INDIANAPOLIS — The pandemic forced all public schools to offer online learning. Classes are back in-person for the most part, but many Indiana school districts are still giving students the choice to learn at home.
Achieve Virtual has offered online high school courses for over 20 years and awarded high school diplomas for a decade through the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township.
"There's always that, 'Well, you're not really a school.' But I think that's changing," said Derek Eaton, principal of Achieve Virtual grades 7-12. "Unfortunately, the pandemic happened. But it forced schools to evolve some of what they're doing."
Achieve Virtual has evolved to offer public online school as a permanent option for the first time to all grades kindergarten through 12th grade.
"We have long held the belief that in person instruction is always the best option for the majority of our students," said MSD of Wayne Township Superintendent Dr. Jeff Butts. "However, we know there are students that learn extremely well in the virtual setting and, in fact, our K-8 program will be a blend."
Achieve Virtual is not completely virtual. Starting in October in the second nine weeks of classes, students in grades K-8 will have to go to school once a week. Those in-person classes for the public virtual school are at a church.
MSD of Wayne Township is leasing classroom and office space at Lakeview Church at the intersection of I-465 and Rockville Road on the west side of Indianapolis.
"The daunting challenge is just as it would be opening any school: getting families excited, getting the community excited, getting the teachers excited and classrooms ready to go," said Matt Dodson, Achieve Virtual K-6 principal.
There are 221 students enrolled in the elementary school, 78 in middle school, 378 in high school. Online classes began July 23.
"The online option gives students flexibility," said Eaton. "It gives them choice and gives them the ability to work at their own pace, in a lot of cases, to do what's best for them in their learning. And it's impossible, especially with the student numbers, to fit all students into one mold and treat them all the same."
Most of the Achieve Virtual students K-8 live in Wayne Township. High school enrollment is up 37 students over last year, with a majority of those students living outside the district.
Achieve Virtual is still accepting students. For enrollment information, contact:
Achieve Virtual Elementary
Matthew Dodson, Principal
matthew.dodson@wayne.k12.in.us
317-988-8400
or
Achieve Virtual 7-8/9-12
Derek Eaton, Principal
derek.eaton@wayne.k12.in.us
317-988-8450
Shelbyville Central Schools implements virtual program
Shelbyville Central Schools also began a K-12 virtual program this school year. The district provided these answers to 13News:
Shelbyville Central Schools: We are not a virtual school. We are a virtual program. We made a corporation decision to revert to a program based on the enrollment numbers. We feel with the lower-than-expected enrollment we will be better able to serve the students as a program than as a standalone school.
13News: How many students do you have enrolled in the virtual school, and how do they break down (by grade, or elementary-middle-high school)?
Shelbyville Central Schools: Our current enrollment is 88 students - 14 elementary, 12 middle and 62 high school students.
13News: Are all these students residents of the Shelbyville school district or are you drawing from outside your district as well?
Shelbyville Central Schools: 96% of the students are from within Shelbyville Central School District. Four percent of the students are out of district transfers. Out of the 4% out of district transfers, only one student lives outside of Shelbyville Central Schools district. The other students were virtual students at another virtual institutions in Indiana and decided to return to Shelbyville because of the program.
13News: Is this synchronous or asynchronous instruction?
Shelbyville Central Schools: The majority of the instruction is asynchronous.
13News: Are students assigned to a teacher? Does the virtual school have its own teachers?
Shelbyville Central Schools: The teachers in the virtual program are assigned full-time teaching assignments within the corporation and provide instructional support outside of the normal school day. Each of the teachers utilizes office hours where the teachers can reach out to the students to provide academic support for the students or for the students to reach out to them.
13News: Are students learning the same curriculum at the same pace as in-person students, or is this a completely separate curriculum?
Shelbyville Central Schools: While the curriculum is different, the instruction is provided using a similar scope and sequence of the Indiana State Academic Standards as the students in our brick-and-mortar classrooms. We have structured the curriculum to simulate the instruction that a student would receive if they were inside one of our classrooms at Shelbyville Central Schools. The students have the same attendance and class engagement expectations as the students who are in person. The primary difference between the two educational settings is the flexibility of students to complete their classwork around their schedule.
13News: Why did Shelbyville Schools decide to start the virtual school?
Shelbyville Central Schools: Education has slowly evolved over the years; however, the last 18 months has really sped up the evolution of education. Remote or virtual learning is not new. In fact, it has been around for over 20 years. Many post-secondary institutions have used virtual learning and instruction for years. Several companies have transitioned not only to remote work, but also remote learning as well. As a corporation, we saw this as an opportunity to not only reach students who performed as well if not better than they did in the classroom but to also help prepare students for the workforce requirements of the future.