Insight schools of Washington is set to open a statewide online high school on September 5th 2006.
This new high school is open to 9th through 12th graders residing in Washington State. Plans are being
made to open more Insight schools in other states in the near future. The enrollment has been capped at just over 600 for this first year. Over 2500 students have applied for admittance. Insight School of Washington will be offering 140 different classes to 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12 graders. Students are required to enroll in a minimum of 4 classes per semester with 5 or 6 classes being the recommended load. Special requests to enroll in 7 classes per semestered will be allowed or denied by a review committe. Students will be able to earn a high school diploma completely online.
A unique approach to online learning involves assigning 3 certificated teachers to each student for each class.Each teacher will have specific responsibilities which contain checks and balances to assure all students receive the support and guidance needed to be successful in an online enviornment. The best highly qualified teachers in each subject area have been recruited for each class. Online curriculum has been carefully selected from numerous vendors to meet and exceed all Washington state requirements. Student will be required to take and pass the WASL exams the same as all other public high schools in Washington State. School functions will be planned throughout the state. All students will be allowed opportunities to interact with others student in not only the online enviornment but also live and in person.
Software to allow teachers to interact live with students using speech, text, and interactive
whiteboard presentations is an integral part of the Insight learning plan. Students and teachers are
recieving intense training on the software that is being implemented.
Insight schools is not attempting to replace traditional brick and mortar schools but is rather opening up another option for students that are unable to attend school from 8 to 4 or have or issues including sports, theater, honor’s courses needed, challenging curriculum, pregnancy, jobs, social issues, family issues, and many other reasons.
All students will be supplied with a laptop computer fully loaded with all needed licensed software
and a stipend to cover monthly Internet access. Insight schools charge no fees although some courses will require the student to purchase a textbook. Student progress will be monitored daily with current grades posted once per week in each class. According to the lastest statistics, 25% of high school aged students having dropped out of high school. This type of school may indeed be the answer to those students whose lives and circumstances require a different approach to achieving a high school degree.
Bill Henniger is the founder of http://onlinecredits.org a website providing information on learning online and is an instructor for Insight schools of Washington
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