AN ACT CONCERNING HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT FOR APPROVED ONLINE COURSEWORK.

By law, parents or guardians of a child between the ages of five and 17 must cause the child to go to the public school in their district, unless they can show that the child has graduated from high school or is elsewhere receiving an equivalent education. They may consent to the withdrawal of 16- and 17-year-olds from school, if they personally appear and sign a withdrawal form. Additionally, when parents or guardians withdraw a student under this provision, the school district must provide information on educational options for the student.

This bill eliminates the parental consent option for 16-year-olds, starting July 1, 2010. It requires districts to provide information on the availability of online courses. It also requires the withdrawal form to include an attestation from a school administrator or guidance counselor that the information was provided. The bill also makes it easier for a student who withdraws from high school to seek readmission.

The bill allows boards of education to grant credit towards meeting the high school graduation requirement for the successful completion of online coursework. Boards can do this if they have adopted a policy that meets certain requirements.

Finally, the bill requires boards of education to include in their strategic school profile (1) the number of students enrolled in a board of education- or regional education service center-operated adult high school credit diploma program and (2) if available, the extent to which online coursework assists students with credit recovery.

*House Amendment “B” adds the dropout, readmission, and strategic school profile provisions.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2009, except for the changes to the dropout age and strategic school profile, which are effective July 1, 2010.

1. the workload required by the online course is equivalent to that of a similar course taught in a traditional classroom setting;

2. the content is rigorous and aligned with curriculum guidelines approved by the State Board of Education, where appropriate;

3. the course engages students and has interactive components, such as required interactions between students and teachers, participation in online demonstrations, discussion boards, or virtual labs; and

4. the courses are (a) taught by certified (by any state) teachers who have received training on teaching in an online environment, or (b) offered by higher education institutions that are regionally or Department of Higher Education accredited.

By law, if a student aged 16 or older voluntarily drops out and then seeks readmission, the board can deny the student school accommodations for up to 90 days from the date of the termination. Starting July 1, 2009 for 16-year-olds and July 1, 2010 for 17-year-olds, the bill requires school districts to provide school accommodations to students no more than three days after they ask for it, as long as they seek readmission no more than 10 days after the student terminated enrollment.

Yea

Nay

(03/16/2009)