President Lori Cooney testified at a public forum on online education yesterday.  The McDonnell-Kay Foundation has put together a commission to make recommendations to the legislature and the Dept. of Education regarding online education.  It's called the Trujillo Commission, after the Chairman.  Following is President Cooney's testimony:

Testimony of Lori Cooney, President of the Colorado Coalition of Cyberschool Families, before the McDonnell-Kay Foundation Committee on Online Public Schools, January 8, 2006.

My name is Lori Cooney and I have three children who are excelling with Internet-based learning through a public charter school in Colorado.  I am also the President of the Colorado Coalition of Cyberschool Families. Our coalition is the voice of the families who have selected online schools as the best public education option for their children. Together with our fellow parents, families and friends, we strive to educate policy makers and others on why we chose an online public school for our children; how those schools work; the close working relationship we have with our teachers and administrators; and much, much more.

I am pleased to have an opportunity to share our perspective with this esteemed panel. Our coalition is here today to express our passionate commitment to the continuation of online public schools in Colorado, and to present our Statement of Principles and Standards for Online Learning.

Before I present our Coalition's Statement, I'd like to tell you why I chose an online public school for my children.  All three of my children began their education in a public brick and mortar year round school.  My oldest son completed the 6^th grade, my younger son completed the 3^rd, and my daughter was enrolled in kindergarten for 9 weeks.  For many personal reasons, this setting was not a good fit for my daughter so I began looking into other options. I remember a mom from my son's baseball team talking extensively about COVA.  After 9 weeks of school, my daughter was on her 3 week track off.  During this time I researched online schooling, in particular COVA, and went to a parent info session with my daughter.  We were both so excited at what this school had to offer.  We needed to make up our minds before Oct 1, 2004 to be accepted for 04-05 school year enrollments.  The bottom line for us was, we were off track at this time and we could return to our public school if this did not work out.  Our new COVA teacher lent us some materials to get started, e-mailed important school documents, and she was in constant contact to ensure that our questions were answered and we were comfortable with out new school environment.  We were hooked, we were learning and we knew that this setting was right for us.

That year I learned so much.  The educational opportunities and benefits of learning in an online public school seem endless.  It is because of all these incredible opportunities that online schooling has to offer that I decided to enroll my two boys in COVA the following year (05-06).  I am happy to say that all three of my children are thriving in COVA. 

I'm not alone; dozens of other parents have volunteered their testimonials to the coalition and to me personally.  Their reasons range from challenging gifted students, to giving special needs children a chance to read, to protecting children from bullies.  Their reasons for their choice of an online public school may vary, but their commitment to their children's educations is always the real reason. 

I could go on and on talking about the benefits of Internet-based learning. It's not for every family, but I am extremely appreciative that the state of Colorado has made this option available to us.   It is vital to our families that this option continues, and we are concerned about recent attacks by the press and certain legislators on the online public school model.  While our Coalition agrees that some improvements in accountability, funding and access can be made to better regulate the online public school option, we are adamant that our schools be treated fairly, in the same way that any other public school is treated.

Based on that very important principle of fairness, we have five points to make regarding any proposed changes to how online public schools are regulated.

1.         On the subject of accountability, our parents are very interested in making sure that their schools are doing the absolute best job possible for their children.  We believe that the current accreditation system and academic accountability regulations under state and federal legislation and rules are sufficient for our schools, just as they are for any other public school student, if applied fairly and consistently. If online public schools are not performing according to appropriate standards, imposing a temporary ban on new enrollments in the district's online school(s) would be an effective consequence.

2.         Our parents are understandably very passionate about their children's teachers.  In two Colorado online schools, Colorado Virtual Academy and Denver Connections Academy, the teachers assign and closely monitor lesson plans, provide student instruction, and assessment.  The teachers in online schools are as indispensable as teachers in traditional schools.  They are dedicated professionals who play a critical role in our children's academic success and growth.  It seems, however, that the role of the certified teachers in online schools is not fully understood. Therefore, in order to provide clarification, we propose that the State Board of Education create a definition of an "online teacher" based on best practices in other states with effective online learning policies: An online teacher is one who assigns and monitors  lessons, provides student instruction and assessment, and is responsible for the academic progress of the student in an interactive course or program that delivers instruction via the Internet; is combined with other traditional delivery methods that include frequent student assessment and may include actual teacher contact time; and meets or exceeds state academic standards.  The online teacher should be state-certified and meet the "highly qualified" requirement under the No Child Left Behind Act.

3.         Many of our families have chosen online public schools because their student has particular special needs, and those students may have been considered "at risk" at any other public school.  The Coalition believes that the Department of Education and General Assembly should review the various statutory definitions of at-risk and high-risk students and determine whether one or a combination of the existing definitions of at-risk students could be used for purposes of assessing our online public school students' academic performance.  In this way, online public schools can better serve all our students.

4.         On the subject of funding, we are adamant that our children in online public schools deserve the same funding as any other child in any other public schools.  Full-time online public schools already receive less funding than traditional public schools, so to place into law a lesser level of funding for any one class of students would be  unfair and outrageous.  We chose online public schools for our children because we wanted the best educational option possible; reducing funding for online public schools would directly and negatively impact our children.  

5.         In order to make the choice of an online public school truly available to all Colorado families, the Coalition advocates that restrictions on access to online public schools, like requiring students to complete a semester in a traditional brick and mortar school before enrolling in a online public school, should be removed.  There are no restrictions or needless hurdles for new students to attend traditional public schools; the same should be for online public schools.  We urge the State Board of Education and the Legislature to take this important step.

6.         As parents, we want to have access to those policymakers who decide whether online public schools are created or continued.  We feel that the Department of Education is correct in their statement that it would be inappropriate for the Department to approve the creation of local Colorado district online schools or supervise their operations, since local control of schools are the best way for parents to influence the policymakers. However, our Coalition would support a statewide authority like the Charter Schools Institute as the statewide chartering authority for statewide online programs.

As this group makes its recommendations, we have one request. Work with us. Develop these standards with those who are impacted the greatest: The Parents and the Children.  We'll be happy to work with you. We want these schools to succeed, because these are our children - our future- we're talking about.

We are hopeful that this committee signals a commitment to online public schools and we are very appreciative of all of you who have agreed to serve. We hope that we all will take a stand to protect some of our most innovative new public schools and to continue the excellence in education that online public schools represent.

We are extending our hands, as the parents of Colorado's school children to work together with you to ensure that Colorado's online public schools remain a viable and excellent public education option for Colorado families.

Thank you for you time.

Respectfully submitted,

Lori Cooney

President

Colorado Coalition of Cyberschool Families

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