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Name_________________________________________Period_________Underline important points, Circle things you do notunderstand, Write notes in the left margin, write aQuestion at the top and a Summary at the end.

In Florida, Virtual Classrooms With No TeachersBy LAURA HERRERA, New York TimesPublished: January 17, 2011

MIAMI On the first day of her senior year at North Miami Beach Senior HighSchool, Naomi Baptiste expected to be greeted by a teacher when she walkedinto her precalculus class.

All there were computers in the class, said Naomi, who walked into a room ofconfused students. We found out that over the summer they signed us up forthese courses.

Naomi is one of over 7,000 students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools

enrolled in a program in which coresubjects are taken using computers ina classroom with no teacher. Afacilitator is in the room to makesure students progress. That personalso deals with any technical problems.

These virtual classrooms, called e-learning labs, were put in place lastAugust as a result of Floridas ClassSize Reduction Amendment, passed in2002. The amendment limits thenumber of students allowed in

classrooms, but not in virtual labs.

While most schools held an orientation about the program, some students andparents said they were not informed of the new class structure. Others said theywere not given the option to choose whether they wanted this type ofinstruction, and they voiced concern over the programs effectiveness.

The online courses are provided by Florida Virtual School, which has been anoption in the states public schools. The virtual school has provided onlineclasses for home-schooled and traditional students who want to take extracourses. Students log on to a Web site to gain access to lessons, which consistmostly of text with some graphics, and they can call, e-mail or text onlineinstructors for help.

The 54 participating schools in the Miami-Dade County systems e-learning labprogram integrate the online classes differently. A representative from thedistrict said in an e-mail that the system provided lab facilitators, training forthose facilitators and coordination between the district schools and the virtualschool.

Theresa Sutter, a member of the Parent Teacher Student Association at MiamiBeach Senior High School, said she thought her daughter, Kelly, was done withvirtual classes after she finished Spanish the previous year at home.

When Kelly said that she had been placed in a virtual lab, Ms. Sutter recalled herjaws dropped. Neither of them had been told that Kelly would be in one.

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Its totally different from what classroom teaching is like, so its a completelydifferent animal, Ms. Sutter said.

Under the states class-reduction amendment, high school classrooms cannotsurpass a 25-student limit in core subjects, like English or math. Fourth- through

eighth-grade classrooms can have no more than 22 students, andprekindergarten through third grade can have no more than 18.

Alix Braun, 15, a sophomore at Miami Beach High, takes Advanced Placementmacroeconomics in an e-learning lab with 35 to 40 other students. There are 445students enrolled in the online courses at her school, and while Alix chose to beplaced in the lab, she said most of her lab mates did not.

None of them want to be there, Alix said, and for virtual education you haveto be really self-motivated. This was not something they chose to do, and its areally bad situation to be put in because it is not your choice.

School administrators said that they had to find a way to meet class-size limits.Jodi Robins, the assistant principal of curriculum at Miami Beach High, said thateven if students struggled in certain subjects, the virtual labs were necessarybecause theres no way to beat the class-size mandate without it.

In response to parental confusion about virtual classes, the Miami Beach Highparent-teacher association created a committee on virtual labs. The panel workswith the school toward getting issues on the table and working proactively,said Patricia Kaine, the associations president.

Some teachers are skeptical of how well the program can help students learn.

The way our state is dealing with class size is nearly criminal, said ChrisKirchner, an English teacher at Coral Reef Senior High School in Miami. Theyrestandardizing in the worst possible way, which is evident in virtual classes.

While Ms. Kirchner questions the instructional effectiveness of online courses,she said there was a place for them at some level.

I think there should be learning on the computer, Ms. Kirchner said. That partis from 2:30 p.m. on. The first part of the day should be for learning with people.

But Michael G. Moore, a professor of education at Pennsylvania State University,said programs that combine virtual education and face-to-face instruction couldbe effective. This is called the blended learning concept.

There is no doubt that blended learning can be as effective and often moreeffective than a classroom, said Mr. Moore, who is also editor of The American

Journal of Distance Education. He said, however, that research and hisexperiences had shown that proper design and teacher instruction within theclassroom were necessary. A facilitator who only monitors student progress andtechnical issues within virtual labs would not be categorized as part of a blended-learning model, he said. Other variables include the maturity and sophisticationof the student, he said.

Despite some complaints about the virtual teaching method, administrators saide-learning labs were here to stay. And nationally, blending learning has alreadycaught on in some areas.

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In Chicago Public Schools, high schools have credit recovery programs that letstudents take online classes they previously failed so they can graduate. OmahaPublic Schools also have similar programs that require physical attendance atcertain locations.

Julie Durrance, manager of the e-learning lab program, said the virtual school

planned to work more closely with district schools to ensure success. She saidvirtual school officials wanted orientations to be mandatory in schools with labs.Ms. Durrance also predicted that labs would expand to middle schools and wouldinclude more grade levels in schools that currently limited the labs to juniors andseniors.

There are six middle and K-8 schools using virtual labs in Miami, including CutlerRidge Middle School and Frank C. Martin K-8 Center.

I truly believe this will be an option for many districts across the state, Ms.Durrance said. I think we just hit the tip of the iceberg.SUMMARY: