California Connections Academy @ Ripon will open as a public charter school in the fall, becoming the latest in an exploding array of online options in the area.
It will join this year's online startups — Turlock Unified's eCademy Charter at Crane and Modesto City School's Modesto Virtual Academy — as well as current district online programs and at least a dozen independent charters.
Online schools have, it appears, gone viral.
The Ripon charter was granted by Ripon Unified School District in January; the school will serve kindergartners through graduating seniors.
Though its home district is in San Joaquin County, it is eligible to sign up students from all adjacent counties as well: Alameda, Amador, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Sacramento, Santa Clara and Stanislaus.
Ripon Unified Superintendent Louise Johnson said the district did its homework before granting the charter and sees it as partnering with the online group. The district will provide some arm's-length oversight, but the charter school will manage its own finances and answer to its own board of directors.
"We were very favorably impressed," Johnson said. "The program is quite interesting because they have a mix," she said, listing online webcasts, real-time classes in which students interact with the teacher and classmates, and traditional work.
The district's enrollment is stable, Johnson said, and she sees the charter as attracting home-schoolers and students who were using other online options.
"I think the instructional program is solid and if I'm going to have students in a virtual school, I want the instruction to be that solid," Johnson said.
That kind of kick-the-tires thinking is exactly what Brian Bridges recommends. Bridges leads the statewide California Learning Resources Network from his Modesto office.
"If I was a parent, I would want to see a demonstration before I bought it, just like you would buying a car," Bridges said. His organization reviews online courses used by many schools, posting those and consumer reviews at http://clrn.org.
Contrary to popular belief, he said, online schools are every bit as tough as regular classes.
"It requires a fair amount of discipline. And if you didn't have that taking a class on campus, you're not going to do it at home without a teacher looking over your shoulder," Bridges said.
At Modesto Virtual Academy, senior Emilio Rodri-guez disagreed. The distractions at school were too much, he said, and he's doing better with the online classes he takes at home.
His mother, Sandra Rodriguez, agreed. "His grades are up," she said as the two waited for Emilio's weekly appointment with teacher Bryan Rogers.
Student Shawn Harmon said he was bored with his classes at Enochs and is able to pass classes faster in three hours a day online, leaving more time for basketball and television.
The virtual school is still part of the school district, allowing students to stay enrolled at their home school, Rogers said. Students can go to proms, participate in clubs and sports, and at graduation will participate in the ceremony with everybody else.
"We give them an alternative, but we're not taking away the good stuff," Rogers said.
The school is what's called a blended model. Online work is done independently, but students also meet once a week with the classroom teacher.
"You ultimately cannot replace the teacher," Rogers said.
He should know. With four teaching credentials and a master's degree in curriculum instruction and computer education under his belt, Rogers is working on a doctorate in educational leadership with a focus on educational technology.
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