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Virtual School

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Matthew Juve, 12, is taking several high school classes through Florida Virtual School; one being a ninth grade level Spanish class.

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By MARC VALERO | Highlands Today

Published: December 3, 2007

SEBRING — As students use computers more and more at school, 12-year-old Matthew Juve is using a computer for all his classes, but they are online courses and he no longer attends school this year.

Matthew was already taking algebra II online through Stanford University and three other online classes through Florida Virtual School, so it didn't make sense for him to go to Sebring Middle School for one class, his mother, Diane Juve, said.

Now, the seventh-grader spends about 40 to 55 minutes online each weekday for each class, while he's at home. His class load features the algebra II class and four Florida Virtual School classes: high school Spanish I, ninth-grade science, seventh-grade world geography and seventh-grade language arts.

"At first it was very tough to discipline myself, but I'm getting used to it now," Matthew said. The online courses are presented with text, video clips and links to other Web sites.

The Spanish class includes voice activities where he speaks into a microphone, enabling the teacher to review a voice recording to assess his progress. At the end of each chapter, there is a speaking exam with the teacher.

Diane Juve said the virtual school's curriculum is excellent and offers students an opportunity to take courses that are not offered at their school.

Florida Virtual School, founded in 1997, was the country's first state-wide Internet-based public high school. Now, the online school serves middle and high school students with more than 90 courses.

Recent legislation requiring middle school students to earn course credits to advance to high school will likely make the online school more popular with students who need to retake a class, said Sebring Middle School guidance counselor Donna Foster.

This year's seventh-graders are the first group of students who are affected by the requirement change.

Previously, if a sixth-grader failed one class, such as world culture, but showed proficiency on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, the student could be promoted with one F on their report card, she said. Now, students must pass every required academic course to be promoted out of middle school.

The new middle school academic requirements include three credits in each of the following areas: math, science, English and social studies.

FLVS school counselor Michelle Cortes said statewide there are quite a number of students who use Florida Virtual School as their home education provider.

"We are trying to keep up with trends – what was big last year and what could be big this year as far as courses and course popularity and we hire [teachers] accordingly," she said.

FLVS benefits students in smaller school districts that don't have the capability to offer certain courses, such as foreign languages, and a variety of advanced placement and honors courses.

A Chinese language course is currently being developed, she said, "Not a lot of districts offer Chinese, so I'm sure that will be a huge hit once we actually open up the course for students."

Middle schools usually don't have many options for students who need to make up credits, so FLVS has become a credit-recovery solution for many schools, Cortes said.

At Avon Park High School, 42 students (3.5 percent of the student body) are taking Florida Virtual School classes.

Some are working ahead, while others use it to catch up where they have fallen behind, said Avon Park High guidance counselor Jennifer Langston. The courses are intense and students have to be well disciplined and self-starters to keep up with it.

It's helpful for a child from a family that has moved around and somewhere missed a class, she said. Taking the class online enables the student to graduate with his or her class.

Florida Virtual School served more than 52,000 students in 87,000 half-credit enrollments in 2006-07. Enrollment is open to public, private and home school students. Students outside Florida enroll on a tuition basis.

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