Wednesday, August 04, 2010
REL-Midwest - The Virtual Algebra Study: Impact of Offering an Online Algebra I Course to Eighth Graders With No Local Access
Peggy began her session by describing that her results are still not approved for release (see NRCRES Conference: Increasing Rural 8th Graders’ Access to Algebra I: Is Online Education An Effective Alternative? for an earlier entry roughly the same as this one), so she won't be providing any findings but will be discussing the study - particularly the nature of the intervention. As much of this was reported in the previous entry, I'll just include additional comments here.
One of the things that Peggy did clarify was that the focus of the study was not to compare student performance between face-to-face and online students. It was focused on expand access to students who wouldn't otherwise have access to Algebra I in grade 8 (for the students that were ready to take algebra).
As a reminder, the primary research questions were:
- What is the impact of offering Algebra I online to AR students on their end-of-eighth grade algebra achievement?
- What is the impact of offering Algebra I online to AR students on their subsequent high school course taking?
- What is the impact of offering Algebra I online to AR students on the N-AR students mathematics achievement?
- What is the impact of offering Algebra I online to AR students on the n-AR students subsequent high school course taking?
- What is the impact of offering Algebra I online to AR students on the AR general mathematics achievement?
- control - both groups received regular grade 8 mathematics course
- students identified by the school as algebra ready
- students identified by the school as not being algebra ready
- treatment
- students identified by the school as algebra ready - received the online Algebra 1 course
- students identified by the school as not being algebra ready - received regular grade 8 mathematics course
The remainder of the presentation was looking at samples of the online Algebra I course. It was basically a model where students would read through an online, interactive textbook or they could view an interactive chalkboard that provided a narrated worked example. After reviewing these items, students would complete practice and exploratory activities, along with graded assignments based on open-ended prompts and then graded multiple-choice quizzes.
The results are expected to be reported in Spring 2011.
Labels: conferences, cyber school, education, high school, presentations, REL Midwest, rural, rural education, virtual school
REL-Midwest - Enhancing Instruction In Rural Schools
- Nancy Burns, Superintendent, West Salem School District
- Dawn Nordine, Director, Wisconsin Virtual School and CESA 9 Instructional Technology
- Annette Walaszek, Teacher, Wisconsin Virtual School
Their response was entitled "Enhancing Instruction In Rural Schools".
Dawn was the first practitioner to respond to Matt's presentation. She began by highlighting the reasons why students in Wisconsin are enrolled in K-12 online learning experiences (and she also gave a big plug for iNACOL here - as I believe the slide was taken from content found, or often used, by that organization). She continued with the standards "equal or better" lines. She did present some interesting statistics about the Wisconsin Virtual School:
- 60% of students are enrolled in rural districts
- 83% are between the ages of 16 and 18 years old
- 170 school districts accessed courses through WVS in 2009-10
- top reason students take the online course is because it is not offered in their school
- average grade in 2009-10 was 84%
- average time spent in the course was 121 days
- number of hours spent per week in the course was 6-7 hours
She then discussed a study that they conducted with nine of their Local Education Guides (LEGs) from 2006 to 2008. They also found that the role of the school-based or local teacher was a critical role, and Dawn provided a series of quotes that were representative of the strategies that these LEGs used to keep students motivated in their online courses. Many of their training materials are available on their website (look for a LEG Resource link).
Nancy was the next person to speak. She began with A LOT of her own personal history in rural education and online learning. In fact, most of Nancy's discussion was a history of rural education and online learning through her personal involvement.
The responses finished with Annette, who also gave a personal story - although more focused on a specific program... A blended experience in the Algoma School District, which came about when Annette only had a single student in her AP Physics student. In the end, after the guidance counselor was about to rope another three students into the course, the district created a program with a total of 24 students - 4 students at Algoma and 20 students from around the state. The remainder of her comments provided details about this blended program how she managed it, what the student success was, and her perceived advantaged and challenged with the program.
Labels: conferences, cyber school, education, high school, presentations, REL Midwest, rural, rural education, virtual school
REL-Midwest - Rural Distance Learning Project: Overview of Research And Findings
He began with some of the same rural issues that Doris had mentioned, although with a focus on the small student populations limiting funding and course selection, along with the inability to attract and retain high quality teachers. While distance education can be used as a way to address some of these issues, there are some challenges for the use of distance education in the K-12 environment (including isolationism, lack of interaction, high drop-out rate).
He then moved to a discussion of the rural education education survey that they conducted in 2005-06. The survey included 400 randomly selected school districts, including 10% that qualified for the Small Rural School Achievement program and 10% that qualified for the Rural Low Income School program, and had a 95% participation rate. Some of the results included:
- 85% of school districts had used or were using distance education
- 69% currently using distance education
- 16% previously used distance education but had stopped
- limited student interest
- time scheduling issues
- lack of support personnel
- 81% were using it to offer advanced-level courses
- 35% using it for foreign language
- 12% for algebra
- students were very well prepared - both by there computer skills (77%), academic background (50%), and study skills (28%)
- most common barriers
- district barriers - not need for curriculum requirements, funding, not being a district priority
- logistical barriers - scheduling, and difficult to implement
- personnel barriers - not trained to support distance education or not available to support distance education
- 2007-08 (Year 1) - 37 schools and 246 students
- 2008-09 (Year 2) - 56 schools and 463 students
Labels: conferences, cyber school, education, high school, presentations, REL Midwest, rural, rural education, virtual school
REL-Midwest – Framing the Conversation: Enhancing the Educational Outcomes of Rural Children Through Distance Learning and Technology
Doris began with some quick facts about rural education.
- 19.4% of all students attend at rural school
- 10, 572, 790 students and counting (rural school enrollment is actually increasing)
- 32.3% of public elementary and secondary schools are designates as rural
- range from 9.5% of all schools in New Jersey are rural to 97+% in South Dakota
- 15 states have 50% or more of their schools designated as rural
- rural students have higher graduation rates
- 70% overall in rural districts
- 67% in all districts
- 60% in the poorest rural districts
- less per pupil funding for rural districts
- $9,611 in non-rural districts
- $8,134 in rural districts
- and many others that skipped across the screen before I was able to type them
On one of the final slides, entitled "Bottom Line..." it read:
Rural students, like all others, are entitled to a quality education- even if their local communities cannot afford or don't have the will to provide it.
Appropriate use of technology and distance education is one means of ensuring that they have greater access.
At that stage, the moderator introduced Matt Irvin of the National Research Center on Rural Education Support (and I'll discuss his keynote in my next blog entry).
Labels: conferences, cyber school, education, high school, presentations, REL Midwest, rural, rural education, virtual school
REL-Midwest: Online Learning Opportunities For Rural Schools
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
8:30−9:15 a.m. Registration
9:15–9:30 a.m. Welcome and Introductions
9:30–11:00 a.m. Framing the Conversation: Enhancing the Educational Outcomes of Rural Children Through Distance Learning and Technology
- Matt Dawson, Ph.D., Director, REL Midwest at Learning Point Associates
11:00–11:30 a.m. Collaborative Discussion With Panel
- Moderator: Doris Terry Williams, Ph.D., Director of Capacity Building for the Rural School and Community Trust
- Presenter: Matt Irvin, Ph.D., National Research Center on Rural Education Support
- Commentators:
- Nancy Burns, Superintendent, West Salem School District
- Dawn Nordine, Director, Wisconsin Virtual School and CESA 9 Instructional Technology
- Annette Walaszek, Teacher, Wisconsin Virtual School
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00–2:00 p.m. The Virtual Algebra Study: Impact of Offering an Online Algebra I Course to Eighth Graders With No Local Access
2:00–2:45 p.m. Rural K–12 Students’ Learning in Virtual School Environments
- Keynote Presenter: Peggy Clements, Ph.D., REL Northeast and Islands at Education Development Center
2:45–3:00 p.m. Break
- Keynote Presenter: Michael K. Barbour, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Instructional Technology, Wayne State University
3:00–3:45 p.m. Reflections and Connections
3:45–4:15 p.m. Sharing Connections and Concluding Remarks
4:15 p.m. Adjournment
- Presenters:
- Dr. Matt Irvin, National Research Center on Rural Education Support
- Dr. Peggy Clements, REL Northeast and Islands
- Dr. Michael Barbour, Wayne State University
Labels: conferences, cyber school, education, high school, presentations, REL Midwest, rural, rural education, virtual school