VHS, Inc.

VHS, Inc. is a non-profit organization, which provides online NetCourses to participating schools. Course offerings include a wide variety of high school level courses as well as professional development courses for VHS faculty.

Participating schools pay an annual membership fee, which provides for teacher mentoring, central administration, registration, server management, technical support and all the other operational aspects of VHS.

VHS NetCourses offer students opportunities to gain proficiency in online collaboration and accessing and processing data in an online environment. In addition to the academic benefits of each course, students learn how to use the Internet and its vast resources in their search for information. Schools benefit from participation in VHS by increasing the number of faculty and students on campus who have a high degree of technological skills.

Staffing Requirements for Full Participation

Fully participating schools must provide a NetCourse instructor and a school site coordinator, as well as paying the annual membership fee.

NetCourse instructors must be freed from one period of teaching duties (0.20 full-time equivalent (FTE)) to teach a VHS NetCourse. In each semester a NetCourse is taught, a school receives 25 seats in other VHS courses during that semester.

Schools may use their VHS seats in any VHS NetCourse, assuming the course has openings and the student meets the course prerequisites. Schools may distribute these seats as they see fit. For example, the same student taking two different courses in one semester uses two VHS seats.

Each school participating in VHS must also designate a school site coordinator. The site coordinator is responsible for coordinating VHS project efforts within the school and is the primary contact with VHS Administration.

Staffing Requirements for Student-only Participation

Schools may apply to participate in Virtual High School without offering a NetCourse.

As well as paying the membership fee, Student-only schools must provide a VHS site coordinator. The site coordinator is responsible for coordinating VHS project efforts within the school and is the primary contact with VHS Administration.

Schools may participate as a Student-Only school for a one-year period. At the end of that year schools must re-apply for an additional year as a student only school.

Technical Requirements

Virtual High School uses the Internet as the primary vehicle for instruction. VHS instructors use Blackboard for the design and delivery of courses. Students participating in VHS use a web browser to access their courses. Email is the primary tool for communication between the VHS faculty and the VHS National Office.

Schools considering participation in the VHS project must have reliable Internet connectivity. VHS students and faculty must be able to access the Internet daily. Students typically need to spend at least one full class period per day using a networked computer to meet the requirements of their VHS courses. VHS instructors will also need access to a networked computer at least one period per day, and ideally will have access to a computer outside of school hours. At a minimum, a 56kb/s connection is required, and a broadband connection is highly recommended. Students and faculty must use a compatible web browser.

Academic Calendar

The Virtual High School academic calendar is comprised of two semesters of study (fall and spring) per academic year. VHS offers semester length courses as well as full year (two semester) courses. Typically, each semester is 15 weeks in length. Full year courses are an exception. Full year courses are 33 weeks in length; the fall semester is 15 weeks long and the spring semester is 18 weeks long. Three additional weeks are added to full year courses to avoid a disruptive five week break between semesters.

The fall semester begins in early September and ends in mid December. The spring semester begins in early January for full year courses, and late January for semester length courses, and ends in early May. The exact dates are available prior to the start of each academic year.

All students and instructors participating in VHS must follow the VHS academic calendar as it pertains to their VHS courses. School administrators must review and understand this calendar before electing to participate in VHS.

Faculty Training

To ensure instructors are fully prepared to teach in an online environment, and their courses meet VHS quality standards, instructors receive online training before teaching with Virtual High School. Instructors attend one of two VHS training courses: NetCourse Instructional Methodologies (NIM) or the Teachers Learning Conference (TLC).

The TLC provides teachers with comprehensive, graduate-level training on how to develop a NetCourse and teach in an online environment. After an intense, 22-week online training session, teachers will have created a new online course of their own and are ready to participate as VHS instructors. Upon successful completion of the TLC, instructors can receive 12 optional graduate-level credits.

Instructors taking our NIM training participate in a 10-week online training session to learn to teach in an online environment. Once NIM is completed, instructors teach their own section of an existing VHS NetCourse. This method enables instructors to get started with VHS more quickly, as they are not developing a new NetCourse from scratch. Upon successful completion of NIM, instructors can receive 6 optional graduate-level credits.

New Site Coordinators are required to participate in the Site Coordinator Orientation (SCO), a 4-week online training course. This course teaches Site Coordinators the best ways to provide support to their VHS students, and gives them the administrative and technical skills necessary to be effective in their role as administrative liaison to VHS. Through SCO, Site Coordinators become familiar with VHS NetCourses, as well as VHS policies and procedures. Upon successful completion of SCO, students can receive 2 optional graduate-level credits.

NetCourse Credit

Participating schools grant students credit for taking VHS NetCourses, like any other core academic course. NetCourses should receive the same credit and be listed on the student transcript in the same way as any other course offered at the school.

Each VHS semester course is worth one (1) VHS credit. Year-long VHS courses are worth two (2) VHS credits. Participating schools can translate VHS credit into the appropriate school credit.

NetCourse Levels

Teachers submitting applications to teach a NetCourse will indicate whether a course is designed as Standard, Honors, Advanced Placement, or Dual-credit. All NetCourses will be categorized by one of these four levels, and the level of each NetCourse will be indicated in the course catalog. The VHS catalog also contains prerequisite skills and course grade level.

Instructional Materials

Texts and instructional materials for each NetCourse and the costs of these materials are the responsibilities of the school offering the NetCourse. NetCourse instructors will purchase materials through the normal purchasing process within their school district.

The site coordinator of the school offering the NetCourse will mail materials to the site coordinator of each student attending the NetCourse, once course registration is finalized.

Each school site coordinator will have responsibility for distributing materials to enrolled students and for returning materials for students who have withdrawn. The schools receiving these materials are accountable for return postage, as well as any loss or damage to these materials, and their students should be held accountable for any loss or damage in the same manner they are held accountable for any other school materials.

Nondiscrimination

All schools participating in the Virtual High School (VHS) collaborative must be in compliance with all Federal Civil Rights legislation. Title VI of the Civil Right Act of 1964 protects individuals from discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 ensures that no person shall, on the basis of gender, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in any federally-assisted program. In addition, state civil rights legislation also applies to VHS courses. Compliance with all civil rights legislation will be the responsibility of each school, and complaints should be filed with each school and should follow the school's grievance procedure.