Online High Schools, a Good Idea?

The executive director of the iSucceed Virtual High School in Idaho has spent the past two months stumping in juvenile correctional facilities, cities with significant Hispanic populations and community programs aimed at getting kids off the streets.

The virtual high school will go online next fall after a strategic campaign to recruit Hispanics and teenagers at risk of quitting or getting kicked out of public high schools.

Nationwide, approximately 25 percent of high school students did not graduate on time with a regular high school diploma in 2004, according to a 2007 report from the U.S. Department of Education. In Idaho, more than 2,100 high school students dropped out last year. Of those, 468 claim Hispanic heritage, according to the state Department of Education.

Before graduating from the iSucceed Virtual High School, students must complete 44 credits, participate in a community service project, submit a student portfolio and complete an exit interview.

Elementary and secondary students were enrolled in 50,000 online courses in the United States in 2000, according to the North American Council for Online Learning. Those online class offerings grew to 500,000 in 2005, and 700,000 were counted last year. An estimated 1 million courses are now being taken online by students.