Brick and mortar high schools a thing of the past?

What would it be like to live in a world without the hectic mornings of waking up the kids because they'd be late for the bus? A world without a boulder-sized backpack hanging off of your 4-foot son that, with one misstep, would topple him over like a helpless turtle? A world without the need to make lunch for the kids at midnight because the family got back late from your daughter's basketball game?

What would allow this? An accredited and completely online high school, accessible from anywhere in the world. Is Florida Virtual School off their rocker or are they the pioneers to something even bigger than we could have ever thought in the world of education? Founded in 1997, FLVS was the country's first state-wide, internet-based public high school. Since then it has opened its doors to out-of-state students and even out-of-country students. FLVS is also the only public school with funding directly tied to student performance.

Wait, hold up. Funding tied to student performance? How could a school possibly get adequate funding? Let's be honest, if all schools shifted to this model in January, there would be quite a few schools shutting their doors within the year's end. Let's take a look at how this works:

Outlined by our previous post, it's becoming more apparent that a student spends a large amount of his or her time socially interacting through the internet. Let's take the same student from our original example and instead enroll her in FLVS--or any accredited virtual high school for that matter. Maybe we'll give her a name this time.

So, Jane wakes up at 9 AM on a warm Florida morning to her cell phone alarm once again. It's the usual time for her to leave for a day's practice of her true passion, dance. After checking a text on the phone, she sees that Matt, a fellow classmate in Michigan has reminded her they still need to work on their project later in the evening since it will be due the following day. After checking her emails and the virtual school website, she responds to the updates from her teachers on the week's lessons before heading to her private dance instruction for the day. She departs from dance and drives a half hour to the state capitol to meet up with her congressional representative to complete an assignment for her online government class. She heads back to town to work at her part-time job at the library until going home for dinner. After sharing the stories of the day with her parents, she begins her latest math assignment. Having difficulty with a certain problem and concept, she phones her teacher in California and speaks with her for half an hour until she understands the chapter. Taking a quick break, Jane catches her favorite TV show before video chatting with Matt on their Literature project. Wrapping up the night, Jane downloads her favorite science podcast before setting her cell phone alarm and falling to sleep.

Jane can do what she needs to do without being chained down to one building for 7 hours a day. She also isn't holed up at home with her schoolwork. On the contrary, not only can she work a part-time job, FLVS moves her away from a computer and gets her to interact with the community. Jane can have her cake and eat it, too. She gets private instruction from her dance teacher while still achieving high marks in the her studies on her time, when she feels most productive and least distracted. FLVS' tag line is evidence enough of their understanding of this: "any time, any place, any path, any pace." Even home schooling parents can supplement their child's education with an impressive and reputable program that has its resources readily available.

With the versatility of the internet, more and more careers are either being made to work from home or being shifted from the office to home. FLVS' addresses this, and their 90+ courses that address "national standards with a specific eye to global awareness" are able to employ a staggering 1,104 staff members and educate an astounding 63,675+ students in their 2007-2008 school year. They have not released their latest numbers, but judging from their growth in the past ten years, it wouldn't be a surprise if they are nearing 100,000 by now. Just as business has drastically shifted to e-commerce in the past ten years, it seems there are less and less excuses for education not to follow suit. With free in-state tuition but fee-based out-of-state tuition, FLVS' method of business is beginning to look daftly smart in a world of globalization. During that same academic year, only 2,625 of their students were out of state. If every one of those students took just one 2-semester course, this bad boy of a school district is bringing in almost $2 million on the side. This doesn't even include state funding for the students that are doing well. But how many of them are really doing well? I can't speak on their behalf, but the school's compiled list of awards might help explain.

Let's not forget about what it would be like to be a teacher employed by a virtual high school. Suddenly a teacher's salary doesn't have such a negative connotation when you're working it from the comforts of your home and in your pjs. Such a schedule could allow for a teacher to incorporate a part-time venture on the side of their scheduled mandatory online presence.

Is America fully ready to make the transition? Certainly not. However, it will be a shame for many states' parents when their hard earned salaries to go to FLVS because their state didn't want to have a virtual public high school.