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Council makes recommendation
on correspondence courses
School districts using correspondence courses, including those
from North Dakota Independent Studies, will be allowed to use
those courses two more years. But, beginning with the 2009-2010
school year, all correspondence courses will be required to run
through the South Dakota Virtual High School. The timeline was
set to coincide with implementation of the compulsory attendance
to 18 requirement, which takes effect July 1, 2009.
At a recent meeting of the Virtual High School Advisory Council
in Chamberlain, the council determined that any course offered
via correspondence meets the definition of a “distance learning”
course outlined in state law (13-33-20).
“The key piece of this definition is that the student and
primary instructor are not physically present at the same time
or the same place,” said Melody Schopp, director of
accreditation and teacher quality for the Department of
Education. “Therefore, the council believes correspondence
courses fall under the realm of Virtual High School.”
A new law passed during the 2007 legislative session (HB 1113)
prohibits school districts from granting credit for distance
courses taken outside of the South Dakota Virtual High School.
The Department of Education is working with North Dakota
Independent Studies to ensure that their courses get approved
for the Virtual High School as quickly as possible.
“Down the road, this won’t be an issue because these
correspondence courses will be folded into the Virtual High
School,” Schopp said. In the meantime, however, the advisory
council recommended that districts be allowed to grant credit
for correspondence courses until the start of the 2009-2010
school year. At that point, all correspondence courses must run
through the South Dakota Virtual High School.
“We recognize that the North Dakota Independent Studies program
is used by a number of our school districts,” Schopp said. “This
plan gives the provider plenty of time to meet the requirements
of South Dakota Virtual High School, and it won’t leave
districts without an important resource.”
For more information, contact Melody Schopp at (605) 773-5232 or
melody.schopp@state.sd.us.
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In
brief:
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Districts will
be able to use North Dakota Independent Study correspondence
courses until the 2009-2010 school year.
-
At that time, all
correspondence courses must run through the South Dakota
Virtual High School.
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