Ccwj Nov Dec 09 V1 1

Ccwj Nov Dec 09 V1 1

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  Education OnlineCourses Come to Middle Schoolers began as a system to offer on- line, for-credit courses to high Because the courses are administered by the school youths, has expanded its offerings to meet the demands of Georgia Department of Education, they fol- middle school students. Histori- cally, GAVS students have scored low Georgia Performance Standards and are higher on state-mandated EOCTs taught by highly-qualified certified teachers. (end-of-course tests) than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. GAVS courses can be accessed math, science, language arts, each other via online discussion from any Internet-connected com- Spanish, or French. boards and weekly live classroom puter 24 hours a day, seven days Since different students log into chats. a week. GAVS courses at different times Every public middle school or Because the courses are ad- of the day and work at different school system in Georgia has a ministered by the Georgia De- paces, GAVS teachers can commu- facilitator who acts a liaison be- partment of Education, they nicate and work with students tween the student and his or her follow Georgia Performance one-on-one. There actually IS brick-and-mortar school and en- Standards and are taught someone on the sures that a student’s final grade I Dr. Michelle Hutchinson by highly-qualified certified other end of in a GAVS course is reported to teachers. Courses are 9 weeks his/her school. magine a world in which in length to coincide Registration is now open for your middle school child with the typical spring courses. To register, could take courses, for middle- you will need you’re school credit, online! Wouldn’t it school your child’s GTID be great if those courses could be quar- (Georgia Testing used for curriculum acceleration ters, Identifier) number. (if you child needs more chal- are pre- If you do not know lenges), for credit recovery (if you ceded by an it, contact your child’s child needs to retake a course), or orientation that school counselor. as an alternative to the traditional familiarizes the student For more information, electives? Well, imagine no more, with the online platform, and go to http://www.gavirtu- because that world is here. carry a tuition fee of $150 for each the alschool.org/. If you have ad- The Georgia Virtual School quarter-unit course. Students can computer. ditional questions, please contact (GAVS) division of the Georgia take courses in health care science However, stu- Julie Floyd at [email protected]. Department of Education, which or career management (electives), dents also get to know ga.us. www.gavirtualscool.org November/December 2009 28 Cobb County Women’s Journal