Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS) is an online school in Exeter, New Hampshire that allows students to learn at their own pace. The school provides courses for both full-time and part-time students from traditional schools across the state who choose to take VLACS courses individually. There are no prerequisites, assessments, or applications necessary to enroll in VLACS, and it is offered at no cost to students in New Hampshire. VLACS is part of a growing trend nationwide, with the number of full-time virtual schools increasing significantly, enrolling over 260,000 full-time students and millions of part-time students.
VLACS‘ success may be attributed to its focus on building strong student-teacher relationships. The school breaks up traditional courses into specific skills and abilities, called “competencies,” that students master through a personalized blend of traditional lesson plans, offline projects, and real-world experiences. VLACS’s funding is based on student performance rather than enrollment.
VLACS does things differently from most virtual schools. It puts a focus on building strong student-teacher relationships. It breaks up traditional courses into specific skills and abilities, called “competencies,” that students master through a personalized blend of traditional lesson plans, offline projects and real-world experiences. Also, VLACS’s funding is based on student performance rather than enrollment.
VLACS doesn’t follow the standard virtual-school practice of enlisting parents and guardians as unpaid “learning coaches” responsible for keeping students on task and motivated, tracking their progress, monitoring comprehension, supporting them when they struggle and acting as liaisons with teachers. That approach offloads too much of the teachers’ responsibilities onto parents.
At VLACS, teachers learn from their first day about the importance of frequent communication with students and families to overcome the distance inherent in virtual schooling. The school has a welcome call with every new student and their parents, where they explain course logistics. Students do the bulk of their learning independently, but they have more one-on-one interactions with teachers than they did in traditional schools.
VLACS middle school student Olivia Rando, 11, stands beside some of the trophies she’s won as a black belt in karate.
VLACS students are matched with a guidance counselor and an academic adviser who help them create and follow a “C3” (short for college, career and citizenship) readiness plan. The guidance counselors also spot red flags that a student is struggling and offer support during the usual teenage dramas. Finally, tutoring is available through four “skills coaches.”
VLACS English teacher Bette Bramante appreciates the capacity of every learner to excel when given the opportunity. She said that students need to be given the freedom to learn at their own pace and that teachers should provide them with the resources they need to succeed.
VLACS stands out as an online success story, with its full-time students typically equaling or modestly exceeding New Hampshire average scores on state reading and math tests, as well as on the SAT. By zigging when others zag, not only is VLACS outperforming much of the online field using the old yardstick of standardized tests, but it might also radically change how students learn.
