THE SOUTH CAROLINA VIRTUAL SCHOOL PROGRAM—OPTIONS FOR DISTRICTS Chief Academic Officers’ Quarterly Meeting June 12, 2014

Virtual School Changes  In June 2013, under the Virtual Learning Act, the General Assembly revised the SCVSP legislation as follows:  Lifted caps on the number of courses (credits) a student may take with the SCVSP from 3 per year and 12 over the high school career to unlimited.  Allowed for a program name change; rebranding in the fall.  New option for school districts—Franchise.  Improved Student Support—Student Services Team (Manager and 3 Student Services Coordinators).

Rebranding in Fall 2014  Name change—VirtualSC.  New logo.  New webpage.  New student information system—OpenSIS.

Program Description  Supplemental program—not a school; does not issue state high school diplomas.  Serves SC public, private, and homeschooled students under the age of 21 as well as Adult Education students in the diploma program.  Primary focus—offers courses for high school credit that are engaging, interactive, and mobile to motivate and excite students about learning.  Free-of-charge; funding remains with the school.

District/School Options  Enroll students individually in our program.  Use a blended learning model.  Use us for credit recovery.  Create your own online learning program as a SCVSP franchise.

Individual Student Enrollment  Students register through the online registration portal.  Classes begin per the Dates and Deadlines Matrix posted on our web site.Dates and Deadlines Matrix web site  No cap on number of online courses/credits; recommend no more than 2 at a time unless the student is a full-time online student.  Must have sponsor approval (public, private, or home school).  Final grade accepted by sponsoring school, which issues the credit and awards the diploma.

Course Options  Courses for high school credit:  Advanced Placement.  Honors.  College Preparatory.  Credit Recovery.

Advanced Placement Options  Offer College Board-approved courses for high school and college credit.  Taught by teachers who are:  Highly qualified (HQ-NCLB) and South Carolina-certified in their content areas.  Endorsed to teach AP courses by both the state and the College Board.  Continuing courses—AP English Language and Composition; AP English Literature and Composition; AP Statistics; AP US History; AP Latin; AP Art History.  New for fall 2014:  AP Biology.  AP Calculus AB.  AP European History.  AP Computer Science A.

Credit Recovery Options  Offered on a rolling enrollment basis.  Enroll students each Monday throughout the year except on State holidays and certain blackout days.  Opportunity to:  Begin each lesson by taking formative assessments (pretests);  Proceed to the next lesson when performance indicates readiness;  Complete the work in the areas of weakness only to earn credit for the successful completion of courses.  View a list of Credit Recovery courses on our web site.list of Credit Recovery courses

Other Resources for Students and Districts/Schools  Test Preparation: Shmoop.  SAT/ACT/PSAT.  AP Exams.  Students can get individual access.  Teachers across state can get teacher accounts and create classrooms for their students.  EdReady: Coming Soon!  Personalized math study plans for different goals.  ELA coming in 2015.

Blended Learning Projects  Offer courses in a “blended” format.  Support the SCDE’s goal— to offer personalized and customized education for every student through an online choice option.  Targets schools with certified teacher vacancies and hard-to- fill teaching positions.  More about Blended Learning Projects on our web site.Blended Learning Projects

SCVSP Franchise Option  Allows districts/schools to expand their curriculum.  Addresses challenges:  Scheduling conflicts.  Grade forgiveness.  Middle school promotion.  Expelled students.  Homebound students.  Adult education.  Personalizes learning.  Makes a district/school online learning program affordable.

District/School Benefits  Start a SCVSP franchise as an e-learning solution for students in grades  Offer a 365-day flexible or 180-day traditional school calendar.  Use:  Your own teachers.  Our Student Information System (SIS) for registration.  Our Learning Management System (LMS) Moodle.  Our courses.  Receive student support and staff/teacher training.  Retain FTE but pay $100/seat license (for active users at a given time) per contract year.

Grades 2-6 Keyboarding Pilot  Began during the first quarter of 2013 because of inquiries from districts/schools throughout the state during the first quarter of  Objectives:  To provide instruction in alphabetic keyboarding to students in grades 2-6.  To provide instruction and practice in navigation through online open educational resources and activities.  To provide opportunity for students to compose paragraphs, short answers, or essay responses at the keyboard in a timely manner from writing prompts provided in the course.

Keyboarding Pilot Continued  During the first year of the pilot, the SCVSP worked with districts to implement the project, collect data, evaluate the results, and make recommendations for improvement for year two.  Districts/Schools (10):  Bridgewater Academy.  Charleston School District.  Clarendon 2.  Dillon 4.  Greenwood 52.  Hampton 2.  Oconee.  Orangeburg 3.  Orangeburg 5.  Spartanburg 2.

Keyboarding Pilot Continued  Soliciting districts/schools for  Requiring the following technologies:  All Flash compatible browsers on PC, Mac and Linux.  Adobe Flash Player v.10.2 or newer required.

Contact Information  Bradley Mitchell, Director or  Suzette Lee, SCVSP Team Leader or  Deirdre Edwards, SCVSP Curriculum Coordinator or  Sarah Rotureau, SCVSP Student Services Manager or  Sharon Dublin, OVE Special Projects Coordinator or