TOPIC: “Distance Ed & Blended Learning Programs for Progress”

Presented by:
Patricia (Trish) Edmonson

Patricia is a full time educator at Silver Stage Middle School, and serves as the Lyon County School District Online Coordinator for enrollment and tech support.

Patricia has been recognized as 2009 Lyon County School District Teacher of the Year, and was the 2010 recipient of the Alan Pannell Memorial Award for Excellence in Leadership. Her Service to public school education is preceded by eight acclaimed years of military service, with recognition for dedication, leadership and teamwork. She brings enthusiasm, excitement, and creativity to address needs of all students, and will share implementation process & progress made in the Lyon County School District with Online Distance and Blended Learning programs.

sponsored by

NASA: Nevada Association of School Adminstrators

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Apply to be one of 100 schools that will be granted free access to Reading Horizons online software this summer! Save your struggling readers from falling further behind this summer! Apply to provide your school with FREE ACCESS to Reading Horizons online software for grades 4-12 this summer!

Apply before June 1st to qualify. The first 100 applications will be accepted.

Learn More & Apply Now!

*The students at Roosevelt Middle School gained an average of 2.4 reading levels using Reading Horizons as a 6-week summer program!

DynEd for iPad®

Designed to support students with current user-ID and professional coaching, DynEd App for iPad® goes with you, increasing your opportunities to improve your English language skills wherever you are. If you are not currently a student, DynEd can help you find a coaching partner to launch your English language learning adoption.

Accelerate your learning

Accelerate your English language learning by taking the DynEd courseware with you. Research shows that frequent, short study sessions improve language retention and significantly increase student achievement. DynEd for iPad synchronizes with your existing DynEd study status, allowing current users to take advantage of DynEd’s new mobility to fast track their progress. DynEd for iPad allows you to study anytime, anywhere.

Benefit from our experience

DynEd engineers have developed a compendium of troubleshooting tips to improve the user experience of DynEd for iPad. Benefit from their expertise to quickly turn iPad into your new DynEd study buddy.

The quickly approaching Charter School Workshop hosted by EdOptions High School is excited to have Chris Kotterman from the Arizona Department of Education speak about the current policy landscape for online instruction in the state of Arizona.

His presentation will include the history of Arizona Online Instruction, the current funding model for online courses, and challenges in implementation. Finally, he will examine the political issues surrounding online instruction, and some possibilities for where it is headed in the coming years.

Keynote Speaker: Chris Kotterman
Arizona Department of Education
Deputy Director of Policy Development & Government Relations

Topics to be covered include:

• Options for Hospital Homebound students
• Using multiple platforms, including K12 products and Elluminate, to give a Hospital Homebound students access to the same information as their classmates
• The successful partnership between the Volusia High School District and K12 Inc

Presenters:
Kim Spencer, Program Manager – Hospital Homebound and Alternative Learning Programs
Gregg Levin, Sr. VP of Marketing K12

Learn More

Learn More 

HISTORY OF THE TRUST

The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust was established upon the death of Nina Mason Pulliam on March 26, 1997, to support for 50 years the causes she loved in her home states of Arizona and Indiana.

The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust seeks to help people in need, especially women, children and families; to protect animals and nature; and to enrich community life primarily in metropolitan Phoenix and Indianapolis.

In 2001, the Trust established the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars program in tribute to the life and values of its benefactress. Participating schools are Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Ivy Tech State College-Indianapolis Campus, Arizona State University (ASU), and Maricopa Community Colleges (MCC).

Many educators and teachers already know about common core, but some don’t.

The Reading Horizons reading system aligns with Common Core State Standards and now you can easily find that correlation on our website.

Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.

Visit the Reading Horizons website to learn more.

Professional Development Credit

Earn some by listening to one of our most popular webinars, Using Learning Centers to Meet Needs in Multilevel ESL Classrooms with Robin Lovrien Schwarz, PhD.

Start the webinar now ›

Our next Branch Out Series webinar is scheduled March 22, 2012 at 1:00 PM MST. Kathy Chappell-Muncy, MS Ed.Reading and Literacy, will present, The Need for Explicit, Intensive Phonics Delivered Through Orton-Gillingham Based Methodology.

Register for the webinar ›

Be More Confident

From a one-day intensive methodology overview to the highly acclaimed three-day teacher in-service workshop and everything in between, Reading Horizons offers exciting opportunities for teachers to meet and learn how to effectively teach students how to read quickly and improve test scores.

Visit our website to learn about each workshop and associated fees.

“This is exactly what I was hoping to learn. My students come to class afraid and embarrassed to sound out words. I think that this will help them solve the mystery!”- Debra, Long View Elementary

Looking for the Next Site of the Month!

Reading Horizons is currently accepting applications from customers for Site of the Month.

If you have a great story to tell us about how Reading Horizons has made a difference for your school, send your comments, pictures, and videos (if you’d like) to info@ReadingHorizons.com.

Sites that are selected are promoted on our website and other marketing materials. Additionally, the selected site receives one-year access to the Reading Horizons Online Workshop plus a substantial discount on products. Specific details are available through an Account Representative.

Next Month’s Focus: What Research Reveals AboutReading Problems in the Classroom

As you are probably aware, the American Education Corporation (AEC), publisher of the A+ family of products, has become part of K¹², the leader in online K-12 education. K¹² currently serves more than 2,000 districts in all 50 states and has delivered more than 4 million online courses to students. We have invested more than $250 million in best-in-class curriculum and learning systems, and were recently rated the #1 leading provider of online curriculum to school districts across the United States by EdNET Insight’s “State of the K-12 Market” annual survey.

This new relationship will bring additional support and resources to serve your school and students in expanded capacities. We’re excited to offer you a variety of new products and programs to better meet your needs. Some examples:

• We can now offer additional individualized learning solutions– for example, a broader curriculum catalog that includes full-time online schooling, online courses including a full suite of world languages for K-12, and instructional and support services. And these are just a few examples from K¹²‘s portfolio, which offers the broadest and deepest set of individualized solutions in the industry.
• K¹² provides access to a broader customer base, rich in insights and best practices in all aspects of online learning. You will soon have access to K¹²‘s new collaborative networking community, EdulinK¹², where you can connect, share and learn more about online programs, student achievement, best practices, instructional strategies and more.
• Our dedicated Client Services teams will work with your current A+ representatives and school or district personnel to support the expanded individualized learning solutions we now can offer you.
• To learn more about the comprehensive K¹² product portfolio available to schools and districts, visit k12.com/educators.

We look forward to continuing to serve you with K¹²‘s best-in-class individualized learning solutions, and welcome your ideas for leveraging the power of K¹² andA+ to further your students’ success. As always, please contact your local A+ representative with any questions, comments or suggestions.

Thank you for your continued partnership.

Thomas A. Shively
Senior Vice President, AEC Division, K¹²

Gregg Levin
Senior Vice President, Client Services, K¹²

CLICK HERE

Online learning is growing rapidly across the United States, responding in part to the needs of these millennial students, as more and more learners and educators become familiar with the benefits of learning unconstrained by geography and time. Students are finding increased opportunity, flexibility, and convenience; teachers are discovering a new way to reach students, some of whom were not successful in traditional schools and courses; and administrators are exploring ways to offer a wider range of courses to students and professional development opportunities to teachers. In these ways, online learning strengthens public education’s goals of equity and access for all students.

Dr. Vietti is currently the Executive Director of eScholar Academy an WASC Accreditated Online Charter School located in Red Bluff California. Over the past 40 years, he has served as a High School teacher, Director of Vocational Education, Alternative Education, K-12 Principal and Superintendent.

Since 1985 he has used many computer assisted instructional programs and online courses from many different vendors. He will talk about his experiences as it realtes to helping students be successful in an online enviornment. Most importanly he will provide a list of features to look for when selecting an online vendor and why it is so important to provide an enviornment that creates a friendly atmosphere where students can feel supported by teachers, students, administrators and parents.

See full Agenda Here

With the suggestion that Apple is creating a new tool that will allow publishers to make an e-book version of their textbooks, as easily as creating a playlist on their iPod, there is no doubt that technology is becoming the future of education.

It would certainly be easier for children to carry around an iPad, with all of their books and school resources combined in one, than to lug several dusty textbooks in order to find one chapter useful within it.

iPads and Classrooms

It may even be cheaper to furnish children with an iPad, and do away with pricey hardbacks. The myriad of educational apps, ranging from grammar and maths assistance, to anatomy and language development, make learning a little more interesting.

There is no denying the logic, and excitement, that technology brings to a classroom. But with books becoming more and more obsolete, will we be missing something of the old ways if they disappear completely?

Traditional Learning Methods

Libraries were once almost as recognized in a town as the local church. They offered a safe, solid haven in a busy world, a meeting place for people of a similar mind, and even recently, a chance to discover a book you might never have considered on Amazon. Libraries offer the luxury of reading a few chapters, undisturbed, among its tranquil shelves- as yet Amazon haven’t come up with a digital version, but if they gave it a try, it would certainly be interesting to behold.

Now libraries are under threat. With news that more and more are being forced to close every day due to lack of investment, and the uproar this has caused among town residents, there is no denying that libraries are still an important part of the community, and books, as cumbersome as they may be to some, still have their uses.

The History of Education

We take education for granted in a world where without it, even the meanest of jobs are out of reach. In the early nineteenth century, schooling was a private affair. It wasn’t until the early twentieth century that schooling was available to every child, across the country. Come the nineteenth century textbooks were available in schools, but with very limited choice. Even today, some schools do not have the chance to choose from a wide range of educational materials, but must take what they can get.

The Value of Technology in the Classroom

That is not to say that the technological advances in education, and an increase in interaction with educational materials, do not have their merits. Kindle users are already able to take out eBooks on loan from most libraries, with the option to buy it if they wish. Some publishers have made their eBooks available to libraries: all of which has given the library a new, technological, lease of life.

Consider today’s educational spectrum. Now there is choice to go to school, to get help from a private tutor, to be home schooled, and now, to be educated through online learning. Flexible education is upon us, and technology is the instrument that has largely provided these options.

However, it goes without saying that there would be no fun in having a digital teacher, they enrich the learning process with unique insight, I’m not sure there will be an app sophisticated enough to replace a human teacher, and so somewhere, the technological line must be drawn.

Technology for Distracted Learners

For the child who finds a classroom distracting, or finds it difficult to interact, technological resources are a lifeline in a strange and confusing world. The important thing to mention about online learning: there is still a teacher at the other end of the computer, there to help the child with any problems they may be having. Online learning is not necessarily the end of interaction. There are still workshops that can be attended to tackle specific problems, and a real sense that help is there if needed.

For the time being, there is still the chance to buy a book, and teachers have not been replaced with digital counterparts. Without libraries, obscure authors will not be discovered in the far corners of the shelves. Despite the wonderful possibilities eBooks can bring to education, don’t forget the wonderful joy of turning paper pages, as you hurry to discover the conclusion to a gripping novel you discovered in the library.

If indeed Apple is bringing about textbook-friendly technology, it will bring with it even more exciting developments in education. But in the midst of the technological revolution, let’s hope libraries do not become a casualty.

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Tina Perry has been writing on a freelance basis for over five years. She began her career providing informational booklets for drug abuse treatment programs and has since developed a keen interest in educational work. She specialises in education and technology and how the two can be combined.