FAILING CYBER SCHOOLS?
According to the Denver Post, kids in that state’s cyber schools are held back four times as often as kids in regular g-schools. Does that mean that the cybers are doing a poor job? Not necessarily.
[O]nline school operators say the cyberschools draw a high number of students who switch to online after failing in traditional schools…. Nelson Ricker, site manager for VILAS Online, said most of his students come with challenges. The Vilas School District has an 18 percent repeater rate, the worst of the state’s 178 school districts.
“They’ve been kicked out of school, expelled, been truant,” Ricker said.
I think a hint may be buried in here:
Educators say online students need discipline to succeed because they typically work on assignments on a home computer without the face-to-face prodding of a teacher.
These are kids who had been previously in the regular g-schools. And they’re just set down in front of a computer with little guidance? Heck, how many times have we told newbies about de-schooling? It seems to me that going from the regimentation of prison school to the near-total freedom of a cyber would require some time to adjust. Like maybe a year? (HT: Izzy)