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In December, the District 300 school board approved extending the charter through 2014.
The renewal includes implementation of a virtual learning program serving kindergarten through 12th-grade students. The program is expected to expand this summer.
Aside from the district’s charter approval, the school operates independently under the management of the Northern Kane Educational Corp.
For the rest of the article, go to Cambridge Lakes charter school starts open enrollment
Blended learning can, but does not always, save money. It allows schools to expand course offerings, provides flexible scheduling and can re-engage dropouts. Some reports predict that more than 10 million students will participate in online instruction by 2015, up from 2.9 million in 2010.
How does it work? At the Chicago Virtual Charter School (CVCS), students study online from home four days a week and come to school for the fifth.
For the rest of the article, go to Leanna Landsmann: Blended learning: tech and teachers
We’re calling it “National School Choice Week.” The goal of these seven days is to raise awareness among our fellow citizens about the need for school choice. We believe that the only way all American school children are going to receive a quality education is if all families are allowed to choose the school option that best meets their needs.
“National School Choice Week” is not about elevating one school option above any others. Instead, we want parents to be free to choose from all schooling options: charter schools, religious schools, private schools, virtual schools, traditional public schools. . .whatever works best for the children, that’s what we’re for.
For the rest of the article, go to Three Reasons You Should Join “National School Choice Week”
The Hadley School for the Blind is holding its annual Braille Holiday Card Sale through Wednesday. The cards feature greetings in both print and Braille and all proceeds benefit The Hadley School for the Blind. The cards come in boxes of 25 and cost $30 per box. They are available through mail order, on site at the school or online at www.hadley.edu/holidaycard. Personal inscription is available. Album cards, wrapping paper and Advent calendars are also available. For more information call 1 (800) 323-4238.
Village of Niles employees and local banks are partnering together for a food drive to ensure that no person in Niles goes hungry this Thanksgiving and holiday season. Through Dec. 17, donations of non-perishable food items may be dropped off at any of the following locations: Village Hall, 1000 Civic Center Drive; Family Services and Senior Center, 999 Civic Center Drive; Niles Fitness Center, 987 Civic Center Drive; Niles Fire Department, 8360 W. Dempster St.; Niles Police Department, 7000 W. Touhy Ave.; Niles Public Works, 6849 Touhy Ave.; Niles Teen Center, 373 Golf Mill Center; Citibank, 8400 W. Dempster St.; Parkway Bank & Trust, 7601 N. Milwaukee Ave.; First Merit Bank 8720 W. Dempster St.; First American Bank 7747 Waukegan Road.
Stop by North Shore Senior Center’s Arthur C. Nielsen, Jr. Campus in Northfield and pluck a gift tag off the Giving Tree located in the Atrium to help disadvantaged seniors in need for the holidays. Purchase the requested gift ($25 or less) for the person on the tag, then wrap and return it. Their staff will hand deliver every gift in time for the holidays. Cash donations also may be made for those who cannot shop, and the agency will make the purchase in your name. Gifts should be returned to the Administration Office by Dec. 14. Their Northfield campus is located at 161 Northfield Road. Contact Maryann, (847) 784-6000.
The Center of Concern, an independent social service agency serving the elderly and others in need in the north and northwest city and suburbs, is accepting holiday gift donations for area senior citizens and needy families with children. The center also needs volunteers to deliver the gifts. Gifts appropriate for seniors include gift cards for local grocery or drug stores; large-print magazines and books; stationery or greeting cards and postage stamps; toiletries such as hand creams and soaps; non-perishable food items; and calendars. Gifts appropriate for families with children include gift cards, non-perishable food items, and Christmas gifts requested by individual children on their holiday wish lists. Donors who want to help a family should contact the center to find out what particular families need. Holiday gifts are accepted until Dec. 14. The center is located at 1580 N. Northwest Highway, Suite 310, in Park Ridge. Call (847) 823-0453.
For the rest of the article go to, Opportunities abound for holiday charity
The Community Unit School District 300 board on Dec. 13 approved a renewal agreement with Cambridge Lakes Charter School that expands class offerings to the high school level until August 2014.
School board members unanimously voted to approve the agreement that will add virtual learning courses for grades 9-12.
Cambridge Lakes Charter School is located on a 15-acre campus in Pingree Grove. This past summer administrators built a new building that will house the older students, separating them from the kindergarten through eighth-graders, said Larry Fuhrer, president of Northern Kane Educational Corp. that oversees the school.
For the rest of the article, go to D300 Extends Cambridge Lakes Charter School Agreement Through 2014
The one item missing in the citizen report was the superintendent’s and other top-ranking officials’ high wages and benefits.
To address the budget deficit, salaries and benefits definitely need to be reduced.
One solution is increasing virtual classes. Virtual classrooms will help address the financial problems while giving superior education.
For the rest of the article, go to Letter: Virtual learning saves money for Rockford schools
Educators have to look at the evidence of what works to accelerate student learning–and stop doing what doesn’t work. They cannot pursue the traditional model of reform, which Professor Michael Kirst has called “reform by addition.”
Technology is a good example. Technology can play a huge role in increasing educational productivity, but not just as an add-on or for a high-tech reproduction of current practice. Again, we need to change the underlying processes to leverage the capabilities of technology. The military calls it a force multiplier. Better use of online learning, virtual schools, and other smart uses of technology is not so much about replacing educational roles as it is about giving each person the tools they need to be more successful–reducing wasted time, energy, and money.
Let me throw out a few other examples to provide a sense of the potential opportunities here. Forty to 50 percent of all district expenses go to teacher compensation.
For the rest of the article, go to The New Normal: Doing More With Less
Each student enrolled in the virtual learning program has an Illinois-certified online teacher, online course material, and a teacher on campus to ease the adjustment in learning experiences.
More than 600 families within District 300 have inquired about Cambridge Lakes’ virtual learning plan. Meanwhile, more than 22,000 families statewide have expressed interest.
Benefits of establishing a new virtual charter school, to be called the Illinois Online Charter School, include increasing revenue for District 300 and better serving both gifted students and those who might have fallen behind.
For the rest of the article, go to D-300 charter school expansion in works
Last year, the school board renewed the charter for Cambridge Lakes in Pingree Grove through 2014, but ISBE asked Northern Kane for more information in January before it certified the district’s action. Specifically, it asked the charter holder to more accurately reflect its relationships with the school district and other partners, Crowley said.
But Northern Kane didn’t get that amended agreement to the district until August. And, in a discussion at Monday night’s board meeting, District 300 board members expressed discomfort signing off on the amended charter school agreement, which also includes some “significant” changes, according to the district’s attorney.
Those changes include extending the charter another year, through 2015; expanding the school from the current preschool to eighth grade up to grade 12; and expanding its virtual learning program to educate those high school students.
For the rest of the article, go to Cambridge Lakes Charter School faces ‘time crunch’
It’s a typical weekday, and Leah Rogers is greeting students as they arrive at school. She hasn’t seen any of these kids in a while, because they haven’t set foot in the building for a week … but that’s by design.
Rogers is acting head of the Chicago Virtual Charter School (CVCS), an innovative school that is a cross between a traditional school and a virtual one: Students work online from home four days a week and come to school for the fifth.
For the rest of the article, go to eSN Special Report: Blended learning on the rise
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