Did you know that over 100K of hours go into developing a program for online students? These programs have to go through a first draft process in which the program is first conceptualized. Then researchers developed a complete plant Implement into the classroom and online learning. Once the plan is developed, researchers must find a School District online reading program that is willing to implement their program. Then the study is conducted on students. No, the students or parents don’t realize they are being immersed in a study.

Researchers gather all of the important data over many months of research and evaluation. Then…. and only then.. they have all of the critical data they needed, it is time to see if the program is viable and should be implemented on a district-wide basis. Whew… that’s a lot to consider, so when I think of companies like the ones below who have had years of trial and error:

1. Read Theory offers online reading activities for all ages and ability levels.

2. Khan Academy is widely known for its free math programs and assistance.

3. ALEKS: From McGraw-Hill, a web-based assessment and learning system that uses adaptive questioning to determine students’ needs.

4. Tween Tribune by Smithsonian tons of non-fiction articles on this site, and you can level it by Lexile (reading) level.

5. Edgenuity Online learning digital curriculum for primary or supplementary instruction. Give students the support they need exactly when they need it

6. IXL Math: Engaging items, real-world scenarios, and unlimited questions. Individualized math practice. Teachers can choose the strand and set up students to work independently.

Is your school losing students at a rapid rate? If so, how are your changing things in your district?

Depending on the type of program and the amount of data required, some researchers really do not know if the program they created has achieved its goals until a few years later. Now, this is not the case with all programs… most researchers can tell if their program is doing well by the time the middle of the semester comes to a close. So, gathering data and evaluating its effectiveness is part of the process of developing educational techniques and programs. We know and understand that developing effective online learning programs is crucial to our modern K-12 educational landscape. As more and more families choose to homeschool their children, districts must adapt or lose their students to other districts (Bauerlein & Valerie, 2020).

Online programs are developing every day and trying to serve every student so… who does your program actually help?

K-12 online learning programs are one of the fastest-growing sectors of the educational field, and school districts are desperate to meet demands in that field. Teachers working in collaboration with an online learning experience and individual educational goals are more desired than ever before. So, it’s important to have thoroughly developed online learning programs to meet the demands of the 21st century. Developers are identifying student performance of the program to meet the needs of every student but not all programs are created to adapt to every student’s needs or school/classroom situation. A great example of an adaptive school that provides plenty of resources to its online learning programs as well as its brick-and-mortar classrooms is Huntley High School.

How are your teachers “Failing Fast, and Moving Forward?“

The Blended learning initiative in this school allows teachers to spend as much time on online learning as well as their real-life classrooms. Teachers were able to design their classrooms in a way that made sense to the students that they serve. Their team worked through a basic trial-and-error for their online learning strategies. Yes, I think this is where we are; although we are all struggling through this pandemic; teachers are resilient and always find ways to support students using the resources that they have to make things work.

References

Bauerlein, Valerie. “School Funding: Three New Approaches to Paying for K-12 Education.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 21 Nov. 2020, www.wsj.com/articles/school-funding-three-new-approaches-to-paying-for-k-12-education-11605970994.

Schwartz, Sarah. “Survey: Teachers and Students Are Struggling With Online Learning.” Education Week, Education Week, 1 Dec. 2020, www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/survey-teachers-and-students-are-struggling-with-online-learning/2020/11.