This is an interesting report. You can look up your state to learn how ALEC.org ranks it. At a glance, most States rank poorly overall according to ALEC.org
For those of you unfamilair with ALEC, click here ALEC Exposed
http://www.alecexposed.org/...
Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called "model bills" reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations.
In ALEC's own words, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state. DO YOU?
There is a lot of money in education and ALEC has been there to make sure the purveyors of for-profit education gets it's fair share.
There is a dirth of reporting. Google search
ALEC.org "Charter Schools"
ALEC.org Vouchers
ALEC.org Education
I think ALEC.org's new push is Digial Learning, or so it would seem based on this ALEC.org Report Card for education, listed state by state.
I found this interesting and wanted to share this with those here interested in education:
ALEC Report Card, D- on American Education
ALEC.org is a tough grader.
So, how does ALEC think you school is doing?
Does the ALEC report, highly flavored in negative scores, have an agenda?
I think so. It ends with
Raising Academic Quality for All Students by Customizing Education with Digital Learning
Apparently, virtual schools are wide-spread according to the ALEC's report:
Statewide Virtual Schools. Statewide virtual schools currently exist in 39 states...
Full-Time Online Schools. Another growing form of virtual education is full-time online schools, where students learn almost entirely from home without attending a traditional brick-and-mortar school. According to the Evergreen Education Group, 27 states and Washington, D.C., offer full-time online schools. Approximately 200,000 students are now enrolled in these full-time virtual schools.
Blended-Learning Schools. According to the Innosight Institute, most of the growth occurring in the online learning sector is through blended-learning like at Carpe Diem Academy in Yuma, Arizona. The innosight institute defines blended-learning as: “any time a student learns at least part at a supervised brick-and- mortar location away from home and at least in part through online delivery with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace.”
Some states are REQUIRING STUDENTS to take at least one on-line class, sending $$ to the investors of the Virtual Schools. What a team: States + Private Companies = $$ out of the pockets of students/parents.
Click here to see a List of Virtual Schools
I checked Utah - Trailblazers Open High School of Utah - Fees
Can you smell the money? Investors sure did.
This 2011 article from The Nation provides the details of this money making push, whose involved, and how former Governor Crist tried to stop it. Rick Scott is a virtual education champion, no surprise.
How Online Learning Companies Bought America's Schools
The Nation also produced this Virtual Education Interactive Map to help you see the penetration of virtual education as of the fall of 2011.
So, what happens when a child doesn't have the money?
My granddaughter's fees were over $400 this year for normal high school, plus the costs to be on drill team. I guess lower income kids just get LEFT BEHIND!
I never heard of fees for high school and extra-curricular activities until I moved to Utah from Massachusetts. Doesn't this create class (no pun) division within high schools?
The Virtual Learning Dream will be replacing real teachers with Avatars. The question I have is what will the Avatars create? Well educated kids? Kids with great social skills?
And, of course, Bill and Melinda Gates love this virtual school idea, too.
Your thoughts.