Lee Virtual Instruction Program deemed a real-world success

By Staff

The Lee Virtual Instruction Program has seen increased enrollment since its inception in 2009, with enrollment doubling, Lee County school board members were told Tuesday during a briefing meeting.

According to the program’s website, its mission “is to expand access for all Lee County students to rigorous, relevant curriculum that incorporates skills and knowledge students need to succeed in the 21st century.”

The Lee Virtual Instructional Program provides part-time and full-time opportunities for students in sixth through 12th grade and full-time opportunities for children in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Principal/Assistant Director Emerging Technology & Virtual Instruction for Lee Virtual Instruction Program Al Shilling said they had 82 full-time students when the program was introduced and had double the enrollment last year.

“The challenge for us is to be able to provide a quality virtual experience,” he said.

The enrollment, Shilling said is now well over 200 students, which includes approximately 100 children in elementary school.

Shilling said the enrollment for this year has already surpassed where he thought it would be. He said he believes they will see another 100 percent bump next year.

With the continued growth of the program, he said, they are also going to have to stay competitive with the courses they offer.

According to Shilling, the state of Florida leads the country and world with virtual education programs for the K-12 level.

The program now has eight full-time teachers and a guidance counselor.

The Lee Virtual Instruction Program provides both a virtual experience for students and a blended instruction experience for those enrolled, along with face-to-face activities for the students.

Shilling said they found that the face-to-face activities were helpful for the students last year, so they have teachers available for the students every day of the week, so they can come by and have access to whatever they need.

The students also have formal activities on the first Wednesday of the month and a field trip on the fourth Wednesday of the month.

“The monthly activities are a huge hit,” he said.

Some of the students who participate in the virtual program, Shilling said, have various disabilities that prevent them from meeting attendance requirements or travel a lot due to sports.

The Lee Virtual Instructional Program only receives funding when a student successfully passes a course.

“If the student does not complete (the course), we do not receive funding,” he said.

They are currently putting systems into place to make sure a student finishes the course started.

Board Member Jane Kuckel said she feels good about better servicing home-schooled students in the Lee County School District.

“This gives us the opportunity to do that in a much better way than we have in the past,” she said about the virtual program. “I appreciate those teachers that have stepped forward to become our guinea pigs for this; it is inspiring for me to see their creativity to make this work.”

Some legislative changes were brought forth this year for virtual schools, which includes the requirement of all students starting their freshman year to complete one virtual class before they graduate.

Another change, Shilling said, prior to this year, students had to complete two consecutive semesters at a charter school or regular public school before they could enroll in the Lee Virtual program.

For kindergarten and first grade students, that requirement no longer exists. Those students, who are in sixth through 12th grade, were allowed to enroll in the Lee Virtual program, as long as they took a Florida Virtual School or Florida Virtual Franchise course.

Early completion of the program was also brought up during the boards’ discussion, due to the valedictorian of last year’s class graduating from the program with a diploma and an associate of arts degree at 16 years old.

The students who finish the program receive the same diploma as any other graduate from the district.

The students also can participate in sports and other extra curriculum activities while enrolled in the program. Shilling said the students have to go through the student assignment office to be assigned to a school in their zone for extra curricular activities.

The board agreed that they need to get the word out about the success the program has had to the community.

“We need to market this,” Superintendent Dr. Joseph Burke said. “We do need to work on that. We have begun to have discussions on how to do that.”

Public service announcements and short video clips of what the program has accomplished were among some of the ideas shared during the meeting.

For information about Lee Virtual Instruction Program visit lvip.leeschools.net or call 239-337-8178.