Kentucky Virtual High School Decides to End Classes

The state Department of Education has offered the virtual path to a diploma since 2000, but funding has remained at $800,000 since its inception making the program hard to grow, according to a 2009 report called “Breaking New Ground.” Interest in the program has remained consistent, with around 700 students taking online classes each year, said Bob Fortney, Kentucky Virtual High School program consultant.

Fortney’s job is now shifting from providing online courses, which end after this current spring semester, to finding ways Kentucky’s online education can improve, he said. The department will move from a delivery to an oversight, or gatekeeper role, he said.

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Students Can Find a Web of Opportunity at KVHS

HOPKINS COUNTY, KY – Regular readers of this column know I consistently criticize Kentucky’s faltering education system, always hoping for dramatic change — any change — so students get the tools they need to succeed.

However, one of the few things about the education system that shouldn’t change is the Department of Education’s Kentucky Virtual High School, a first-rate — but extremely underutilized — Web-based program for high school students. It only needs a more effective marketing plan.

We’re not talking here about online computer classes delivered via dial-up. In fact, KVHS goes beyond nontraditional-age students. The potential for online learning is limitless for the younger set, too.

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Analyst: Virtual schools possess potential but lack marketing, data

(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.

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