Summer courses link online
To get all the credits necessary to graduate, many students take zero periods and summer school classes. Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District (PVPUSD) will soon offer a third option for accruing credits. PVPUSD is collaborating with Pacific Coast High School to offer a variety of University of California (UC)- and California State University (CSU)- approved high school (“a-g”) courses online and run by Between Fuel Education (FuelEd).
The school board hopes to improve time management and make it easier for students to gain required school
credits needed to graduate. While online classes will be just as challenging as normal classes, the school board hopes that online courses will give students a chance to learn at their own pace, whether faster or slower than in a typical classroom atmosphere.
Students will be given the option of taking an online course in the summer or during the school year. The offered
courses taken during the school year will cover the same subject matter as a normal class taken during the schoolb year, and summer online courses will also allow students to enjoy summer break while still gaining credit points.
A schoolwide email was sent out on Feb. 25 formally announcing the online courses. Courses available are World History (available to 10th graders), United States History (available to 11th graders) and Government/ Economics (available to 12th graders).
Applications for the online courses Summer courses link online were also sent out in this email. The program has 200 course spots overall. Since the number of students who applied exceeded what the PVPUSD district could accommodate, applicants were randomly chosen through a lottery on March 14 and emails were sent notifying those selected. Those who were not enrolled were put on a wait list.
Fifteen teachers trained by the Online Teacher Training Program (OTTP) will be provided for the PVPUSD online courses from schools within the district. Despite being an online course system, these teachers will meet their students
in physical classes at least once a week, as well on the first day of classes, midterms and final exams. Planning for the new courses began in August 2015 and has continued since; plans are still incomplete and will most likely continue into June. To get teachers’ point of view, a committee made up of several instructors of various subjects has been created. Teachers such as Latin teacher Bettina de Guzman and English teacher Tim Coleman have been part of the decision-making committee since the program’s infancy.
“[This project is] one of the best examples of districts working together that I’ve ever seen,” Coleman said. Decisions on software on which the classes will be run and styles of teaching are still in the finalization process. Official statements will be released as time progresses. Once decided upon, the agreement will be viable until June 30, 2017. Final decisions will be settled and released to the public before summer2016, when the online courses begin.
