(BOWLING GREEN, KY) – A new Policy Point released today by the Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky’s free-market think tank, reports that virtual learning programs allowing gifted students to surge ahead and those at risk of dropping out to catch up and remain on the road to graduation suffer from a lack of marketing.

According to “Virtual schooling in Kentucky: Great promise with challenges,” the Kentucky Virtual High School (KVHS) offers 70 different courses ranging from Advanced Placement material to remedial courses yet served only 1,839 students in full-time courses during the 2007-08 school year.

For the rest of the article, go to Analyst: Virtual schools possess potential but lack marketing, data

The company “has been able to capitalize on the growth in online education by offering schools all the resources and knowledge to design and customize every aspect of effective online education programs,” the release says.

“We are dedicated to helping our partner schools offer online education to students who may not have the opportunity to earn a degree in a traditional setting,” said David T. Richardson, president and chief executive officer of Learning House, in the release.

For the rest of the article, go to Lambuth officials: Some preliminary planning for online courses done with Learning House

The head of Kentucky public schools believes virtual learning on the Internet may be the best way to avoid losing instructional days to disasters.

Last school year, disaster days, which don’t have to be made up, were granted to 11 Kentucky school districts, including nine days each in Knox and McCreary counties. But Education Commissioner Terry Holliday is trying to figure out a way to avoid disaster days, and believes virtual learning may be the answer.

For the rest of the article, go to Holliday to Promote Virtual Learning Program to Offset Disaster Days

When the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers released the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for K-12 education earlier this month, they set in motion a seismic shift in what students are expected to learn and how teachers are supposed to teach. Kentucky became the first state to officially commit to adopt the CCSS, and since that time, additional states, including Maryland, Michigan, Hawaii, Missouri, New Mexico, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah have also announced their intent to move to the new standards.

To help educators ensure their students are gaining the critical knowledge and skills specified by the new standards, Archipelago Learning, (ARCL 11.27, -0.06, -0.53%) , a leading subscription-based online education company and developer of the highly-acclaimed Study Island, announced today the availability of the first of their products built directly from the CCSS. The Study Island Kentucky edition includes on-line instructional content, supplemental resources, video lessons, a digital writing portfolio, on-line assessment development, and engaging animated games. In addition, the new Study Island Kentucky edition includes an extensive on-line integrated professional development module, with teacher videos, lesson plans, activities, and supporting materials to enable a smooth and effective transition to the new standards. Kentucky customers will be able to concurrently access both the prior Kentucky standards as well as the new updated Common Core State Standards from within the Study Island product, to provide districts and schools with complete flexibility. Updates to other Study Island state editions will be made available based on each state’s specific time frame for implementing the CCSS.

For the rest of the article, go to Study Island From Archipelago Learning Announces Common Core State Standards Product Update

Here’s a short quiz:

Is the Kentucky Virtual Campus a single online destination where a listing of distance-learning courses and programs offered by state colleges, universities and technical schools can be found?

Is it a means of connecting with the proper departments for admission and registration at the respective schools?

Does it also provide a 24-hour help desk hotline, in case there are any problems?

The answers? Yes, on all counts.

But increasingly, the role of Kentucky Virtual Campus is expanding and diversifying.

After being approved by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1997, what was then Kentucky Virtual University (KYVU) opened its virtual doors in 1999, providing online courses and programs and allowing prospective students to apply and register for them through the portal.

For the rest of the article, go to An e-volution in the making: Kentucky Virtual Campus assumes a new role

Samantha Edwards had what some would call the opportunity of a lifetime – the chance to travel the globe as a teenage model. But that would have made another goal that she and her parents had much more difficult – earning her high school degree.

Enter BAVEL, the Barren Academy of Virtual and Expanded Learning, Kentucky’s first fully accredited, diploma-granting high school with no walls but plenty of classrooms, demanding course expectations but with flexibility, and the opportunity for Samantha to learn by seeing the world … while sitting at a computer.

“I will be the first to admit that I was skeptical when the subject of online schooling came up as an option for Samantha,” said her father, Rick Edwards. “However, my attitude quickly adjusted after reviewing the course offerings and the challenging materials contained in them.”

Already accepted with scholarship opportunities by three universities, Samantha, a Lyon County student, is one of the success stories that led judges to select the Barren County Schools’ BAVEL program for the KSBA PEAK (Public Education Achieves in Kentucky) Award.

“Barren County has hit on a program that meets the needs of students who cannot attend the regular classroom,” said Durward Narramore, a PEAK judge and Jenkins Independent school board member who sits on the KSBA Board of Directors.

For the rest of the article, click here.

By Brad Hughes

Welcome to yet another state-specific website for online high schools. Brought to you by Best Online High Schools, this gives you information on all that is going on in your state with online high schools.