• The Bethel School District’s online program, which started as part of Challenger Secondary Schools, is becoming its own school and gearing up to serve more students inside and outside the district.

 • The Tacoma School District plans to begin a small online effort at Oakland High School. Depending on student demand and how the pilot goes, the program could expand to other Tacoma high schools later this school year.

 • Clover Park School District is considering adding slots to its Virtual High School online subscription program because its 20 seats are consistently filled. A district committee will meet this year to consider the district’s direction in online education.

 • Steilacoom Historical School District’s Washington Virtual Academies has so far registered 2,104 people from kindergarten age through eighth grade – up 600 from the previous school year, when it went statewide.

Plus, K12, the company that operates Steilacoom’s program and provides its curriculum, is contracting with Monroe Public Schools to launch a high school division of the program to serve teens statewide this fall.

Meanwhile, Insight School of Washington, which started last year as part of the Quillayute School District, has registered 1,328 high school students this fall. That’s more than double its 648 enrollment at the start of the previous school year.

Steilacoom Superintendent Art Himmler predicts even more growth in online instruction statewide.

“There’s a huge need that this program has met for certain kinds of kids and families,” Himmler said of Steilacoom’s academy. Since Steilacoom was one of the first public school districts to offer an online program statewide, “folks came to us in greater numbers. I fully expect more and more school districts will offer an online alternative learning experience for students. … Kids will have a lot more choices.”

Technological advances are making online learning more accessible, said Dave LaBounty, principal of Challenger Secondary Schools and the new Bethel Online Academy.

“More and more of our homes are getting high-speed cable and high-speed Internet connections. More and more families are getting literate to computer use, and students are very busy,” he said.

PROGRAMS EASIER TO ENTER

A change in state rules in August 2005 boosted district efforts to launch or expand virtual instruction. Instead of restricting the required contact between teachers and students to face-to-face meetings, the revised rules now permit e-mail, instant messaging or whatever electronic means a school district’s policies allow.

That freed up students to participate in Internet programs physically based hours away from home.

Students hoping to study in virtual programs not offered by their resident district must be officially released from their home district to the other district, which then receives that pupil’s state funding. Like other public school students, online students don’t pay tuition.

Students typically receive much of their instruction via Internet-based curricula designed by commercial firms or district teachers. Programs vary. Much of the Washington Virtual Academies kindergarten to eighth-grade program incorporates textbook reading and hands-on activities away from the computer, and provides workbooks, art supplies, lab equipment and other instructional materials.

The state requires that students have a learning plan, make regular contact with a teacher who oversees their academic progress, and take the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.

ARE SCHOOLS RUSHING INTO IT?

The proliferation of online schools is no doubt taking students who might otherwise have enrolled in the oldest program in the state, Federal Way’s Internet Academy, said academy Principal Ron Mayberry. Still, he said, publicity about those online start-ups also spreads awareness about the Federal Way program, where enrollment is holding steady.

Rather than worrying about competition, Mayberry said he’s more concerned that some districts are rushing to begin programs without adequate research and preparation.

Though he wouldn’t cite district names, he said, “There are some (curriculum) sources we wouldn’t consider using, because they’re pretty watered down and students could go through the material pretty quick. Those give online learning a bad rap. … Just like in (traditional) schools, it’s as good as the teacher and curriculum.”

Districts planning to offer online programs, including Tacoma, say they want to serve kids whose needs aren’t being met by brick-and-mortar schools, and they’d like to keep the students and the associated state funding that accompanies them.

‘WE’RE LOSING ENROLLMENT’

Tacoma estimates that at least 120 of its students have opted out of the district for an online program, said Flip Herndon, assistant superintendent for K-12 support.

Since those students still live in the district, Herndon said, “We’d love for the students to remain part of their community and still interact with students. And, Tacoma has been losing enrollment over the years. When students go to another district, we’re losing enrollment.”

Cyber programs attract students from an array of backgrounds and situations. Some have medical or behavioral problems; some are already working; some simply don’t fit into the traditional school setting.

At Washington Virtual Academies, Chief Administrative Officer Susan Stewart said 31 percent of the kindergartners through eighth-graders were home-schoolers, 44 percent attended public schools and 12 percent came from preschool or out of state. The remainder were part-time students or previously attended private school.

GREATER FLEXIBILITY

Bethel’s online program suited the needs of students Tiffany Stanley and Amber Wirkkala.

In 2005, Wirkkala dropped out of Washington High School. She said she wasn’t getting along with teachers and didn’t like the early hours. Several months later, she heard about Bethel’s online program from a friend and registered.

Wirkkala said she received more personal attention through the online program than in a regular classroom.

“When I needed the help, I could sit down and meet with (teacher Jim Wilson) or do it at home at my own pace. That was easier to do,” said Wirkkala, now 20. After Wirkkala earned enough credits, Wilson connected the teen with the Running Start dual credit program.

She graduated last summer with a high school diploma and an associate’s degree in massage therapy.

Stanley took a full load of classes through the program after a back injury made it too painful to sit through classes at Spanaway Junior High School. Without the virtual program, she said, she would have fallen far behind in her course credits as a ninth-grader.

Yet there were drawbacks, said Stanley, now a Spanaway Lake High sophomore. “It was very tempting to not do it, ’cause it would have been easy to go off and do other stuff on the Internet. … And you don’t get to be with your friends.”

School officials stress that online education definitely isn’t for everyone. Students must be motivated to work independently.

“Really, it’s another delivery method,” LaBounty said. “We’re not saying it’s the best. We’re saying it’s another way students can achieve.”

Debby Abe: 253-597-8694

debby.abe@thenewstribune.com