SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — A local school district is seeing more students than ever signing up for its high school virtual learning program, but that’s not what’s happening in the rest of the state.
The latest Washington State data shows fewer kids are choosing online learning options over the last few years even though more schools are offering it. Central Valley has become an outlier in that trend with a program that has changed students’ lives.
“A fair amount of students, over and over again will say, ‘I might not have graduated from school if not, if I didn’t have this opportunity,'” said Janice Boyd, principal of the Central Valley Virtual Learning High School.
Boyd was a part of the vision behind this program that opened its doors for the first time last year. It has since blossomed, and enrollment numbers have doubled.
“I just feel like this is the best route for me to go,” said Ashley Richard, a student at Central Valley Virtual High School.
Richard just became a full-time student at the school. One of her favorite parts is the scheduling. Rather than having to take your typical six classes a semester, she now takes two classes every six weeks.
“With the two classes for six weeks, it’s perfect. So now I can just focus on what I need to learn right now,” Richard said.
All the classes at the virtual high school are taught asynchronously, which means they are followed from home. However, should a student need some extra help, they can either come in to the virtual high school learning building or meet with a teacher over Zoom.
“I feel like now I can actually talk to my teacher and they’re just focused on me in that moment than a whole classroom full of kids,” Richard said.
In Central Valley, this option has grown more popular as the district says it has gotten inquiries daily from people interested in the program.
“For those who are really struggling in a typical high school, rather than having to just drop out or become what we call behind on their credit, there’s this option that they have available to them,” Boyd said.
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