K-8 Online School
An article Wednesday in the Chicago Sun-Times (as noted in today’s ASCD SmartBrief) reports the Chicago Board of Education has approved their first online charter school. What really caught my eye, though, was that this school will target K-8 students. I see press releases all the time about new online schools, but I don’t recall seeing many for elementary kids.
What was also interesting about this proposal is that it will provide each student with a computer and home internet access. There will also be a facility for students to have face-to-face meetings with their teachers.
I’m more than a little leary of first-grade classes online, but the district emphasizes that this one 600-student school is for those few children that have a particular need for this kind of experience. (This will be just one of 100 new charter schools being started by the district.) Still, I’m all for the overall model that provides the technology infrastructure to the students, so there can be no digital divide that prevents students from participating. I’d like to see more districts take up this approach.