As far curriculum, there is no difference between Insight and iQa. They both purchase curriculum through providers (Apex, Keystone, FLVS are the biggest) These curriculum are accessed through a portal or Learner Management System (LMS) called "Angel" The LMS tracks progress, provides hosting for email and announcements. WIVA uses a proprietary curriculum provider for many (not all) of their classes, K12, and uses a proprietary LMS. (K12 was recently sold and I am not at all pleased with where their development team has chosen to go, so I'll focus the rest of the email on the other two schools)
The biggest difference between schools is the administration/teachers. iQa uses Waukesha North high school teachers and administrators. That is both a plus and a minus. The school tries to run as a virtual extension of the brick and mortar school...... your child can participate in more outings and social events. WKCE, SAT, and AP testing is done through Waukesha North. Insight schools of Wisconsin is based in Grantsburg. They will try to schedule WKCE testing in a location near your student, but you might end up driving 45 minutes one way. They do not schedule SAT or AP tests, you're on your own for that. (this isn't super difficult, but it is another thing to remember) Some of the Insight teachers are exclusively Insight teachers, others teach at Grantsburg High school as well as Insight Virtual. It generally is easier to reach the full time virtual teachers. The part-time teachers are sometimes strapped for time.
Now, as to virtual schooling in general... I don't know your background, nor do I know your reasons for considering it. But, let me be brutally honest. It isn't for everyone. It is NOT easy. The classes are as challenging or more challenging than their counter parts in traditional schooling. For example: in a traditional English class, when reading a novel. Some of the teachers assessment of how well the student is understanding the material takes place during classroom discussion. That doesn't happen in a virtual world. Students are expected to write a paragraph, or essay or answer short answer questions on almost every lesson. A traditional English class has one or two assignments per week. Virtual students expect as much as five assignments per week. Same thing for history and only slightly different for the sciences. Yes, there are labs in the science classes. (they send you all the materials) But your student will have to read the lab instructions, perform the lab, record the data, write the lab report and analyze the information. There isn't a lab partner to share the work with. (and honestly, most labs have to be done twice, because invariably when going through it the first time, you miss a step) At Insight, they do not penalize a student for turning in an assignment late. iQa does - or did. They had a policy that if it was more than two weeks late, it was a zero. That seems reasonable until you remember, there are no sick days in a virtual setting. There are no days off for parent teacher conference or teacher inservice days. The only holidays are 2 days at Thanksgiving, 7 days for Christmas, and between 2 and 5 days for Easter (depending on the class) It is also very isolating. It's hard not having friends around. Days can go by without seeing anyone outside of the family. And, it's really hard to stay focused. If your browser is open to school sites, its really tempting to check your Facebook page. (school computers don't allow access to facebook or any of the social networking sites. But, if you use your own computer....)
Insight schools has approximately 50% of their student body as "non-traditional" students. These are students who have to support their family, or they are parents themselves. They want to provide an alternative to these students to dropping out. I know they provide basic level, or remedial courses to help these students, but I don't have any first hand knowledge of them. I assume they don't have as heavy a homework load as the honors level classes do.
So, why do I do it? You've met Daniel... he would have been bullied mercilessly in a traditional school. My other children are no more socially adept. I love the fact that my daughter has been able to take AP level classes since her freshman year. I like the fact that my children are being challenged academically - not just challenged, pushed to work harder. I like the fact that we can choose to do volunteer work every Tuesday morning, and do school Tuesday evening instead. There are benefits. It's just not easy.
It is my understanding from a press release a while ago, that Insight and IQa and another one, I don't remember,have been purchased by K12. Does anyone know anymore information? How will this impact these schools? Please share what you know about the direction K12 is going that you do not like! That would be so helpful. Thank you for a well written, informative post. It has been so helpful!
ReplyDeleteAhh, corporate politics. That is an entirely different beast.
ReplyDeleteIn 2005, Bill Bennet stepped down from his position at K12 corporate - presumably because of a difference of opinion as to the future of the corporation. In early 2010 (?) Bror Saxberg (chief learning officer of K12 also stepped down. In July 2010, K12 purchased KC Learning academy. KC is responsible for Keystone Curriculum. They also (I don't remember the date) purchased PowerGlide - and independent foreign language provider.
IQA Corporate division is owned by KC Distance learning and Keystone Learning Academy (another Wisconsin Virtual School that I know nothing about) Very few changes have trickled down to the local school level since this acquisition was made.
Insight Schools has NOT been sold to K12 or any of it's subsidiaries. (I just talk to a corporate officer within the last hour.) It is however making some significant, although undisclosed, changes at the corporate level.
So, what does all of this mean? It means that the people with the vision for K12 left a while ago and were bought out in the same way that KC Distance Learning was acquired and iQa was acquired etc. The only difference is at the corporate stock holding level.
THESE LOCAL SCHOOLS WILL CONTINUE TO OPERATE AS INDEPENDENT LOCALLY CONTROLLED SCHOOLS. (sorry for yelling, I just wanted to make that clear... corporate politics doesn't play out in the real world) The only thing that will change at our local school level is the name plate on someone's desk.