Dougco to the rescue

District an ideal home for Hope's large online program

Published September 24, 2007 at midnight

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Earlier this month, we reported some positive signs that the Hope Online Learning Academy Co-Op might move beyond its checkered past and become a model of online education for Colorado students.

More recently, we met with officials from the Douglas County School District, where Hope will apply to move its charter, and the Douglas County Federation of Teachers. And we're even more confident that the school - which enrolls more than half of the state's online students - will have the chance to succeed.

We sure hope so, because online education in the age of the Internet can only grow more important over time. It's essential that online schools contribute to the improvement of education, not its decline.

Fortunately, Hope should be in good hands if the charter transfer goes through. Enrollment has exploded, from roughly 1,600 students in 2005-06 to almost 4,000 this fall. This growth has overwhelmed the tiny Vilas School District in southeastern Colorado that originally issued the charter.

Vilas seemed to be a good fit when Hope opened because the district was a pioneer in online learning. But it lacks the professional staff to provide hands-on oversight of Hope's operations.

Enter Douglas County. It has an extensive track record with charter schools. Dougco's central location and larger staffing should also make it possible to more closely monitor Hope's educational offerings and its financial operations.

Hope students supplement their online education with trips to "learning centers," typically situated in community and nonprofit centers or churches. This allows mentors to meet students and discuss their work. Roughly three-fourths of Hope's 68 learning centers are in the metro area, and Vilas had little in-person contact with Hope personnel and students.

Putting Douglas County in charge will permit more one-on-one interaction between the district, the school's staff and its students.

Moreover, officials with the district and the school say they share a number of performance goals. Hope Executive Director Heather O'Mara told us the school will use the same accreditation standards employed in other Douglas County charter schools.

Also, O'Mara and Superintendent Jim Christen- sen agree that they want to eventually see a certified teacher at every Hope learning center. Such teachers at the moment are the exception.

There appear to be only a few areas where the district and the school aren't entirely on the same page. Christensen told us the district wants to create a curriculum for Hope. O'Mara says Hope "wants to work with the county to improve curriculum, though we will continue to provide a menu of offerings."

Her point is that Hope tends to attract students from difficult backgrounds who have fared poorly in traditional classroom settings. A standardized curriculum might not work for them, so Hope wants the flexibility to offer those kids individually tailored lesson plans.

Christensen also surprised us a bit when he said, "We'll help Hope but Hope will help us." Douglas County's student population is 88 percent white, and more affluent than many other metro districts. But Dougco is enrolling larger numbers of minorities all the time.

Because Hope primarily serves minority students, Christensen believes that a successful relationship with Hope will help the district better prepare to educate young people from a variety of backgrounds.

As we've said before, there's no guarantee that Hope's unusual education model can ultimately reach significant numbers of students who often don't fit in a normal bricks-and-mortar schoolhouse. But with better and more regular oversight from a district that does many things well, Hope should have its best chance for success.

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