Students (Grades 6-12) attend school 4 days a week (8am to 4pm) 145 days a year, for a total of 1,007 hours of education time. During their time at school, they receive both direct instruction and online instruction, rotating between the two throughout their day. There are 300 individual cubicles for students to work in and complete online work.
The school employs only 6 full time certified teachers (for 273 students): Math, Language Arts, Science, Physical Education, Social Studies & Electives. So, for instance, a Math teacher at CDCHS teaches ALL students in the school at one point or another, through direct instruction. The only content not having a virtual curriculum is Physical Education. During the time a student is receiving online instruction, there are "assistant coaches" to offer assistance. These assistants are described as highly qualified paraprofessionals, but not necessarily certified teachers.
They have been ranked first in the county in student performance in math and reading (2010) and in the top 10 percent of AZ charter schools.
I am utterly intrigued by this school! I have often contemplated a summer vacation to Yuma to visit the school and speak with the administration. I love the idea of blended and direct instruction all happening during the school day, and the rotation process of students. Could this be possible in most high school environments? YES! Do all teachers and administrators have the vision to implement this? Maybe?
My district has a version of this, I believe, in that we have a room where online instruction happens through a program called OdysseyWare. The difference is this is not necessarily related to content being delivered in the classroom, but in place of many times, for credit recovery. We have one science teacher that is currently using components of OddyseyWare for part of her curriculum, but not in the same way Yuma is, I don't believe.
300 computers sounds like a lot, but with desktop and our 1:1 devices, my district exceeds that. What we don't have are individual spaces for all. This would be crucial for the quiet, direct learning time while doing online work. I view this as the ultimate blended learning environment. AND by providing the technology to do the online piece, in house, students who might not otherwise be able to access online material from home are not exempt from this curriculum. (The profile states that there is very little or no work done by students outside of the school day, which is a positive vote for the longer days.)
I would like to know what a day looks like for a certified teacher here. Do they have regular prep time to look at assessments, grade students work, provide feedback, alter their instruction? Do they ever provide assistance during online learning time? Is the 5th day of the week, when students don't come in, a time for professional development and collaboration with the other certified teachers? Do they provide one on one help before or after school? Is there time for this built into the day? Or because of the online work, is that what the direct instruction time has become?
We also had videos to watch, and this one, Susan Patrick: Why Online Learning is a Smart Solution really spoke to me.
This quote stayed with me: "The state of GA has 400 High Schools, but only 89 qualified, licensed Physics teachers." How are they able, in the state, to service all these High School Students and offer them the education they are entitled to? And we're only talking about Physics, what about all the other core content areas, and electives? If we start looking at other states, how would they measure up? This reinforces for me that teachers need to embrace online & blended learning, it's here to stay!
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