History: The Need for a K-12 e-Learning Organization

In October 2000, a national virtual high school symposium, “Building and Growing Your Online School” was organized by CiTE, a division of eCollege. eCollege is a commercial provider of course management systems for the K-12 and higher education market. The idea for the conference grew out of repeated requests for information to the existing virtual schools, particularly in Kentucky and Florida. As those states were the first to organize at the state-level, they were strong models for other states. More than 200 attendees participated. Feedback throughout the meeting was very positive, with comments that it was a much needed ‘first meeting of its kind.’ In the feedback session at that meeting, someone first suggested the need for a national organization for virtual high schools.

Also in October, 2000, the National School Board Association’s (NSBA) “Teaching and Learning Conference” gathered a group of virtual high school leaders and led an informal discussion about the needs of K-12 virtual schools. There was a similar sense of need for more interaction and communication among the virtual schools. Out of that meeting, a listserv was developed, but the group has not been able to organize under the auspices of the NSBA.

In response to the initial request for a national association, there were efforts to locate a potential ‘home’ for a virtual high school association within an existing organization. Organizations that were contacted included the National School Boards Association, the National Education Association, the SchoolTone Alliance, and representatives from the former Web-Based Education Commission (David Byer, former executive director and Irene Spero, former public affairs director). WCET was also approached to serve this audience, but it was determined that K-12 falls outside their mission and scope. In each case, there was expressed support for the creation of a national association designed to work with virtual high schools, but no indication that a current organization was willing to expand their own mission and role to serve this new audience. These national education leaders were similarly unaware of any other existing education-related organization that would be interested in developing a virtual K-12 organization.

For more information, please contact Karen Middleton at kmiddleton@wcet.info or 303-541-0285.