Connecting Students to Advanced Courses Online highlights six providers of academic coursework by delivering advanced on line courses to students through technology. The primary audience is for district and schools decision-makers who are looking for ways to give their students greater access to advanced course work and see online courses as an enticing option.

Forward:

America has long been regarded as a center of innovation and creativity. In the last 50 years, American ingenuity has pioneered space exploration, developed life-saving medicines, and launched the World Wide Web. Harnessing this power of innovation for the benefit of American schools is fast becoming an education imperative.

Our country’s productivity and prosperity depend on our education system’s ability to meet the challenges of the 21st century. This guide highlights six providers of academic course work that are going beyond the convention of brick-and-mortar schools by delivering rigorous curricula to students through Internet technology. These providers, along with the schools and districts they serve, recognize that American students must master advanced technical skills and solve complex problems to prepare for demanding higher education and workforce environments.

Education is not a “one-size-fits-all” endeavor, and advances in technology provide an opportunity to personalize education, use time more efficiently, and tailor instruction in innovative ways. Online course work enables students to attend class inside or outside of school, learn concepts at their own pace, and receive extra help or more challenging assignments.

We know that rigorous course work is one of the best ways to improve student achievement. Yet too few high schools—especially those serving low-income and minority populations—offer challenging courses. The providers profiled in the following pages demonstrate how implementing online classes can enrich curricula and enable a greater number of students to challenge themselves.

This guide is one in a series of Innovations in Education publications produced by the U.S. Department of Education that highlights promising practices like strategies to engage parents in their child’s education. We know that if we want our students to become the world’s innovators, we must be innovators ourselves. I hope that the information in this guide will be useful to schools in their efforts to challenge students and help them realize the opportunities of the 21st century.

Margaret Spellings, Secretary
U.S. Department of Education

Download Innovations in Education: Connecting Students to Advanced Courses Online

PDF format, 1.4MB, 100Pages.

Prepared by WestEd For U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, 2007

Visit Innovations in Education's Web Site

This guide was developed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement. Sharon Horn was project director.

An external advisory group provided feedback to refine the scope of the study underlying this guide, define the selection criteria for case study sites, and clarify the text. Members (and their affiliations at the time of the advisory meeting) included Cathy Cheely, e-learning coordinator, Virginia Virtual Advanced Placement School; John Flores, chief executive officer, United States Distance Learning Association; Patrick Gould, associate researcher, Center on Education and Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Don Lake, director, Center for Distance and Online Learning, Los Angeles County Office of Education; Linda Morrell, director of instructional technology, Cobb County (Georgia) School District; Joyce Pittman, associate professor, instructional technology, University of Cincinnati Teachers College; and Kurt Steinhaus, board president of the International Society for Technology in Education and deputy secretary of education, New Mexico Public Education Department.

Staff in the Department of Education who provided input and reviewed drafts included Carol Cichowski, Tom Corwin, Kate Devine, Cynthia Dorfman, Ayesha Edwards, Steve Freid, Braden Goetz, Cathy Grimes-Miller, Laura Johns, Brian Lekander, Tim Magner, Meredith Miller, Iris Oliver, Wendy Tada, and Linda Wilson.

The six online course providers and their partnering districts and schools that participated in the development of this guide and the case studies on which it is based were generous with both their time and attention. We would like to thank those who were instrumental in coordinating and participating in the site visits that informed this work, including district and school staff, parents, and students who agreed to be interviewed for this project.

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