IVS Now! Annual Report November 2018 Prepared by the Peoria County Regional Office of Education d/b/a Illinois Virtual School Peoria County Regional Office of Education d/b/a Illinois Virtual School Peoria County Regional Office of Education #48 Elizabeth A. Crider, Regional Superintendent George McKenna, Assistant Regional Superintendent Illinois Virtual School Staff Kip Pygman, Director Danielle Brush Lewis, Coordinator of Professional Development Services Edward Cook, Customer Service Lead & Credit Recovery Specialist Maria Gottschalk, Learning Management System Specialist Jennifer Kolar-Burden, Coordinator of Curriculum Liz Lappin, Instructional Media Developer Lara Zink Pritchard, Enrollment and Data Specialist Illinois Virtual School has institutional membership in the following organizations. • International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) • Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance (VLLA) • Quality Matters • Consortium of School Networks (CoSN) Background and Purpose Established in 2001, Illinois Virtual School (IVS) is the Illinois State Board of Education’s (ISBE) statewide virtual school. The IVS program is administered through the Peoria County Regional Office of Education, a member of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools. Unlike full-time virtual programs where students take 100% of their courses online, IVS delivers a supplemental program where students average fewer than two courses per year. The IVS program is designed to allow 6-12th grade public, private, and homeschooled students the opportunity to supplement their education by taking courses that are educationally appropriate. ISBE GOAL 1 “Every child in each public school system in the state of Illinois deserves to attend a system wherein . • Ninety percent or more students graduate from high school ready for college and career. • All students are supported by highly prepared and effective teachers and school leaders” REALITY Each student is unique. Each student has different educational needs, desires, and life factors. All students deserve learning experiences that may remediate, enrich, challenge, or prepare them for college or careers including complementing their personal passions. Since IVS partners —not competes—with schools, the local school retains its students and is able to offer expanded learning opportunities. The virtual solutions IVS offers exist to support our partners and to help them continually serve the best interest of their students. Solution A school partnership with IVS provides • an opportunity for students to take a fully online curriculum, giving schools, students, and families greater options • an opportunity for students to take courses not offered by their face-to-face school, such as Advanced Placement, world languages, and other enrichment opportunities • flexibility in scheduling with enrollment terms that start each month throughout the year • individualized instruction that occurs anytime and anywhere through teacher led courses • An opportunity for students to gain exposure to the online learning experience which will prepare them for the post-secondary experience • credit recovery options for students to graduate on time This year’s annual report has been prepared to communicate with a variety of stakeholders the learning opportunities made available to students and educators in Illinois including a deeper insight into the IVS Program. Included throughout the report are examples of how some of our partners use IVS and how the partnership has helped positively impact their students. Our pledge to you: we will continue to advocate for all of our students no matter how big or small the details are. This is what our team demonstrates and this is what we will continue to uphold. We look forward to continuing working alongside all of our partners, students, and families. Together, we will pursue the positive difference we all aspire to achieve for our learners. - Kip Pygman, Director Illinois Virtual School 1 Online Courses Through Illinois Virtual School (IVS) public school districts, private schools, and parents of homeschooled students can provide their learners with access to a wide range of course offerings. IVS offers two online course solutions. • Full Service Courses include curricular content that provides sufficient instruction, practice, and assessments for students to master skills and concepts. The courses are aligned to relevant learning standards and are recognized by the NCAA and College Board. Courses have been coded based on the State Course Codes and rigor levels as part of the Illinois State Course System (ISCS). Illinois certified, highly qualified teachers facilitate each IVS course. The IVS full service course fee is $225per semester course. • Credit Recovery Courses are proficiency based. These courses are intended for students that were unsuccessful in passing the course the first time and need to retake the course with IVS to recover credit. Illinois certified teachers manage these courses. The IVS credit recovery course fee is $85 per semester course. See Exhibit One on page 17 for the current IVS Course Catalog. The graph below represents FY 18 Full Service and Credit Recovery course enrollments by Department. The top six full service courses with respect to enrollments are: 1. Consumer Economics 4. Health Education 2. Spanish I 5. Geometry 3. Spanish II 6. Algebra II 2 School Profile - Normal Community High Shool McClean County USD #5 Normal, IL “Students needing to take courses to recover credit to be on track for graduation were experiencing transportation issues. Without transportation, the students were unable to participate in the credit recovery courses offered locally. IVS became an additional solution for credit recovery.” - Nikki Maurer, Associate Principal Normal Community High School is located in central Illinois. The district, McLean County USD 5, encompasses a large geographic area. Transportation became an issue for credit recovery students Facts and Figures especially as the demand for credit recovery options continued to District Enrollment: 3,586 grow. As the need increased, IVS became an approved option for students. High School Enrollment: 2,121 Low Income: 25% Normal Community High School approves students taking full service courses as a means for expanding options to meet 2017-2018 IVS enrollments: graduation requirements. Ms. Maurer stated, “The shift in 104 Credit Recovery; education to ensuring students are college and career ready has elevated the high school graduation requirements. Students 129 Full Service struggle to meet the new requirements. IVS has been able to fill the course need gaps for some students.” Enrollments from Normal Community HS have included online courses from all nine of the IVS departments. Normal Community HS is a 1:1 school providing each student with a laptop computer. Students taking online courses through IVS, whether credit recovery or full service, only need access to the Internet to participate and complete their courses. “Responsiveness of the staff is fantastic!” Ms. Maurer shared. 3 School Profile - La Grange, IL Lyons Township High School High School District #204 “IVS made our first experience with an online option easy. From the student support to the live parent presentation, the bulk enrolling and data reporting, IVS staff was always quick to help. We have a unique situation with so many students enrolling in a single course and without IVS, this would not have been an option for our students.” - Scott Eggerding, Director of Curriculum Lyons Township High School is located in LaGrange, a suburb just 15 Facts and Figures miles west of downtown Chicago. LTHS has a very diverse student District Enrollment: 4,059 population given its size and inclusion of a multiple of suburban bedroom communities. LTHS offers a very complete catalog, has High School Enrollment: 4,059 no shortage of teachers and had never considered full service Low Income: 14% online options until the demand for summer school outweighed capacity for the past few years. Instead of turning students away, LT 2017-2018 IVS enrollments: Administration decided to offer one course, Consumer Economics, 363, Consumer Economics, as a pilot. LT prides itself on preparing students for life after high school and according to Eggerding, the need for more Consumer Summer term openings was also an opportunity for LT students to experience an online course before college. Consumer Economics was offered as a Summer school option for juniors and seniors only. Students enrolled through the LT Webstore like any other course and those students were then passed up to IVS and bulk enrolled by IVS, making the process seamless for students and parents. Almost 400 students initially expressed interest in the course and the evening parent information meeting hosted by IVS had 350 in attendance. Students indicated via survey and focus group that the primary reason for taking the course was to free up time in their schedules the next year. Students were overwhelmingly positive in their evaluation of IVS teachers as well as the course and commented that they preferred having a teacher attached to the course versus an automated self- paced version. The completion rate for the course was 97%. 4 Course Enrollment Trends The Peoria County Regional Office of Education was awarded the IVS contract in May 2009 from the Illinois State Board of Education. Course enrollments have been tracked and reported for each year of the contract/grant. The graph below shows