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I thought it would be helpful for me to take a moment to clear up some misconceptions regarding The Virtual High School (VHS) and its possible role at Warwick.

Here are some key points:

• VHS is a non-profit organization that was founded by a grant from the US Department of Education

• VHS was founded in 1996 and has 20 years of experience collaborating with schools, students and teachers - we were the first online high school program in the US and we were created to SUPPLEMENT (not replace) schools

• The standards used by VHS in its courses are the National Education Association (NEA) standards for online learning - the NEA created their standards for quality online learning by using the VHS model as a base

• VHS courses are cohort-based and require student-teacher interaction - they are online classrooms not independent studies

• VHS provides instruction for students but we ALSO provide instruction to on-site mentors at the local school so students have on the ground support while taking online classes

• We provide teachers (who remain employed by their local schools) with education that helps them learn to teach online and ALSO helps them with face-to-face teaching. Teachers learn with and from one another, share best practices, and expand their learning. This is graduate-level training and we get wonderful feedback from teachers about how it helps them both in their classroom teaching and online.

• We hear overwhelmingly from students that they feel more prepared for college and careers after taking VHS’s very rigorous courses

• The VHS program is accredited and courses are NCAA approved

• VHS has 22 college board-approved AP courses and our pass rates exceed the national pass rates - a great measure that shows that VHS courses prepare students for the AP exam as well as face-to-face courses - and students get more options for courses than they currently have available.

The bottom line is that not all online programs are created equally. VHS as a non-profit exists solely to help school districts help students. We believe in the value of face-to-face instruction and in the role of the teacher and school in educating students. For 20 years we have been helping school districts do more with less. For more information on The Virtual High School visit www.theVHS.org.

Carol Ribeiro

President & CEO

The Virtual High School (VHS, Inc.)