B.R. online charter school gets clearance to expand

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education today cleared the way for more Louisiana students in grades K-12 to enroll in an online, Baton Rouge-based charter for the forthcoming school year. BESE approved increasing total student enrollment at Louisiana Connections Academy, a Type 2 charter, to 1,000 for the 2012-13 school year. About 600 students are currently enrolled in the school, which is in its first year of operation. “This is a clear vote of confidence for us,” says LCA Principal Caroline Wood in a prepared statement. LCA students attend a virtual public school from home. Certified teachers provide instruction online and interact with students via the computer, telephone, Web conferencing and email, and at in-person fieldtrips. The school’s high-quality curriculum meets all state standards, and enrolled students are required to take standardized state tests, just like any other public school student. “Students complete many assignments ‘unplugged’ and spend time reading textbooks, using workbooks, reading library books and doing hands-on experiments—just like at a traditional school,” Wood says. Each student is supervised at home by a “learning coach,” usually a parent or guardian who is also charged with regularly monitoring progress and being a point of contact for teachers. Students can begin enrolling for the coming school year on April 3. More information about the online academy can be found here.