- Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School
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The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School Location One Lincoln Park
Midland, Pennsylvania, United StatesInformation Type Online Motto Helping families build their own school... Out of choices, not bricks. Established 2000 Head teacher Dr. Nick Trombetta Grades PreK - 12 Enrollment Public (PA only), 10,000+ Publication The Link Website http://www.pacyber.org The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, also known as PA Cyber, is a public virtual charter school based out of Midland, Pennsylvania. Enrollment is open to Pennsylvania students in grades PreK-12.
Contents
Origins
When the steel mill in Midland, PA closed, a period of decline and population erosion began. In 1986, the Midland High School was closed. The former Midland High School students were sent to neighboring school districts. In order to give these students another option, community and school board members took advantage of Pennsylvania's 1997 charter school law to start PA Cyber. More than 500 students enrolled in the school. The first graduating class had only 17 students. PA Cyber now employs nearly 600 people and has regional offices in Philadelphia, Wexford and Harrisburg.[1] PA Cyber is currently the largest and most successful of Pennsylvania's 11 cyber charter schools.[2] The school has grown from just a few hundred students to over 10,000 in just 10 years, serving grades K4 - 12.
Classes
Students can take either real-time (virtual classsroom) classes or self-paced classes.[3]
PA Cyber students have access to a variety of classes in several categories. Students are required to take certain courses for each grade level. In addition to a traditional curriculum of English, science, social studies, math and the arts, students can enroll in courses about computers, home economics and world languages.
Virtual classes
In a virtual course, students attend a "virtual" class along with other students. Students attend virtual classes through Blackboard Collaborate (Previously named Elluminate). Assignments are completed through Schoology: these include homework, tests, and other graded assignments (which was previously called edmastery).
Self-paced classes
In a self-paced class, students complete coursework through Calvert, Lincoln Interactive and Little Lincoln. Students have five months to complete a traditional semester's assignments.
College Scholarship Opportunities
Along with NNDS, PA Cyber students have the opportunity to complete college courses during their 11th and 12th grade years of high school, free of charge. NNDS offers scholarship opportunities for students who have maintained a high GPA during their high school years. Students are able to enroll in two college classes per semester. By graduation, students could have completed 8 college classes.
Learning Management Systems
The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School uses a variety of Learning Management Systems (LMS) in their school. These include Ed Mastery, Blackboard and My School. Students are able to access courses, grades and other school information through these websites.[4]
Extracurricular activities
Pennsylvania school law allows students in cyber charter schools to participate in athletics and other extracurricular activities in their home districts. For instance, three different PA Cyber students have been state champion high school wrestlers.
Enrollment
Since PA Cyber is a public school, any student who resides in the state of Pennsylvania is allowed to enroll at no cost. Students are provided with all of the materials needed to complete coursework. PA Cyber pays for the student's internet connection.
The student's home school district pays tuition to the cyber school. By legislative formula, home districts pay about 75 percent of what it costs them to educate students in the classroom. They also are reimbursed by the state about 30 percent of the tuition they pay to either brick-and-mortar charters or cyber charter schools.
Criticisms
Technological problems
The schools websites can occasionally go down, inhibiting the ability to access courses. This can also happen during assignments which can cause a student to lose the work, or be graded zero. The same technological dependencies hold true in every online-based school. PA Cyber has not lost a day of instructional time in over four years. All virtual classes are recorded and archived to allow students to watch any class they may have missed.
PA Cyber switched to Elluminate, starting at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year. This was to resolve most of the problems that AT&T Connect has been unable to fix.
References
External links
Categories:- Elementary schools in Pennsylvania
- High schools in Pennsylvania
- Charter schools in Pennsylvania
- Educational institutions established in 2000
- Alternative education
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