High School Online

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story about online high schools. The focus was on those students who enroll full-time in online courses and whether they confront unique social problems. The comments from students in online courses are at least as informative as the article itself. See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125374569191035579.html.

Online coursework, of course, does not need to be all or nothing. For many gifted students, completing some coursework at their local school and some online provides a real opportunity to pursue their areas of passion more deeply and fully than is possible in most Tennessee schools.

Most public universities in Tennessee now offer a range of courses online (check individual university web sites), and there is also the Tennessee Board of Regent’s RODP program (http://www.rodp.org/home.htm) as well. Nationally, there is the EPGY program (http://epgy.stanford.edu/) discussed in the WSJ article, as well as a number of other college run and virtual high school programs.

When thinking about enrolling your student in online coursework:

- seriously evaluate the course syllabus, as not all online courses are created equal

- check with your local school before enrolling to make sure they will accept the credit and clarify whether it will be listed on the transcript with a letter grade or as pass-fail

- if you want dual credit for the coursework, confirm with both your local school and the college before enrolling

Not Alone

It is important to remember that we are not alone when facing challenges trying to ensure children receive the education they need. The issues commonly faced in Tennessee are common in many or most other states too.

For instance, in Kentucky: “Finding Gifted Kids Not Always Simple”
http://bgdailynews.com/articles/2009/09/26/news/news5.txt

and North Carolina: “Gifted Kids Often Ignored, Group Says”
http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/09/24/article/gifted_kids_often_ignored_group_says

and Massachusetts: “Room to Grow: As Education Budgets Shrink, Many Say State Could do Better for Gifted Children”
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2009/09/20/parents_say_mass_puts_low
_priority_on_education_for_gifted_children

Meeting the needs of intellectually gifted students is both a Tennessee challenge and a national challenge.