Getting a Secondary Education via Online K-12 Schools

Online K-12 schools are growing in popularity. These schools are operated and administered by public and private organizations, including school districts. In fact, there are online public schools K 12 students can attend. Furthermore, in their 2007 “K-12 Online Learning, A Survey of U.S. School District Administrators” publication, the Sloan Consortium reported that as early as the 2002-2003 school year, approximately 328,000 students attending public school district classes were enrolled in one or more distance learning courses. That was before free online schools K-12 started publicizing their offerings more frequently on television and via other media outlets.

The best online K-12 schools are accredited by organizations like the Accrediting Commission for Schools of the Western Association of Colleges and Schools and the Northwest Accreditation Commission. Teachers affiliated with public school online K-12 programs are state certified; face-to-face instructor training is provided with some programs. Students can also participate in extracurricular activities the schools are involved in. Furthermore, students who excel academically can take advanced and pre-college courses at some schools.

Online K-12 Schools and Classes for Youth

A few online K-12 schools you may want to learn more about include:

Tennessee Virtual Academy
George Washington University Online High School
Texas Virtual Academy
Lawrence Virtual School
Academy Kansas
Derby Learns Online
Insight School of Kansas
Heartland Virtual Academy
California Virtual Academies
Academy California, Los Angeles
Insight School of California
San Francisco Flex Academy
Silicon Valley Flex Academy
Southern California Online Academy
Valley Interactive Virtual Academy
Elk Grove Unified School District
Gateway Virtual Academy
iLearn Online Academy
Oak Knoll Virtual Academy
Ohio Virtual Academy
Colorado Virtual Academy
Insight School of Colorado
Grande River Virtual Academy
Agora Cyber Charter School
Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School
Chicago Virtual Charter School
Youth Connection Charter School Virtual High School
The Cambridge Academy

Courses students like you can take at online or virtual K-12 schools include:

Reading
Writing
Social studies
Literary analysis and composition
Algebra
Geometry
Pre-calculus and/or trigonometry
American literature
Public speaking
Journalism
Physical science
Earth science
Spanish
French
English
Basic mathematics
Business and personal relationships
Introduction to entrepreneurship

To succeed while attending online K-12 schools students, particularly if you’re a student who’s unfamiliar with computers and/or the Internet, consider taking a free computer training program. You’re also encouraged to exercise your in-born talents and create original articles and school assignments. Resources like the Britannica online school edition Pre K-12 can shorten the amount of time it takes you and other students to research school reports and papers, including essays. Furthermore, as the popularity of training modules and coursework offered at each K through 12 online school increases, computer technicians and school administrators may find improved ways to streamline education objectives and results and improve learning using distance programs.

Tips for Earning Your GED Online

Go Online to Make Earning Your General Equivalency Diploma (GED)
Easier

Years ago General Equivalency Diploma (GED), also referred to as a General Education Diploma (GED) courses were taught at high schools, some of them aged and closed for services to traditional students; others were taught and tested at learning centers. Getting a GED felt like cramming for a final examination for several weeks for some students back then. Today, regardless of how old you are, you can get your GED online from the comforts of your home. Quality educational organizations that administer the programs develop in-depth coursework for their paid or free GED online classes.

Depending on the school you enroll in to complete your GED online, you might be required to be at least 16 years old to get accepted into the school. The reason you didn’t finish your diploma coursework at a traditional school may not be of importance to school officials. If you’re a fast learner, you can complete your GED requirements in less than a month. Otherwise, it can take you up to six weeks to finish the requirements.

After you enroll in an online GED training program consider:

Asking school enrollment counselors for a GED study kit you can refer to as you complete course materials and study for upcoming tests
You might be required to score 70 percent or higher on each test to move on in the course
Enrolling in schools that offer you a lifetime verification (this way if college or university administrators want to confirm that you got an official GED, they can call a certain number at the school and get your GED verified)
Purchasing flash cards, calculators and other learning tools that will aid you in your studies
Reading through GED preparation books so you know what to expect on the tests
Taking GED practice tests before you schedule your actual tests
Checking out schools to make sure they are accredited by reputable agencies (you can always contact the accrediting agency and ask them to confirm whether or not the school is, in fact, accredited by them)

Types of Questions Covered on GED Tests

According to the American Council on Education, types of subjects covered on GED tests include:

Language arts
Social studies
Science
Mathematics

Multiple choice and essay questions are parts of the language arts test sections. You’ll have to be familiar with sentence structure, grammar, capitalization, etc. to pass this part of the tests. Social studies covers geography, history, civics and government and economics. The science part of the tests covers physical and life science as well as earth and space science. You can use a calculator on Part I of the mathematics portion of the tests, but not on Part II.

After you get your GED online for free or by paying to enroll in other secondary programs, you can apply for acceptance to postsecondary schools so you can get occupational licenses (e.g. nursing, cosmetology) and/or complete undergraduate degrees. If you left high school early to serve in the military you might be able to get a GED online for free using military tuition assistance programs. Additionally, after you get your GED online and start completing college and university courses employers may focus on your postsecondary education more than on whether or not you earned your high school diploma by traditional or non-traditional methods. Keep in mind that growing popularity of online high school programs may continue to remove the stigma of distance learning programs from the minds of students, parents, educators and employers.