At-home class program extended to elementaries

At-home class program extended to elementaries

By James D. Wolf Jr.

Post-Tribune correspondent

Porter Township School Corp.'s unique days of at-home classes will extend to the elementary levels this coming semester.

On the third Wednesday of February, March, April and May, the students at Porter Lakes and Boone Grove elementary schools will work from home via computers. The program began last spring with Boone Grove High School students working on assignments by computers and encompassed Boone Grove Middle School this fall, both with the state's blessing.

"We are the only district they've approved to do this," Superintendent Nick Brown said Thursday after the School Board meeting. However, they will evaluate the program at the elementary level after the first two times, to make sure it is working.

"That is really the big experiment -- are we meeting the needs of the students," Brown said.

The district developed this program because students will need to know how to use computers from home, often to do work or even for some college classes. The program has the teachers creating assignments and a few teachers overseeing things in case of any problems.

So far, it's worked for older students. To prepare for the new stage, the district met with elementary school parents Tuesday and Wednesday to show them how the students would log in and to give sample assignments.

Besides teaching students skills, the days off benefit the school because of the loss of parent-teacher conference days and staff development days. The students can learn from home, while their teacher are learning or meeting with parents. The district won't have to pay for substitute teachers, and because the program uses existing technology, there's no money spent there, either.

Students without Internet

access can come to the computer lab with parent supervision, but school surveys show that 92 percent to 95 percent of households have Internet access, Brown said. The district plans to have eight at-home work days next year, but two will be "floaters" so teachers can take advantage of learning opportunities at other times.

Friday