Marist High School Students Now Have Access to Over 200 Online Courses

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 36% of public school districts throughout the United States have students enrolled in on-line courses. Marist High School announced that they have started a new on-line learning program and are joining this progressive minority by offering their students access to over 200 on-line courses to learn about a subject that interests them.  This new program is made possible by a partnership with Virtual High School (www.goVHS.org), the pioneer of on-line learning for high school students and on-line course design and instruction for teachers.

Starting with the Spring, 2009 semester, Marist High School will be supplementing their physical course offerings with rigorous VHS NetCourses.  These courses will, without social barriers, enable students to freely share their thoughts with students and educators all over the world and increase their knowledge of collaborative on-line learning (e-learning) that will be a critical component of their college life and future careers.  Courses will be conducted at a dedicated location at Marist High School using school computers, and a dedicated site coordinator will act as a liaison between students, teachers and VHS. 

Ms. Alice J. Miesnik, Assistant Principal for Academics said, “We are really excited about this program. It expands our course offerings while giving the students an authentic on-line experience. This is so important because it helps prepare the students for on-line learning in college.”

Founded in 1996, Virtual High School is a non-profit collaboration of high schools, teachers and students consisting of over 6,000 enrolled students, 324 member schools and 204 teachers in 27 states and 24 countries.  Teachers who are certified in their specific discipline and, who have completed VHS’s rigorous 15-week minimum professional development program, facilitate and continually monitor all courses.  In addition, VHS students benefit from a comfortable, real world simulated learning environment, small classes and personalized one-on-one attention from active high school teachers, while mastering subject matter and 21st century and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) skills that will aid in the success of future work and higher education.  According to VHS statistics, 90% of VHS students complete their courses, as compared to a lag of 18-20% for traditional on-line courses, and 76% receive a grade of C or better. 

“We are incredibly excited to have Marist High School as part of our consortium,” said Liz Pape, President & CEO of Virtual High School.  “VHS exists because of the support of schools like Marist High School and their staff and students which continue to foster the growth of our community.”