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| Photo: Hamilton Journal News |
Increased popularity for this option has seen enrollments totals blossom from 44 such schools serving approximately 17,000 students in 2004 to 27 e-schools serving 39,044 students in the 2013-14 school year.
That simultaneous decrease in the amount of schools and increase in enrollment has bolstered class ranks, leading to numerous Ohio e-learning institutions graduating their largest classes ever, including Ohio Virtual Academy, an accredited, full-time, online public community school that in June graduated 750 students, the largest graduating class in school history.
Among them was Patty Elwell’s daughter, Madeleine, who joined those ranks 10 years ago as she entered third-grade and brother Jake entered sixth grade. Elwell said she switched both children to online schooling because they needed increased academics, more than a public school education could provide.
“Their needs were not being met and everyone knew it,” said Elwell, a Hamilton resident of 26 years.
“They needed more of everything. More challenge, more curriculum.
“I volunteered at school, we had a good relationship, and when I talked to them about making the change, they totally understood.”
Elwell, a former classroom teacher of six years, said online learning has done an “outstanding” job of doing that for both her children
Transitioning from a world with a classroom led by a teacher and full of children to learning at home was a challenge because children “don’t necessarily see that work in the same way,” Elwell said.
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Source: Hamilton Journal News
