The Pennsylvania public charter school act of 1997 provided parents of school-aged children in the Commonwealth with an opportunity to reform the establishments charged with educating young minds. More than seventy-five charter schools are now in operation serving 28,545 pupils throughout the state.One innovative approach used by Charter School planners has been the application of distance learning techniques to provide instruction for pupils unable to attend classes in their home school district. Several local boards of education have established charter schools that employ the Internet to deliver curriculum content to their students. Some Intermediate Units and regional groups have also experimented with this approach. Seven online charter schools are in operation at present, organized by District Boards of Education and approved by the Department of Education in Pennsylvania.
In general, online charter schools appear to be umbrella groups that locate and contract with content providers already engaged in distance learning delivery. As an arm of a local school district they provide information, funding, and support for individuals who do not attend the district's regular classes. During the course of the 2000-2001 school year the Western PennsylvaniaCyber Charter School, founded by District Superintendent Nick Trombetta to compensate for the closing of the district's High School, opened its rolls to students throughout Pennsylvania. By the end of the year there were some 1500 students enrolled. At the same time several of the school districts in which these students resided refused to transfer funds to WPCCS as required by law. Subsequent rulings by the courts in which these districts filed suit found that the districts' refusals were not supported by law.
In the 2001-2002 school year two new charter schools began operation in the Commonwealth, offering electronic curricula statewide. These two schools have caused a furor in the education establishment because they have very quickly enrolled large numbers of students. Until now charter schools were relatively small communities. The electronic medium of the Internet has changed the scale of this reform initiative overnight.
What made these newest schools controversial was that they were operated by private consulting groups who contracted with the school's board of trustees to carry out the mission specified by their charter. Rather than limit the school's activities to the local district, the chartering Boards of Education in these cases were reaching out to individuals statewide, offering a coherent innovative program of instruction.
One of these operating groups, K-12 offered a "values-based" curriculum for the early school years. Founded by the nationally known writer and political activist William Bennett, the K-12 emphasis is placed upon the time-tested, traditional subjects and methods of academic instruction. The PennsylvaniaVirtual Charter School uses this curriculum to provide parents with the necessary resources to carry out the program at home. Teachers create daily assignments, make assessments, and offer assistance and consultations when required. Regional meetings are held to assist parents andstudents in their undertakings.
The other privately led group, known as The Einstein Academy Charter School, has adopted a different approach; that of the newly evolved concept of the online learning community. In this it is entirely unique in Pennsylvania, and as such has already undergone major revisions in its organization and operations.
Unexpected difficulties were immediately encountered when the Pennsylvania Secretary
of Education withdrew start-up funding for virtual charter schools. Nevertheless,
The Einstein Academy Charter School Board of Trustees and the Managers, Tutorbots,
forged ahead with their plans and enrolled nearly 3,000 students. Equipment was leased,
teachers were hired, phone lines installed, and an Internet Service Provider engaged
to begin the school year. The enthusiasm of students and parents soon created a true
community of pioneers willing to "tough it out" as the bugs and rough spots
harassed the happy pathfinders.
Unfortunately, promised delivery dates were
unmet, staff and instructional hiring was delayed, curriculum changes were made,
and disappointed parents began to protest to the Secretary of Education. This aggravated
the funding delay, and fueled the controversy raised by the Pennsylvania School Boards
Association. The Secretary of Education halted payments to the school while it investigated
complaints.
As resources evaporated, some parents withdrew from the school,
vendors of textbooks and services halted shipments and rescinded agreements. Teachers,
working without pay for months at a time, created new curricula from scratch. Their
heavy workloads curtailed their ability to closely monitor each student, while communications
began to fail as subscriber accounts were closed. In the midst of all this, the needs
of Special Education students were neglected because of the high demand on resources
these activities require. Finally, the Department of Education brought suit in Commonwealth
Court, seeking an opinion clarifying its funding of The Einstein Academy Charter
School.
At this point it was unclear whether the school could continue to
function. The Tutorbots management group had loaned funds to the Trustees to maintain
operations, but its resources were not sufficient to cover the necessary outlays.
Staffing was reduced and all activities were minimized until the PDE suit was heard.
Angry parents banded together either to condem management's failures, or to rally
political support for the restoration of funds.
Several concerned mothers
had been corresponding through an online discussion group and decided to organize
a rally at the Capitol in Harrisburg. This was the moment when the online community
coalesced to become a formidable entity not easily dismissed. In two weeks a gathering
of some 300 mothers, children, teachers, friends and administrators from all parts
of the Commonwealth was planned and executed. The hardy pioneers of September had
circled their wagons, determined to survive all attacks and successfully complete
the school year in June. The Rally of February 19th brought the school's case before
the Legislature and the Press. It also brought together the living human beings for
whom the school had been created, and gave them an indominable sense of community.
Exactly
one month later, another group of 125 supporters of The Einstein Academy Charter
School filled a Harrisburg courtroom to overflowing as Judge Pellegrini heard arguments
relating to funds denied to the school.
Intense negotiations between the
parties to the suit took place during the following week and completely changed the
organization of the school's management. The Board of Trustees assumed direct control
of operations by hiring a Chief Executive Officer. The Secretary of Education and
the Chartering School District began to exercise increased oversight functions. Tutorbots
was stripped of its management duties, and withdrew its technical support several
days later. Only the Faculty remained unchanged. It began to rebuild the school once
again, relocating from Philadelphia to Morrisville, assuming the duties of School
Principal through a Coordinator's Group, and rewriting course materials to accommodate
a new delivery system.
The flow of emotion and information in this new venture was, at times, prodigious and intense, but out of all these exchanges a true learning community began to evolve. The resistance that local boards of education had exhibited towards WPCCS grew into a campaign to pressure the Pennsylvania legislature into rewriting the charter school law. More than half the school districts in the Commonwealth were impeding the flow of operating funds to The Einstein Academy Charter School, and to other schools, defying the Departmentof Education, which then began making these payments directly. Parents, on the other hand, were recruiting community support to convince lawmakers that these pioneering ventures deserved a fair trial to prove their value as models for education reform. Students, emmeshed in the intracies of these pioneering online ventures, were discussing each and every aspect of their experience and will undoubtedly have a great deal to say about the issues raised. The foundations of the "one way" style of education were being eroded rapidly. Those of the new learning community were being extended every day.
This experiment is far from complete, but already it is evident that a new model for delivering instruction is evolving.
These innovations clearly point to new directions for the transformation of our industrialized assembly line concept of school. We are no longer obliged to subject our children to a one size fits all education.While elite schools will undoubtedly persist for some time, the availability of the vast Internet resources for both information and communication will provide open access to curious minds all over the globe. A true democratizationof learning is at hand. The one way avenue will soon be closed as our children truly learn to make their way through the changed world of the twenty-first century. Their future will be of their own making. We can only watch in wonder as they lead us onward.