When searching for the best virtual school, one option is to look at the Florida Virtual School (FLVS). Florida Virtual School (FLVS) is an online institution which serves students in school districts across the country and around the world.
FLVS is a global leader in providing flexible and innovative education solutions to students in the state of Florida, and because all their course material is provided online students living anywhere can access this high quality educational experience. The FLVS was founded in 1997, and they have won many awards since that time.
FLVS has the distinction of being the first state wide online public high school and considered by many to be the best virtual school. They have since expanded their operations to serve students from grades K-12 with a wide selection of flexible online courses which can meet various student and school district needs. For example, FLVS is able to offer free courses to Florida residents but they do charge tuition for out of state students.
The options for Florida virtual school students have expanded in recent years, but some critics are worried about the costs of this type of education versus the quality of the learning experience that students receive from online classes. The state of Florida is known for being a pioneer in the area of virtual education, and state programs continue to build on this foundation of success to extend the digital classroom options under the auspices of a new state law.
This law is designed to encourage more students in Florida to sign up for online courses versus a traditional classroom potion. However, some educators in the state are threatened by the move. They have expressed concerns that the new law is a state effort to cut costs rather than provide higher quality education, and they argue that many young people may not receive the best quality education in an online format.
The idea of the best virtual school does not necessarily mean that students do all of their work from a home computer. In North Miami Beach, Florida, for example students at a local high school have found that some of their classrooms are now filled with computers but no teachers. A new program in Miami Dade County has enrolled more than 7000 high school students in courses which teach core subjects in classrooms equipped with computers and no teachers.
The teachers have been replaced by facilitators who are not qualified teachers. They are simply monitors which are there to ensure that the students are making progress on the computerized curriculum and to trouble shoot any technical issues. These new virtual classrooms are known as e-learning labs, and they were implemented as part of the Florida Class Size Reduction Amendment.
