America's children are taught, from their earliest days, that there is one true path to follow in preparation for life as an adult.
This almost religious belief supports and protects a huge industrial complex that produces a tiny elite citizenry groomed to perpetuate an unrealistic expectation for success in life. So pervasive is the influence of this teaching that we seldom question the established methods for educating our children. An entire culture is based upon these prescriptions for the regulation of childhood.
Again and again we are drawn back to the notion that faithful attendance, complete obedience, diligent application, and wholehearted devotion to the scholarly ideal will properly prepare our youth for the years ahead. No matter how strongly this belief is held, in truth, the state of our education establishment calls for questioning its validity.
Parents who are dissatisfied with conditions and activities associated with schools find themselves compelled to regain control over these extensive periods of time set aside for formalized learning. Truly heroic efforts are required of both parent and child if alternatives to the socially determined path are sought and pursued. Doubts continually assail these non conforming individuals as they are bombarded and pressured by regulations and judgments propounded by the "reformers" of two centuries ago. Yet in their hearts these devoted parents know that their children are no longer cast in the mold prescribed by pre industrial America.
Although studies warn that our schools are failing, we continue to insist that children not be deprived of the opportunities to advance on this mandated ladder of achievement. The fear of sanctions intimidates most parents who would truly like to find another way to bring up their children. Frustrated and coerced, these well-meaning families often find that what they have done is to reproduce school at home. How can we free ourselves and our children from this servitude to a one way prescription for the education of the young?
There are voices crying out in this wilderness, advocating original, individual initiatives for acquiring the knowledge, skills, and wisdom to live a full, rich life in the twenty-first century. But because the ideas propounded appear so outrageous and unworkable they are quickly relegated to the oblivion of the "lunatic fringe". Recent innovations in technology, however, are enabling more and more parents to explore, locate, and identify suitable alternatives for opening up the world to their children's inquiring minds.
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 schools are now in operation serving 28,545 pupils throughout the state. One innovative approach 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 Pennsylvania Cyber 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 reside refused to transfer funds to WPCCS as required by law. Subsequent rulings by courts in which these suits were filed found that the districts' refusals were not supported by law.
In the 2001-2002 school year two new 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 makes these newest schools controversial is that they are operated by private consulting groups who contract with the school's board of directors 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 are reaching out to individuals statewide, offering a coherent innovative program of instruction.
One of these operating groups, K-12 has begun offering 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 subject fields of academic instruction. The Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School uses this curriculum to provide parents with the necessary resources to carry out the program at home. Teachers provide daily assignments, make assessments, and offer assistance and consultations where required. Regional meetings are held to assist parents and students in their undertakings.
The other privately led group, known by the acronym TEACH , has adopted a different approach, that of the newly evolving concept of the online learning community. Here, the features of established distance learning projects sponsored by several universities are combined with original electronic publications developed by the group's founders, as well as with books, computer programs and instructional sites provided by a variety of publishing houses. Parents, working with the school staff, develop individualized programs for their children that meet the requirements of the Pennsylvania Department of Education under the charter school Law. Teachers communicate directly with students and monitor their activities and progress as they work online. Assignments are made utilizing the school's course materials as well as additional Internet resources. Students participate in class discussions, communicate directly with teachers and each other in secure spaces, and submit their work for assessment to the class, to working groups, and to the teacher as requested. Parents communicate with the teachers, make suggestions to the staff, and share views and experiences with each other by email and discussion groups.
The flow of information in this new venture is, at times, prodigious, but out of all these exchanges a true learning community is beginning to evolve. The resistance that local boards of education exhibited towards WPCCS has evolved into a campaign to pressure the Pennsylvania legislature into rewiriting the charter school law.. More than half the school districts in the Commonwealth are impeding the flow of operating funds to TEACH and other schools, defying the Department of Education which is making these payments directly. Parents, on the other hand, are recruiting community support to convince lawmakers that these pioneering ventures deserve a fair trial to prove their value as models for education reform. Students, emmeshed in the intracies of these pioneering online ventures, are 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 are being eroded rapidly. Those of the new learning community are being extended every day.
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 democratization of 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.
copyright 2001, David G. Plank