Stanford University Online High School
Website: http://ohs.stanford.edu/
Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/education/stanfords-online-high-school-raises-the-bar.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Contact:
Kathlyn Gray, Director
(800) 372-3749 ext. 19422 http://ohs.stanford.edu/welcome.html
Program Philosophy:
The Online High School is a fully accredited, diploma granting, online independent school situated at Stanford University. Serving grades 7-12, the OHS prepares students from around the world for success both in life and in their future intellectual pursuits.
Location:
Stanford, CA
Awards:
Eighth Grader Wins Cecilian Music Club Competition; Junior Named Winner of International BioGENEius Challenge; Sophomore Wins Gold in Women’s Saber at Junior Worlds; Eighth Grader Wins National Chess Competition; Two OHS Students WIn at 2013 NatIonal Youngarts FoundatIon; Freshman Awarded by American Fine Arts Festival to Perform in Moscow; Five OHS Students Selected as Semifinalists for U.S. Physics Olympics Team; OHS Teams Earn Awards at High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling
Phone interview conducted on: 8-2-13
Questions
1. How is your school accredited?
Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC); renews in 2016—they just completed the halfway point, so had a 1 day visit and passed with flying colors
2. Where does funding for your school come from?
Primarily from tuition. They started with a grant and may receive another in the future. They sometimes receive additional funds from the university.
3. What is the tuition for your school?
Tuition for 2013-2014Enrollment Academic Year Tuition
Full-time enrollment (4 or more courses) $16,600
Part-time enrollment (up to 3 courses) $10,300
Single course enrollment $3,500
Residential Summer Program Summer Tuition
OHS Summer at Stanford $3,700
The amounts above reflect cost of tuition and all fees.
Please note that one course is defined as a year-long course. Two semester-long courses taken in different semesters would be viewed as one course for the purposes of tuition.
http://ohs.stanford.edu/admissions/tuition.html
4. Is there an application fee?
$80
5. Do you offer financial aid?
At least 20% of students receive financial aid
6. What grade levels do you offer?
7–12 Their original grant covered only grades 10–12, but now they offer 7–12 but are still calling the program the Stanford Online High School. Started out as EPGY, Education Program for Gifted Youth, but they have backed off the word, "gifted"—rather, their students are intellectually motivated. The middle school is part of the high school.
7. Are there age restrictions?
18 cap—there is not any kind of entry age; they don't look at age, they look at ability
8. What is the current enrollment of the school? How many are seniors?
Current enrollment of both full-time and part-time students stands at 534, of which 229 are full time (43%). That represents 38% growth over last year. They measure their growth by FTE (full time equivalents), not head count, because they have a large number of part-time and single-course students. This year they have more than 25% growth in FTE - 326 - over last year.
Of the full-time students: Middle School - 50 or 22%, and 9th grade students - 45 or 20%.
They have lot of seniors, but they don't all graduate from them. The total number is close to 35 or 36.
They have over 100% growth in their number of Middle School students.
9. Are courses organized in classes with fixed start/stop dates or are they independently paced?
There are regular semesters with small classes; all of the classes include a synchronous component at least 2x a week at 75 minutes each= 150 min/wk. The synchronous study is a college-style seminar in which instructors and students engage in high-level discussions about the course material; it is central to the academic experience in all courses at all grade levels. The seminars are conducted in real-time using web-based video conferencing technology. Class size typically does not exceed 16 students.
Like brick and mortar synchronized, 2 x week —students need to be in the virtual classroom 75 min / week
They have a rigorous attendance policy — easiest way to succeed is to be in the seminars.
10. What requirements do you have for teachers?
62% have PhD, 35% have Master's, only 1% have Bachelor's only
State certification for high school? No
Virtual Teacher certification? No
The teachers are employees of the university—some work in the Stanford OHS offices—all are on campus three days a month for staff meetings; 3 are long-distance (NY, CT, MA).
11. How are teachers paid? Are they paid only when students complete a course? Does that impact the rigor of the course or the strictness of grading?
They are Stanford staff employees hired as regular instructors and paid a salary based on their level of experience and educational degrees.
12. What are your short-term goals for the school?
Be sure we are a smoothly operating independent school.
13. What is your long-term vision for the school?
To be one of the very top independent and the top online school.They've only been around 8 yrs—there are still areas in the curriculum to expand. They want to expand their arts offerings and add a service learning component.
14. Where does your curriculum come from? (Who builds it?)
Teachers create their own curriculum. There is also a Director of Curriculum and there are five division heads to assist.
15. How would you describe the philosophy behind your content development?
All aspects of our curriculum embody our philosophy that an education must foster skills of critical reasoning and argumentation while at the same time engaging students in advanced academic content. A central component of the OHS education is our unique Core Sequence, which cultivates critical and creative thought and provides a common intellectual framework that lends unity to our curriculum and the experiences of our students. Students also have ample opportunity to deepen their knowledge in particular disciplines through our broad offering of Advanced Placement (AP) and university-level courses, as well as advanced directed study.
16. Who maintains your curriculum? How involved are your teachers in the course curriculum?
There are 40 instructors; each carries four courses. They are full-time instructors—no brick-and-mortar second jobs.
17. What LMS do you use?
They use ecollege—it's "not our favorite, but it does the job"
18. How involved are your teachers in student interaction? How do they communicate with students (email, chat, phone, face-to-face) and how often?
Very involved—they use all of the above, have 2–3 sections of office hours, work in clubs, lots of Skype, email, not a lot of face to face.
Students are in 23 countries.
19. How much professional development do your teachers receive?
A good amount. They apply for and receive the professional development they need in and out of house.
They are also part of the Malone School Online Network—they train teachers from the other Malone schools.
20. What is the application process for students like?
http://ohs.stanford.edu/admissions/admission_criteria.html
http://ohs.stanford.edu/admissions/standardized_tests.html
In making decisions, the Admission Committee reads applications holistically, taking into consideration a range of factors including the level of rigor of an applicant’s academic background and past academic performance; aptitude as demonstrated on standardized exams; an applicant’s own articulation of intellectual interests and academic goals; and independent assessments provided by teachers familiar with the applicant. No one factor is deciding.
21. What are the most common challenges your students face?
Time management; difficulties with work load. They are rethinking the amount of work, reemphasizing quality of work over quantity.
22. What are the biggest challenges your school faces?
Getting people/colleges to understand what we do. Fundraising is a priority. We are just 8 yrs old, so we are still developing.
23. How do your students compare to those in brick-and-mortar schools? (statistics on graduation rate, college acceptance, SAT/ACT/AP Scores, etc.)
See below.
24. How would you describe the students who attend your school?/Honestly speaking, what would you s ay brings most of your students to your school? Is it their option of last resort?
Academically gifted--moving on to college.
Additional characteristics: pull from athletes, professionals. They call these “students w/ significant pursuits.” There is a segment of homeschooled students. The population is geographically diverse; sweden, korea, etc.
25. I see that your OHS students participate in a number of interactions and clubs. How do they do this? Do most live in the area and get together physically, are these virtual activities, or do they commute?
Online – videoconferencing—this is the way their kids form cliques. These groups are very heady, intellectual; e.g., c.s. lewis group. SABAMeeting is the system they use. The only group that gets together physically is the robotics group. Some of the groups get involved in competitions, like the science bowl and Latin Club. They will meet at those competitions.
There is an optional 2-week summer session at Stanford campus for students to take enrichment courses.
Next week 100 kids will participate in AP camps, lab courses. Then they will go camp outdoors for a leadership experience.
26. How would you describe the teachers attracted to online teaching?
Post-docs who fell in love w/ teaching. They are very attracted to the concept and to working with the highly motivated, intellectually passionate kids. The teachers are risk takers, energetic.
The more they are on campus, the more they can collaborate. You will have a better school when you can get your teachers together.
27. How would you say your teachers compare the online teaching experience to the F2F teaching experience?
They love it; they love the relationships; they are very thoughtful about how best to transition to online environment and willing to take risks to make it work.
28. Examples of universities that have accepted your students?
http://ohs.stanford.edu/OHS_School_Profile.pdf
29. Could you recommend a couple of students I could interview about their experiences?
No, but that is the purpose of the student ambassadors bios on our page--they are quite detailed.
[Note: I knew one student who I contacted her directly. She referred me to two others: Mulconner, Nielsen, Tinker]
30. What other online high schools would you consider the leading schools in American/world today?
Can’t possibly say—don’t know.
31. How many diplomas have you awarded to date?
5 1st year, last year about 29 diplomas.
About 100 total—they are working to get an alumni association established.
32. Is SOHS yielding a profit?
Not yet
33. How do you respond to the following quote from the Stanford provost about Stanford OHS. Is it underselling the program?
“I don’t see this for a second competing with quality high schools, but for some people this could be an education they can’t get,” said John Etchemendy, Stanford’s provost.
It's underselling a little bit. However, if there is a very good school in their area, a student should go there because they still need regular interactions. However, if there is not, SOHS is a very good option for them.
Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/education/stanfords-online-high-school-raises-the-bar.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Contact:
Kathlyn Gray, Director
(800) 372-3749 ext. 19422 http://ohs.stanford.edu/welcome.html
Program Philosophy:
The Online High School is a fully accredited, diploma granting, online independent school situated at Stanford University. Serving grades 7-12, the OHS prepares students from around the world for success both in life and in their future intellectual pursuits.
Location:
Stanford, CA
Awards:
Eighth Grader Wins Cecilian Music Club Competition; Junior Named Winner of International BioGENEius Challenge; Sophomore Wins Gold in Women’s Saber at Junior Worlds; Eighth Grader Wins National Chess Competition; Two OHS Students WIn at 2013 NatIonal Youngarts FoundatIon; Freshman Awarded by American Fine Arts Festival to Perform in Moscow; Five OHS Students Selected as Semifinalists for U.S. Physics Olympics Team; OHS Teams Earn Awards at High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling
Phone interview conducted on: 8-2-13
Questions
1. How is your school accredited?
Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC); renews in 2016—they just completed the halfway point, so had a 1 day visit and passed with flying colors
2. Where does funding for your school come from?
Primarily from tuition. They started with a grant and may receive another in the future. They sometimes receive additional funds from the university.
3. What is the tuition for your school?
Tuition for 2013-2014Enrollment Academic Year Tuition
Full-time enrollment (4 or more courses) $16,600
Part-time enrollment (up to 3 courses) $10,300
Single course enrollment $3,500
Residential Summer Program Summer Tuition
OHS Summer at Stanford $3,700
The amounts above reflect cost of tuition and all fees.
Please note that one course is defined as a year-long course. Two semester-long courses taken in different semesters would be viewed as one course for the purposes of tuition.
http://ohs.stanford.edu/admissions/tuition.html
4. Is there an application fee?
$80
5. Do you offer financial aid?
At least 20% of students receive financial aid
6. What grade levels do you offer?
7–12 Their original grant covered only grades 10–12, but now they offer 7–12 but are still calling the program the Stanford Online High School. Started out as EPGY, Education Program for Gifted Youth, but they have backed off the word, "gifted"—rather, their students are intellectually motivated. The middle school is part of the high school.
7. Are there age restrictions?
18 cap—there is not any kind of entry age; they don't look at age, they look at ability
8. What is the current enrollment of the school? How many are seniors?
Current enrollment of both full-time and part-time students stands at 534, of which 229 are full time (43%). That represents 38% growth over last year. They measure their growth by FTE (full time equivalents), not head count, because they have a large number of part-time and single-course students. This year they have more than 25% growth in FTE - 326 - over last year.
Of the full-time students: Middle School - 50 or 22%, and 9th grade students - 45 or 20%.
They have lot of seniors, but they don't all graduate from them. The total number is close to 35 or 36.
They have over 100% growth in their number of Middle School students.
9. Are courses organized in classes with fixed start/stop dates or are they independently paced?
There are regular semesters with small classes; all of the classes include a synchronous component at least 2x a week at 75 minutes each= 150 min/wk. The synchronous study is a college-style seminar in which instructors and students engage in high-level discussions about the course material; it is central to the academic experience in all courses at all grade levels. The seminars are conducted in real-time using web-based video conferencing technology. Class size typically does not exceed 16 students.
Like brick and mortar synchronized, 2 x week —students need to be in the virtual classroom 75 min / week
They have a rigorous attendance policy — easiest way to succeed is to be in the seminars.
10. What requirements do you have for teachers?
62% have PhD, 35% have Master's, only 1% have Bachelor's only
State certification for high school? No
Virtual Teacher certification? No
The teachers are employees of the university—some work in the Stanford OHS offices—all are on campus three days a month for staff meetings; 3 are long-distance (NY, CT, MA).
11. How are teachers paid? Are they paid only when students complete a course? Does that impact the rigor of the course or the strictness of grading?
They are Stanford staff employees hired as regular instructors and paid a salary based on their level of experience and educational degrees.
12. What are your short-term goals for the school?
Be sure we are a smoothly operating independent school.
13. What is your long-term vision for the school?
To be one of the very top independent and the top online school.They've only been around 8 yrs—there are still areas in the curriculum to expand. They want to expand their arts offerings and add a service learning component.
14. Where does your curriculum come from? (Who builds it?)
Teachers create their own curriculum. There is also a Director of Curriculum and there are five division heads to assist.
15. How would you describe the philosophy behind your content development?
All aspects of our curriculum embody our philosophy that an education must foster skills of critical reasoning and argumentation while at the same time engaging students in advanced academic content. A central component of the OHS education is our unique Core Sequence, which cultivates critical and creative thought and provides a common intellectual framework that lends unity to our curriculum and the experiences of our students. Students also have ample opportunity to deepen their knowledge in particular disciplines through our broad offering of Advanced Placement (AP) and university-level courses, as well as advanced directed study.
16. Who maintains your curriculum? How involved are your teachers in the course curriculum?
There are 40 instructors; each carries four courses. They are full-time instructors—no brick-and-mortar second jobs.
17. What LMS do you use?
They use ecollege—it's "not our favorite, but it does the job"
18. How involved are your teachers in student interaction? How do they communicate with students (email, chat, phone, face-to-face) and how often?
Very involved—they use all of the above, have 2–3 sections of office hours, work in clubs, lots of Skype, email, not a lot of face to face.
Students are in 23 countries.
19. How much professional development do your teachers receive?
A good amount. They apply for and receive the professional development they need in and out of house.
They are also part of the Malone School Online Network—they train teachers from the other Malone schools.
20. What is the application process for students like?
http://ohs.stanford.edu/admissions/admission_criteria.html
http://ohs.stanford.edu/admissions/standardized_tests.html
In making decisions, the Admission Committee reads applications holistically, taking into consideration a range of factors including the level of rigor of an applicant’s academic background and past academic performance; aptitude as demonstrated on standardized exams; an applicant’s own articulation of intellectual interests and academic goals; and independent assessments provided by teachers familiar with the applicant. No one factor is deciding.
21. What are the most common challenges your students face?
Time management; difficulties with work load. They are rethinking the amount of work, reemphasizing quality of work over quantity.
22. What are the biggest challenges your school faces?
Getting people/colleges to understand what we do. Fundraising is a priority. We are just 8 yrs old, so we are still developing.
23. How do your students compare to those in brick-and-mortar schools? (statistics on graduation rate, college acceptance, SAT/ACT/AP Scores, etc.)
See below.
24. How would you describe the students who attend your school?/Honestly speaking, what would you s ay brings most of your students to your school? Is it their option of last resort?
Academically gifted--moving on to college.
Additional characteristics: pull from athletes, professionals. They call these “students w/ significant pursuits.” There is a segment of homeschooled students. The population is geographically diverse; sweden, korea, etc.
25. I see that your OHS students participate in a number of interactions and clubs. How do they do this? Do most live in the area and get together physically, are these virtual activities, or do they commute?
Online – videoconferencing—this is the way their kids form cliques. These groups are very heady, intellectual; e.g., c.s. lewis group. SABAMeeting is the system they use. The only group that gets together physically is the robotics group. Some of the groups get involved in competitions, like the science bowl and Latin Club. They will meet at those competitions.
There is an optional 2-week summer session at Stanford campus for students to take enrichment courses.
Next week 100 kids will participate in AP camps, lab courses. Then they will go camp outdoors for a leadership experience.
26. How would you describe the teachers attracted to online teaching?
Post-docs who fell in love w/ teaching. They are very attracted to the concept and to working with the highly motivated, intellectually passionate kids. The teachers are risk takers, energetic.
The more they are on campus, the more they can collaborate. You will have a better school when you can get your teachers together.
27. How would you say your teachers compare the online teaching experience to the F2F teaching experience?
They love it; they love the relationships; they are very thoughtful about how best to transition to online environment and willing to take risks to make it work.
28. Examples of universities that have accepted your students?
http://ohs.stanford.edu/OHS_School_Profile.pdf
29. Could you recommend a couple of students I could interview about their experiences?
No, but that is the purpose of the student ambassadors bios on our page--they are quite detailed.
[Note: I knew one student who I contacted her directly. She referred me to two others: Mulconner, Nielsen, Tinker]
30. What other online high schools would you consider the leading schools in American/world today?
Can’t possibly say—don’t know.
31. How many diplomas have you awarded to date?
5 1st year, last year about 29 diplomas.
About 100 total—they are working to get an alumni association established.
32. Is SOHS yielding a profit?
Not yet
33. How do you respond to the following quote from the Stanford provost about Stanford OHS. Is it underselling the program?
“I don’t see this for a second competing with quality high schools, but for some people this could be an education they can’t get,” said John Etchemendy, Stanford’s provost.
It's underselling a little bit. However, if there is a very good school in their area, a student should go there because they still need regular interactions. However, if there is not, SOHS is a very good option for them.
Banner images retrieved from website: http://ohs.stanford.edu/studentlife/graduation.html