High School Online-Accredited
September 19, 2009
I recently enrolled my step daughter in an accredited online high school. She dropped out of public high school. Not wanting to give up on her, we immediately started looking for alternatives to traditional public school. My step daughter’s stumbling block was the standardized testing mandated by the state under “No Child Left Behind”.
My step daughter had been failed twice in her earlier grades due to her English. She was catching up, however. In fact, in her first year of high school, she made the honor roll. I was really proud of her. That is why I was so shocked at what happened next. Shortly after making the honor roll, she badly failed the state exams.
She now faced being held back a third time. The data indicated that being held back twice causes over a 90% chance of dropping out of high school. Somehow, I had hoped that she would defy the odds. It didn’t happen.
I have to laugh when someone says he supports “No Child Left Behind” standardized testing. What do you mean by “standardized testing?” Is there such a thing as a “standardized” child? Even the little ones have their own little personalities. Some are creative. Some are like wilderness creatures. Some are like princesses.
They are so, so different. How can you squeeze them through a one size fits all, grinder? Why would you want to do that? As they get older, they get even more individual, and unique. Why stifle that? Our country needs imaginative thinkers, and creative experts. Let’s give them some slack.
I am a big proponent of self pacing in school. I see that as something that could lead to the demise of the traditional mass education system. In a self paced education, each child, no matter what his/her strengths or weaknesses will work on material in a progressive manner, and only move to the next step when the present one is mastered.
This gives a logical, step by step progression to learning. Public schools present material to a large group of students at a time. Some will grasp the lesson, some will be bored by a pace too show, and some will get lost, and fall behind. The problem is that in a class, materials are just “broadcast” to some fictitious average student.
An online school is able to allow each student to progress at his own speed. This is the heart of the value of online education over traditional classrooms. This is also the reason online schools are growing in popularity.
One other strength is virtual schools is the ability to offer many more courses than public school. Basic economics, and poor funding hamper public schools from being able to offer more class options. An online school can open up creative alternatives for diverse students. Classes focused on testing are also very boring.
For my step daughter, and myself, we decided on an online school with good accreditation, challenging curriculum, and 100 courses to choose from. The decision took days of shopping, and elimination. The high priced schools didn’t fit my budget. The free schools tied to the public system were also rejected because of the same old testing regime. If you decide to explore online alternative schools, shop carefully.
Ed Desmond is home schooling his daughter thesimple way with an online high school. If you would like a medium priced alternative now discounted full $1000 off tuition please follow this link to National High School.
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