MacGregor Campbell, consultant
As teachers in the Chicago, Illinois public school district (CPS) ready for a fourth day of their union's strike, some of the district's over 400,000 students are turning to online classes while their physical schools are shut down.
Some 29,000 CPS teachers walked out on Monday, citing a number of complaints including salaries, how to assess teacher performance, and working conditions. With schools closed, the families of CPS students are scrambling to come up with alternatives - including offering online education for older students with access to the internet.
The district is allowing high school seniors -17 and 18-year-olds in their 12th year of schooling - to take some classes online for credit, in order to keep them on track for graduation and college plans. The courses offered range from basic algebra? and world history to Advanced Placement calculus, computer science, and Spanish. These courses are run by online vendors employing state-certified online teachers who will be available by phone, chat, and email.
Online-only education is still small in the US, but enrollments are increasing rapidly. As New Scientist wrote in a special report on the issue last week, the rise of online schooling could change how children are educated across America. Whether that's a good thing, however, remains to be seen.
For some Chicago students, it may become more than an emergency stopgap. According to the website set up as a guide for seniors who opt to take online classes, "students will be exposed to a new way to work toward their education that they [sic] may choose to continue these courses, even when school is back in session".
Students will be able to continue an online course after the strike ends, or drop it without it appearing on the student's record.
CPS is also home to the Chicago Virtual Charter School, a public online school run by private virtual school service provider K12 since 2006. The school serves students in kindergarten through 12th grade and employs a hybrid or "blended" approach where some classes and activities are done online and some take place in a classroom. Because it is a charter school and thus employs non-union teachers, it will stay open during the strike, according to the school's website.
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