which their instruction is virtual. Schools that are supplemental virtual are schools where instruction is directed by teachers in a traditional classroom setting and virtual instruction supplements face-to-face instruction by teachers. Most students receive all instruction virtually. Schools that are primarily victual provide virtual instruction to students, but some traditional classroom instruction is also provided. Partially virtual schools include schools that are primarily virtual and supplemental virtual. ![]() All students receive all instruction virtually. This does not exclude students and teachers meeting in person for field trips, school-sponsored social events, or assessment purposes. All instruction offered by the school is virtual. NOTE: Fully virtual schools are exclusively virtual. totals include the 50 states and District of Columbia. State reported zero virtual schools.ġU.S. ![]() Virtual school as percentage of total stateĭepartment of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), Bureau of Indian Education, and other jurisdictionsĬommonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
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