Today, millions of school-age children are learning outside of a traditional classroom and using cutting edge educational options. Policy experts predict that in a decade half of all education will be delivered virtually. In Virtual Schooling three top authorities help you navigate the fastest growing movement in education -- regardless of whether your child attends public school, private school or is home schooled. You'll discover how to: · Find opportunities and programs to optimize your child's learning, strengths and aptitudes. · Create a personalized learning plan for your child, which can remove barriers, ignite their passions and propel your child to new levels of learning. · Prepare your child for success in the workplace in any future economy.

This important volume features contributions by top virtual school practitioners and experts in the field who talk about what virtual schools can do to plan for success. If you are interested in the details of launching virtual learning options for your school, district, region, or state, you likely have more questions than answers. Where do I begin? What kind of personnel will I need? What providers and resources are available to me? How do I hire and train teachers? What are the costs involved? This authoritative volume will answer these questions and many more. Providing an overview of virtual schooling and e-learning, along with detailed case studies and issues chapters, this essential volume provides practical guidance and a brief plan for success roadmap for local schools interested in starting a virtual learning program.

In this book Peterson interprets the history of American schools by placing major educational reformers in the context of their times and relates their thinking to our own era by scrutinizing the often unanticipated consequences of their commitments and ideas. These extraordinary individuals provided the critical ideas and articulated the ideals that motivated many others to search for ways to save the schools from the limitations in which they were embedded: Horace Mann, John Dewey, Martin Luther King, Al Shanker, William Bennett, and James S. Coleman. The drive to centralize was pervasive despite repeatedly expressed reform desire to customize education. Peterson argues that education has become an increasingly labor intensive industry that must reverse direction and become more capital intensive or it will descend in quality. Fortunately, technological change is making it possible radically alter the way in which education services are delivered, providing a new chance to save our schools.

This authoritative volume is the first to provide a thorough, detailed account of the virtual high school. Based on a 5-year study conducted by experienced researchers at SRI International, it provides crucial information to assist educators and policymakers in creating, adapting, and learning how to effectively use these new online schools. This book answers such questions as: What is the difference between an online and face-to-face classroom? What is it like to take, or to teach a course online? Are online courses effective? What are the problems with its use?

Virtual schools are a result of widespread changes in knowledge about learning, in available technology and in society. Virtual schooling is growing in popularity and will continue to attract students because of the benefits it offers over traditional schooling. Stakeholders in virtual schools need information to guide their decisions. For the foreseeable future, virtual schools will continue to meet diverse student needs, and to evolve in response to further change. Development and Management of Virtual Schools: Issues and Trends brings together knowledge of virtual schools as a reference for scholars and other groups involved in virtual schools. The chapters review best practice from concept and development, through implementation and evaluation.

The world of middle level education is rapidly evolving. Increasingly, online learning platforms are complementing or replacing traditional classroom settings. As students exchange classroom interaction for online collaboration, pencils for keyboards, face-to-face conversations for chat room texts, and traditional lessons for digital modules, it becomes apparent that teachers, schools, and administrators must identify ways to keep pace. We must identify ways to meet the needs of middle level learners within this digital context. In this volume, researchers and teachers share a variety of resources centered on the growing world of virtual education and its implications for the middle level learner, educator, and classroom.

While online learning has become pervasive in many fields in higher education, it has been adopted somewhat slower in teacher education. In addition, more research is needed to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of online education in teacher preparation. Teacher Education Programs and Online Learning Tools: Innovations in Teacher Preparation presents information about current online practices and research in teacher education programs, and explores the opportunities, methods, and issues surrounding technologically innovative opportunities in teacher preparation. It presents empirical evidence of teacher candidate learning and assessment in the context of various online aspects of teacher licensure.