North Carolina Virtual Public School
The North Carolina Virtual Public School is the nation’s second largest state-led virtual school with over 100,000 enrollments in SY 2018-2019. All 115 school districts and most charter schools have enrolled students in NCVPS courses. NCVPS offers over 150 different courses as a supplement to the local high school course catalog. We have six programs: Standard, Occupational Course of Study, Co-teaching, Flex Learning, English Language Learners, and Middle School courses. Our standard courses include honors, Advanced Placement, STEM, core courses, electives, CTE, test prep, health and physical education, and world languages. Certified North Carolina instructors teach all NCVPS courses and provide strategies for active student engagement through a variety of technology tools. Teachers are required to make personal contact with students and parents regularly to maximize the student-teacher relationship. Courses are free to students who enroll through their local North Carolina school. NCVPS is available to home school and private school students for a small fee.
Projects and highlights:
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NCVPS is piloting a franchise model in 2018. The franchise model will allow districts to use NCVPS courses and their own teachers. This will let districts tailor their e-learning programs to meet their specific scheduling and enrollment demands. District teachers will complete our Teacher-in-Training program before they teach in our franchised courses.
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After the success of its pilot, Flex Learning has been one of our fastest growing programs. Flex gives schools options for students in special situations who need solutions outside the regular scheduling windows during a school year. The program was initially designed for students who were in extended care or treatment facilities, but we quickly found the program provided solutions for students in a great variety of situations. Students are able to work at their own pace to complete the course, whether that’s accelerated or extended.
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Twenty-eight North Carolina school districts were severely impacted by two hurricanes in the fall of 2018, leaving thousands of families homeless or displaced for months. The usual flexibility of online courses was not going to deliver the type of relief that students in impacted areas needed. After a close review of course content, instructional teams, comprised of teachers and instructional leaders, quickly developed a modified course of study within each course that still taught all the power objectives and maintained the integrity of instruction. We have since further refined that process and now have systematic and systemic emergency and intervention plans.
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Our co-teaching program is another rapidly growing program for us. Modeled after our successful Occupation Course of Study program, co-teaching includes two teachers for each course, the face-to-face classroom teacher and our online teacher. Serving as an intervention for students in the greatest need, courses include Foundations of Math, Math 1, Math 2, English 2, and Biology. These courses have been identified as the most problematic for students who are at risk of dropping out. The program has been a great success for students of North Carolina.
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Our nationally recognized Peer Tutoring Center continues to expand with new and exciting programs. The Center’s programs include Quick Questions, Virtual Buddies, Peer Tutor, English Language Learners, Tutor Talk, Writing Center, Tech Support, and the new College Readiness Services. This service’s resources include Study Tips, Standardized Testing, Class Help, Extracurricular Activities, and the NCVPS Cafe. It also houses an interactive discussion forum for students to ask questions about topics like applying for college, preparing for exams, scholarships, internship opportunities, and extracurricular activities.
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NCVPS hosts several online conversation series for the general public. The NCVPS Cafe has added the Career Cafe lecture series to include presentations about career paths and jobs by those working in the field. Career Cafe provides a platform for our students to gain insight and exposure to potential career paths while still in middle or high school. Sessions focus on a large variety of careers and jobs opportunities. The NCVPS Talks series hosts presenters who are passionate about online learning and the digital world.
