Jana Beth Francis, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning for DCPS, said there are several reasons why students might choose to participate in the virtual academy.
"A lot of students are staying at home with their non-school aged children, some with their parents, some of them working more than 30 hours a week and they're trying to finish classes at night because they're a primary financial support for their family," she said.
Francis said the district still believes that "the best education is to be in-person" but knows the virtual academy may be the best way some students can complete high school.
"For some students, the virtual academy has offered them an opportunity to really move forward in their academic career," she said.
Students in the virtual academy use a course software program.
"It's very much in the hands of the student to be motivated," she said.
Before transitioning to the virtual academy, the district had a night school program at Heritage Park High School.
"You would come to school after hours, but with technology, we realized that all the classes were online and students didn't need to come to a physical building," Francis said.
Since launching the virtual academy, Francis said the district has seen an improvement compared to the previous night school program.
"We focused on increasing communications and making sure students were receiving weekly messages and that they realized they had a person helping to map out their plan," she said.
Francis said many students in the program are "credit deficient."
"That's the bulk of the students and some are there because they're placed there," she said. "Our goal in the program and where we've seen success is the fact that we've had 17 graduates."
While that graduate number may not seem like a lot, Francis said, it's more than the district saw during the night school program.
One of the benefits of housing the program in the Office of Teaching and Learning is that there are content specialists, Francis said.
"If a student needs additional support in math, we are able to connect them to one of our content specialists for that additional support," she said.
Francis said the 2022-23 academic year was the first year the virtual academy was its own school.
"It has a school number and it's considered an alternative school in Daviess County," she said. "This is the end of our very first year."
With the virtual academy, students are still required by the state to have a minimum of 22 credits to graduate.
"Those are core (classes) plus a few electives and the state sets that," Francis said. "That is what's required to graduate from any of our alternative high schools."
Any school system can add additional credits, Francis said.
"Our two traditional high schools require 26 credits, but we do allow students in our alternative programs to graduate with the state minimum of 22," she said.
Francis said students can utilize the virtual academy until they are 21 years old, but that there are some provisions.
"If a student wants to come back and finish their diploma, there are options if they're past 21 depending on how close they are," she said. "We work with those families on a case-by-case basis."
The funding for virtual academy is based on the idea that students are completing classes, Francis said.
"For every credit a kid completes, the school system gets funding," she said. "Our target is to get kids to finish classes and credits. It's not set up in our funding structure the same way as a daily attendance; it's all generated by a completion of courses."
©2023 the Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Ky.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
