Florida Virtual School

Orlando, FL
 

Introduction/Overview
Organizational Change
Budget & Finance
Professional Development
Technology Infrastructure
Outcomes
Evaluation
Contact Information
 

Introduction/Overview

When you think of Florida , you usually think of beaches, tourists, and crowded theme parks. Not many people realize that Florida contains huge rural areas dedicated to agriculture or cattle ranching. However, no matter where Florida 's students reside, they now have access to top quality courses and instruction through Florida Virtual School , the nation's first statewide school to be funded on a per-pupil model just like any other district in the state. FLVS partners with all 67 Florida school districts and delivers courses to students for a wide variety of reasons. With more than 30,000 enrollments in 04-05, and 50,000 expected in 05-06, FLVS is poised to become one of the largest virtual programs in the nation.

Organizational Change

Florida Virtual School began as a grant-based project and from the beginning was given significant leeway to rethink the way education was delivered. Former Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, noted that Florida Virtual School has done a good job of reinventing education rather than simply applying technology on top of what already existed. This accomplishment has required some definite mindshifts. For instance, teachers can no longer limit availability to students to the hours of 7:30 to 3:30. Our teachers are available until 8:00 in the evening and on weekends. Grading can no longer happen "when I get to it." Students must receive feedback within 48 hours. Contact with parents can no longer be on a "need to know" basis. A monthly phone call with parents is required. These are all significantly different ways of doing business than traditional teachers may have known, but these priorities have been a large part of Florida Virtual School 's success.

Budget & Finance

Florida Virtual School has been through just about every iteration of online funding that exists. We initially operated under grant-based funding. Shortly into our existence, we became a line item in our state budget. Eventually, the state voted to provide per-pupil funding. Outside the state, students or school districts wishing to use the FLVS program may do so on a tuition basis through FLVS@Stetson University. There are advantages and challenges with every kind of funding. The line item provided room for us to grow and develop our program, but it limited the number of students who could enroll to a finite number. The per-pupil model significantly changed the number of students we could enroll, but now we have to impose our own growth restraints in order to scale the program with quality as a priority. Another unique challenge to FLVS is that the per-pupil funding is strictly performance based--the first of its kind in the country! This means that if the student does not succeed, FLVS does not receive funding. However, FLVS willingly accepted that gauntlet and, in fact, lobbied for it. It does not come without challenges, such as the student who decides to quit halfway through the course. As a program of choice, FLVS cannot require the student to stay. While FLVS also has the option of dismissing students who are not doing their work, experience has shown that the teachers are willing to go the extra mile to help students stay on pace and learn to operate in an environment that requires students to take more ownership of their actions.

Professional Development

A new online teacher is, in many ways, like a first-year teacher all over again. There is quite a learning curve to transition from classroom to online instruction--and it's not just about technology! As a result, FLVS has developed a multi-tiered hiring and training process that includes an extensive mentoring program. New hires receive some of their training online so that they will immediately begin to understand the environment in which their students will work. Online training is paired with some face to face, and then a detailed mentorship carries the mentee through that first-year, delivering to them a "just in time" learning model that allows for the best assimilation of the new skills and knowledge they must acquire. Coupled with the ready access to teacher data, the mentoring program provides specific support that most teachers have never experienced before.

Technology Infrastructure

The technology infrastructure encompasses four main areas: The student management system, the learning management system, technical support, and the physical set-up required for teachers to do their jobs.

The student management system is probably the most complicated and most critical component of these four areas because it houses all the data that allows management to know whether or not we are reaching and succeeding with students, and it allows us to provide up-to-date data to the world for the same purposes. Because there were so many data-related tasks that were unique to the virtual world, we ended up building our own student management system. It allows us to interface with guidance counselors, principals, and district personnel across the state. It allows for rolling enrollment, and it provides ways for teachers to track students who are proceeding at many different paces through the courses. It also provides mechanisms whereby management can observe, evaluate, and support the instructional staff.

Our learning management platform is UCompass, a Tallahassee-based company. UCompass has worked willingly with Florida Virtual School to customize their program to many of our needs, providing a robust and flexible program for our courseware.

For technical support, as we approached numbers of 5,000 enrollments, we began to look for a good outsourcing solution. We were able to contract with ALIN, a Nova-Scotia-based operation that handles all first-line help desk questions from students or staff. Help requests are then triaged internally according to the level of urgency if ALIN cannot address the issue. This has allowed FLVS to scale its tech support as we have grown.

The physical set-up for full-time teachers and staff includes a laptop computer, a printer, a business telephone line, high-speed Internet connection, and a beeper. In addition, our teachers are provided with VOIP for their long-distance calls, and other staff use long-distance calling cards. These technologies not only provide the long-distance access needed to reach students across the state (and the nation for our out-of state students), they also provide phone logs for accountability and recordkeeping purposes. These non-traditional expenses were difficult to explain and required some lobbying efforts in the early days, but as online learning has caught on, more and more policymakers and legislators understand the need and efficacy of providing these kinds of things for online instructors.

Outcomes

The sheer volume of enrollments at Florida Virtual School speaks to the success of the program. Numbers alone are not enough, though, so it is important to note that the students who are completing courses online are doing so successfully. That has certainly been the FLVS experience. Growth is expected to continue, and with growth comes challenges. For instance, when FLVS began, it is fair to say that the students we taught were likely the more advanced or more well-rounded students. With 30K+ enrollments, it is safe to assume that every kind of student is now enrolling in FLVS, and this includes students with special needs or learning disabilities. The innovation that went into creating Florida Virtual School will now need to be applied to finding new models to assist online students who are at-risk or who come to school with a whole host of issues that require different levels of support. We are continually looking for ways to partner with local schools and districts to make this a reality. It is our belief that there are many models that can be implementing using online, traditional, and blended models--just as there are many different kinds of students who need varied approaches in order to find success.

Evaluation

Evaluation is built into the very fabric of Florida Virtual School , beginning with the courses themselves. Not only do they go through rigorous internal and external evaluations, but they also elicit feedback from the most important "customer" of all--the student! At the end of each module, students are asked to identify lessons that they may have struggled with or directions they may have found confusing. A little over half-way through the course, students are required to take a more in-depth survey that allows them to provide feedback on the entire program, from the enrollment process to the coursework to the teacher. Parents, schools, guidance counselors, principals, and district personnel are also surveyed yearly to provide detailed feedback to FLVS as to how we are faring. Survey data is analyzed in detail and school goals are created yearly as a result. In addition, our student management system allows the instructional leadership staff to see in detail every transaction between teachers and students: every email, assignment, discussion board, etc. In addition, every conversation with parents and students is logged by the teacher. In many ways, this too is a mind shift for teachers who are used to working in much more isolation. However, the point is not to be punitive but to look for ways to support the teachers so that the end result--student success--can be realized.

FLVS has also been able to reproduce its program in a variety of ways. Within Florida , several districts operate a FLVS franchise, utilizing their own teachers. This results in more seats being available to students who need the online courses. Outside of Florida , FLVS has clients in more than 22 states, including private or charter schools, public schools, school districts, regional service centers, consortia, or states. There are many variations in how online learning is delivered. Our commitment is to work with clients to deliver a program that works best within their community.

Contact Information

www.flvs.net