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Fayette considers online classes

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com

Fayette County high school students could soon be taking courses over the Internet through a collaboration proposed with Clayton County schools.

At a meeting last week, school board members were given details of the plan put together by Pam Riddle, assistant superintendent for curriculum.

Clayton County purchased the software for nine high school courses from Class.com, developed by the University of Nebraska, a couple of years ago, Riddle explained.

At a cost of $12,000 to $15,000 per course, it’s not cheap, Riddle said. The neighboring district also bought the hardware and established a server network necessary to maintain the courses.

“We don’t have the technical support people right now to maintain our own classes even if we could afford it,” Riddle said.

But Clayton County is willing to share the resources with Fayette students, who would access the classes through Clayton’s technical department.

Students must pay extra to take the classes, estimated about $225 each. But that’s a discount from the usual per-student cost of $295 per class that it would cost without the sharing agreement with Clayton.

Additionally, Riddle said Fayette classroom teachers would be trained as “virtual teachers of record” for the online course offerings, which would reduce the costs per course even more. The savings would be given back to the teachers for their participation, similar to a teaching supplement, Riddle said.

The program would work much like correspondence courses through the mail did in years past. Instead of using textbooks, students would access the Class.com coursework through a Clayton County website.

In most cases, final exams and the like would still have to be given onsite, most likely at the LaFayette Educational Center.

Students would be allowed to take up to 12 electronic courses —Êone per semester, including summer —Êover the four years of their high school careers. The classes can count as either recovery courses for missed or failed classes, or as new credit.

“If a student was really motivated, they could finish four years of high school in three years,” said Riddle. “But we don’t anticipate that happening.”

The program would also be available to non-traditional and home-school students, she said, including those who live outside the county.

The course study is fully accredited and meets state standards, Riddle said, and will be adjusted to match the Georgia curriculum overhaul being led by Superintendent Kathy Cox. Once Fayette teachers become certified on the e-courses, they would be able to adjust the curriculum to meet the higher standards of the system.

The only Class.com course Fayette County has rejected so far is physical science, which Riddle described as “not meeting our standards.”

When several board members asked how science labs would be taught, Riddle explained that they are all done “virtually, online, and they are very rigorous.”

“These are not easy courses,” Riddle said. “They are not the thing a student should think, ‘Hey, I’ll take this because it will be easier.’”

Ed Steil, principal of the Fayette County Evening High School, called the digital foreign language section of the e-curriculum “state of the art.”

He said from a financial standpoint, e-education just makes sense. Florida has already established a network of virtual high schools and more and more classes are being developed for online instruction all the time.

“They even have online physical education courses now,” he said.

Around the metro area, Cobb and Gwinnett counties already have electronic course offerings and Fulton is considering it, Riddle said.

Initially, full-year courses of study would be offered in algebra I and II, geometry I, pre-calculus I, world history, United States history, American government, chemistry I and biology I.

Additional classes would be made available as they come on line, Riddle said.

The Clayton County Board of Education is in the process of drafting a formal agreement to present to Fayette County, Riddle said. \