NORTH CAROLINA VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS (NCVPS):

Angela Schmith, Dara Schwartz

A Case Study in Educational Technology

What’s the Problem?

Not all schools are the same!

In NC…

• 45% offer AP Biology, 66% offer AP English and Calculus, 58% offer AP History• High range of average SAT scores

The Solution: NCVPS Founded in 2002 by the state

government’s Business Education Technology Alliance

Offers over 100 Honors and AP courses through an online learning platform (Blackboard/Moodle)

Available to any NC public school student with a computer, regardless of location

Positive Effects of NCVPS Opens up opportunity to

take advanced classes, some of which are not even offered in well-off schools

Allows for enhanced communication among students in the state

Therefore allowing students to be exposed to more viewpoints on key issues

Testimonials

“NCVPS helped my high school experience by supplementing my knowledge with further knowledge in a field not typically taught in high schools. Also I got to interact with bright kids around the state and see how their opinions differed from mine on issues such as supercomputers and nanotechnology.” – Jessica Zhou, Former NCVPS AP Computer Science Student

Sources http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/acc

ountability/reporting/sat/2012/satreport2012.pdf

http://www.ncvps.org/

Images http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/

report_card_1.gif

http://registration.ncvps.org/ncvps/static/images/banner.jpg

http://info.kauaicc.hawaii.edu/admissions/fa/images/computer%20std.jpg