Utterly Meaningless

But how can this be trumpeted as a threat to homeschooling as we know it if they don’t use the word homeschool?

Garbage through and through.

Nance

Statistically, e-schools almost certainly do suck some HEKs back into the system. So, in that light, they could be considered a threat (i.e., competition). But HSLDA could have easily gotten the exact same message out without implying that cyber students were some new flavor of HEKs.

Step 1: Brand cyber charters as homeschooling
Step 2: Market HSLDA to unsuspecting charter school parents
Step 3: Profit!

Faulty plan, COD. If you are under the jurisdiction of the state, they won’t let you join the fold. Boo hoo.

With the exception of the 6 or so states with no reporting requirements, aren’t we all under state jurisdiction at some level? We have to send in test scores once a year. I’m not doing it because I want to, I’m doing it because the state makes me.

Cyber charters are not homeschoolers, and HSLDA has been right to segregate them accordingly. However, if revenue is flat or down, maybe HSLDA would be willing to liberalize their definition of homeschooler?

Nah, this is a good old bone they can still chew on for a while.

It seems like they are doing something, battling some threat or other, gives the anti-virtual school folks something to rally behind, etc.

Nance

I believe that the government run cyber charter schools are not really free at all and actually come with a very STEEP price tag-your family’s freedom to educate your children in a way that it consistent with their needs, talents, gifts, and timetable etc.

Many people are lured into the trap by the offer of free computers and free internet connections only to realize later that they are paying for those things by giving up the very freedoms they loved when they were homeschooling without government “assistance.”

Government run cyber charter schools are public schools and are usually plagued with the same failures that made many of us leave them in the first place.

Is there a distinction being made in this thread about the differences between government run online schools and private online schools?

Mimi

Is there a distinction being made in this thread about the differences between government run online schools and private online schools?

Yeah, Mimi– You’re safe. 🙂

And I guess I’d rather have HSLDA battling this trumped up “threat” than a lot of other religo-politicial (poligious?) battles they tend to fight. . .I just deleted a quick and dirty list of same, when I realized how inflammatory it sounded all in one sentence (not inaccurate, just inflammatory!)

It is ridiculously sloppy of HSLDA to include the term “homeschooling” in their discussion of government run online schools. They should be well aware of the enormous differences between the two and should take more seriously their role to inform and educate their consituents. Their inappropriate use of the term homeschooling just further blurs the enormous differences between genuine homeschooling and government public online schools, so who has written them an email objecting strenuosly?

Mimi

Not I. I’m pretty sure I’m persona non grata over there. That being said, I’m hoping that Scott or Darren will pass the word up the food chain.

Daryl,

Checking on it. Be back soon.

Speaking of government run online schools, did you know that ALL of the cyber charters in Pennsylvania (except the one run by the districts) have been placed on the Deparment of Education’s academic warning list? So, it looks like from an academic standpoint they are faring no better than their brick and mortar counterparts?

This info came from a post on the 21st century cyber school’s website.

MImi

This HSLDA Article irritated me more:

hslda....50.asp

Government Homeschools Score Worse than Public Schools

Let’s remember that a significant part of the virtual public schools’ market segment is students who aren’t doing well in the local bricks-n-mortar public school to begin with. Kids who are doing just fine in their local public school are unlikely to make the jump to cyber. Cyber is a great option for kids with a serious illness, kids who are parents, kids who bounce from place to place. We can’t expect the cybers to have the same test scores as the bricks-n-mortar schools if they are serving a significantly different clientele.

In addition, when testing is done, often the studies compare the test scores of third graders this year to the test scores of third graders in previous years. If last year’s third grader scored in the 10th percentile, and next year as a fourth grader they score in the 15th, they’ve not only made “normal” progress, they’ve improved. And yet, they’re still significantly below average, so often the school is labeled as “failing” these kids because they don’t all score above average

When are we going to quit thinking that there is one solution for every kid, and that every kid can or should score above average on standardized math and reading tests? If parents are unhappy with the cybers, they’ll switch/quit – the market should take care of crappy schools.

//…and that every kid can or should score above average on standardized math and reading tests?//

Heh. I think we’ll need some of that “new math” if every kid is going to score above average.

//new math//

I once watched a state education comittee hearing on TV. They were discussing state-wide standardized testing. One of the state representatives who was on the ed committee asked something like:

When I was in school, 90-100 was an A, and 50 was failing! Why are we settling for scores of 50 and above?

The guy who was testifying had made the mistake of assuming that anyone serving on the ed committee presumably knew the basic concepts behind percentile scoring, and was absolutely speechless. He didn’t know where to begin. No one else stepped in to explain, and the hearing continued. And that representative has a vote on if/how my state’s kids will be tested, and how those results will be used.

So while *we* can joke about getting “all the kids above average”, the sad thing is that many of the folks who make these laws don’t get the joke.

For more criticism of NCLB and standards-based education, see the work of Susan Ohanian, at susano...an.org.

You mean Lake Wobegon isn’t real???

You mean, does its direct correlation with reality approach one closely enough to be statistically significant? 😉