Some H.S. Students Look to Online Classes
By PHUONG LE
CHICAGO (AP) — Joelle Contorno wanted to do it all in her last year of high school – drama club, band, student council, part-time work – and still take the classes she need to graduate.
Juggling a packed schedule, the 17-year-old turned to cyberspace, joining a growing number of students in Illinois and nationwide logging into classes from the comforts of home.
Contorno worked at her own pace, sometimes in pajamas or late at night, when she took her first civics class with the state-run Illinois Virtual High School.
Now, she’s enrolled in an advanced history class that her high school in Lemont doesn’t offer.
Students such as Contorno who looking for flexibility and a full menu of courses are increasingly turning to the state’s virtual high school, said its director, Matthew Wicks.
The school was started in 2001 to give students from rural, small or low-performing schools a chance to take economics, oceanography or other courses not offered at their own schools, he said.
Course enrollments in the cyber school tripled this year, from 410 to 1,230, and Wicks expects 900 enrollments during this fall semester.
About 40,000 to 50,000 K-12 students are enrolled in online courses nationwide, according to a 2001 study by WestEd, an educational research group.
At least 14 states from Arkansas to West Virginia run virtual schools that are recognized by a state agency, the study noted.
Dozens of virtual charter schools, often run by for-profit or nonprofit groups, operate in states from Arizona to Hawaii.
In Illinois, the number of students taking classes represents less than 1 percent of all high school students, but the concept is catching on, Wicks said.
Students are making up classes, taking advanced classes like calculus not available at their school, or juggling school with sports and work, he said.
Contorno took her online civics course because she didn’t want to drive to a nearby town this summer.
Jon Kilgore taught her civics class while 90 miles away in Chenoa – using a laptop computer and wireless Internet connection from his front porch or kitchen.
On a typical day, he scanned e-mail from students, helped one with a computer question and downloaded assignments that students e-mailed to his “in” box.
Most communication is electronic, but Kilgore also called Contorno and her father several times during the summer class. She e-mailed him every other week.
Gail Purkey, a spokeswoman with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, said she worries that the personal connection between teacher and student gets lost in cyberspace.
But “we’re developing a rapport that is any time, any place,” said Jim Kinsella, who teaches Contorno’s fall AP European History class.
Contorno said she’s still trying to adjust to writing out her responses rather than saying what she thinks. And it’s hard not knowing who her classmates are, since they live throughout the state.
“It’s good and bad. I miss that I can’t talk to my friends, but I’m still learning the same material,” she said.
Spontaneity sometimes gets lost online.
But discussions are just as lively and sharp, said Susan Thetard, who teaches full-time at Bloomington’s University High School.
Being online can encourage shy students to participate, and “you can see them open up more,” said Thetard, who teaches an online introduction to theater course.
Cyber classes aren’t for everyone, said Jill Fearday, guidance director at Barrington High School in the Chicago suburb.
“Anytime students think of online, they think, ‘I’m going to sit at home, in front of the computer and cruise through this,’” said Fearday. “It’s not. It’s difficult.”
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