Guest Commentary: North Carolina's John Locke Foundation on How Teacher Certification is Hobbling Virtual Schools are Virtual Irrelevant

Terry Stoops is Director of Education Studies for North Carolina's John Locke Foundation. In an article written for the foundation, Stoops says looks at how teacher certification is slowing the growth of virtual education.
Here are Stoops key facts:
• Teacher-certification requirements are among the most onerous rules enforced by state education agencies and have the potential seriously to limit the scope, quality, and accessibility of virtual schooling for years to come.
• By design, certification requirements prohibit unlicensed individuals who reside within a state — such as higher education faculty, private-sector professionals, private school faculty, and independent scholars — from teaching virtual courses.
• States should allow their virtual schools to have the flexibility to focus on hiring candidates who possess the requisite skills and relevant knowledge and experience, rather than those who possess mandated credentials.
Click here to read the complete article.

Guest Commentary: Edcuation Reform? There's an App for That

Bryan Setser has virtual ed cred.
Setser is the executive director and chief executive of the North Carolina Virtual Public School, one of the nation's largest state-led virtual education programs.
His blog, "The Virtual Learning Consultant" is a must read in the virtual education movement. An advocate of blended learning, Setser believes that the school of the future might be might look more like an App Store.
"Such a vision does not disconnect students or learning. Rather, it provides a process by which students, educators, parents, and politicians have far more choices than they do now in terms of financing, reforming, and experiencing education," Setser writes.
Click here to read his complete post.

Guest Commentary: Raleigh News & Observer--Virtual School, Real Results

Terry L. Stoops is the director of educational studies for the John Locke Foundation, a North Carolina-based, nonprofit think tank dedicated to "a North Carolina of responsible citizens, strong families, and successful communities committed to individual liberty and limited, constitutional government."
In a recent op-ed in the Raleigh News & Observer, Stoops took a hard look at the ups and downs of the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS). He points out that after its 2007 launch, the NCVPS stumbled. New leadership was brought in and now NCVPS has the nation's second highest number of course enrollments and is a leader in the virtual education movement."In an era when schools, districts and states must do more with less, extensive virtual schooling can no longer exist as an accessory. It has become a necessity," Stoops writes.
Click here to read more about how North Carolina's virtual school has produced real results.

Guest Commentaray: Baby Ben's Blended New World--A View from a RTTT winner

When it rains, it pours. That old adage is connected to good news, too, at least it is for Bryan Setser, chief executive of the North Carolina Virtual Public School.
On Aug. 21, 2010, Setser and his wife welcomed a new son into the world--Benjamin Marcus Setser.
On Aug. 24, 2010, North Carolina was announced as one of the winners of the Race To The Top competition. The federal dollars will allow North Carolina to expand its online learning opportunities.
Setser is one of the North Carolinians who has his hand on the policy and implementation wheel to make sure the money is used effectively.
In a post from his blog "The Virtual Learning Consultant," Setser talks about welcoming his son into a "blended world," a place where digital natives blend cutting-edge technology with a firm foundation in the virtues of the society they will some day guide.
The new father and school leader says in this world, "Zip codes are not going to be a barrier for the kids of a blended generation. They’ll be able to access not only the highest quality courses and teachers in their state, but they’ll be able to access those same courses for free from places like MIT, as well as instructors from Singapore. Shouldn't we all be able to select the world’s best teachers, in the best courses, providing the best lessons, modules, or mobile apps by the time Baby Ben is in elementary school?"
Read the complete post here.