CT Virtual Adult High School

CT adult Virtual High School Board of Directors Minutes Vernon Adult Education, Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Attendees: Dan Gaynor, New London Adult Education; Rich Tariff, Vernon Adult Education; Patsy Darity, Hartford Adult Education; James Misenti, Middletown, Adult Education; Tony Sebastiano, Education Connection; Kathy Chapdelaine, Enfield Adult Education; Mary Shinoski, EastConn; Reina Marasco, Valley Regional Adult Education; Marc Potish, Middletown Adult Education; Ajit Gopalakrishnan, SDE; Gretchen Hayden, CTDLC; Ed Klonoski, CTDLC.

Reports  Enrollments into the Orientation Course and the 4 courses are very low. The seats are at half capacity or less in each of the courses and only about 1/3 of the enrolled students are actively working in the courses. Concern was expressed over the reading level of the courses and the typical adult education student’s ability to complete the demands of the online courses. One suggestion was that the text be assessed with a readability grade level and that this be added to the course descriptions. We discussed the customized content and assignment selection during the course design/ curriculum selection process. The importance of mentoring was emphasized along with a focus on the student’s time management process as it relates to the course schedule and the academic calendar.

 It was unanimously agreed that the CT Adult Virtual High School would create an academic calendar and that students would be required to complete their credit within the designated timeframe or they will have to start from scratch in the start of a new course. It was agreed that this is no different than the current on-ground student requirements.

Cohort start and end dates were agreed upon along with a one week drop/add period for six week courses and a two week drop/ add period for the 12 week courses. There will be an additional grace period of one week tacked on the end. So a six week course will be 8 week in duration and a 12 week course will be 15 weeks. A course calendar will be created and distributed as soon as possible with all of the dates. (See attachment)

 Course Developers are working on the new courses for January. Each will be created as 2 half credit segments. Subjects are Geometry – segment one will be a prerequisite for segment 2. Contemporary issues - National and International. Theses segments can be taken independent of each other. Transitions; College Entrance and Survival Skills can each be taken independently as well. A Standards document is also taking shape. This will take best practices identified by the Southern Regional Education Board’s Essential Principals of Quality.

 VHS Symposium review: Presentations can be found at the following link. http://www.eClassroom.com/VHS2004/Presentation.learn. Prevalent issues being addressed nationally included; efficiencies of scale, teacher reciprocity, competition vs. collaboration, standards consistencies, funding following a student.

Next Meeting: December 15, 2004 at EastConn. Meeting Schedule: December 15, 2004 March 23, 2005 February 16, 2005 May 18, 2005