Online schools grant sought

Fresh off its Race to the Top win, Tennessee is leading a group of states in competing for another $50 million in stimulus money from the federal government.

This time, the state's online school, E4TN -- whose director is Hamilton County Schools employee Wendy Oliver -- is heading up the Investing in Innovation, or i3, grant proposal.

The idea is to combine the strengths of the state's already developed virtual schools into a multistate program and give more students access to the courses while also conducting research on what makes an effective online teacher.

"There isn't teacher-effect data for online teachers," Ms. Oliver said. "Until you have a large enough sample size, you can't really determine what that is."

Since 2005, the number of students participating in online learning has grown by 800 percent in Tennessee, Ms. Oliver said.

Winners for the federal money should be chosen late this summer.

Like many other online teachers, Wendy Sigette, an algebra teacher at Soddy-Daisy High School, started virtual teaching to make some extra cash. She's taught math for E4TN on and off for the last five years, and she said there was a big learning curve when she started teaching online.

Although the subject matter is the same, the way she communicates with students through e-mail and instant messaging is completely different. She thinks having more clear expectations for teachers would be helpful.

"I feel like it would definitely give teachers a better idea of what would be expected and how to be prepared for how to best serve students," she said. "There's definitely a learning curve. Your first semester, you're like, 'Oh my goodness, I'm never going to do this again.'"

Even if the state consortium idea doesn't win the i3 money, an earlier grant will allow E4TN to start offering more courses to Hamilton County students, including those at Sale Creek and Soddy-Daisy high schools.

E4TN will be providing a calculus class at Sale Creek and a personal finance class at Soddy-Daisy, Ms. Oliver said.

"There's a student at Sale Creek who needs calculus to get into West Point," she said. "Right now, they have to drive to Soddy-Daisy to take that course."

Megan Divine, a senior at Signal Mountain Middle-High School, said E4TN is giving her a chance to retake Spanish I so she can get a better grade before she heads off to college next year.

"It was really hard; I think I got like one point above an 'F,'" she said. "If I take this course, it raises (my grade-point average) almost a whole point."

Ms. Sigette said online classes are a good way for students who have fallen behind to catch up, and she would be glad to see more students across the state given the opportunity.

"Students who just had a baby, or if they have to work to help mom and dad and they have to graduate early ... it really opens a lot of doors, gives them options they haven't had before," she said.

Follow Kelli Gauthier on Twitter at twitter.com/gauthierkelli.