Programs and Services

NACOL Programs and Services

This resource provides an overview of the programs and services provided by NACOL. Through a variety of service offerings and other activities, NACOL continues to makes strides in supporting and advocating for our members as the leading organization for K-12 online learning.

NACOL Programs and Services

Virtual School Symposium (VSS)
The Virtual School Symposium (VSS) is the NACOL annual conference focused solely on K-12 online learning and virtual schools. It draws over 700 attendees including the leading practitioners and policymakers with e-learning programs in the United States, Canada, Mexico and abroad. The 2008 VSS will be held in Phoenix, Arizona on October 26-28, 2008. For more information, visit http://www.virtualschoolsymposium.org

Webinars
NACOL’s highly interactive monthly Webinar series provide valuable professional development opportunities for online leaders and practitioners. Experts share their knowledge on a variety of topics, answer questions, and facilitate discussion during the webinars. These webinars are held on the second Wednesday of the month at 2:00pm ET. For information, please contact Linda Wood.

Teacher Talk Webinars
NACOL’s monthly Teacher Talk Webinar series provides valuable professional development and time for online teachers to discuss a variety of topics specifically related to teaching online in order to support one another. These webinars are held on the third Thursday of each month at 6:00pm ET. For information, please contact Allison Powell.

Online Course and Teaching Quality Standards
NACOL released national quality standards for online courses in September 2007. The result of a recent research review of existing online course quality standards paved the way for NACOL to endorse online course quality standards that we feel represent the highest level of course quality standards for our programs to strive towards. Additionally, NACOL published standards for quality online teaching following a similar research review. For more information, visit http://www.nacol.org/nationalstandards.

School and Students Needs Assessment Program (SNAP)
The School and Students Needs Assessment Program (SNAP) provides online schools leaders with the data on online courses and program needs for schools and students. States and districts use this data to make informed decisions about the courses and services that their online programs offer and for future planning. Not only does participation in SNAP assist with the prioritization of online offerings, it also has provided programs with information that they can use to gain political and financial support for their programs. School participation in the survey brings increased awareness about online learning options available. NACOL has partnered for Needs Assessments in several states which include: Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Tennessee. In addition to SNAP, NACOL has received several requests to assist with other online school accountability issues such as online course reviews and customer evaluations. For information, visit http://www.nacol.org/snap or contact Allison Powell.

National Primer on K-12 Online Learning
Online learning, cyber charter schools and virtual schools and online learning are increasing as a viable means of providing quality education to elementary and secondary school students. Much has been learned over the last 10 years about how to teach and provide quality online courses, and this has resulted in steadily increasing numbers of students enrolling in online education. While the success and growth of online learning is significant, we find that many leaders lack knowledge and understanding about online learning and its potential for students across the United States. We see this broad lack of understanding as a significant barrier to the broader acceptance and use of online learning. To address this issue, NACOL published a national report: National Primer on K-12 Online Learning in the United States. The report includes an overview, definitions, key issues and recommendations. The report contributes to understanding the value of online learning students, including full-time and part-time programs, and what it is like to be an online student and online teacher.

Promising Practices in K-12 Online Learning
Because there are so many well-developed programs across the country, there are numerous promising practices in each of these areas. The challenge for practitioners and policymakers, however, is sifting through so many practices and policies in order to find the ones that are most promising and most applicable to their own needs. NACOL is poised to respond to this need by creating a series of briefs under the title “Promising Practices.” Each brief will explore a specific topic by explaining the issue and discussing real-world examples of policies or practices in place to address the challenge. By drawing on members, we will identify the most pressing issues facing online programs and states that wish to expand online education opportunities, and tap into the same membership base as we seek the best solutions to these challenges. The Best Practices guide project is to develop a best practices series and make recommendations for school reform efforts by including best practices in the areas of policy, management and oversight in support of redesigning high schools to include virtual schooling and hybrid approaches.

NACOL Almanac
Online schools are rapidly growing across the United States. Both NACOL members and others seeking comprehensive information about online education programs currently have nowhere to find the most up to date information about data online schools and students across the country. NACOL will soon be collecting this important information via an online survey and will publish it as a PDF document with bound copies available which will be updated on a yearly basis. The first NACOL Almanac should be available by 2008 VSS.

NACOL Website and Forums
NACOL’s website provides access to the latest resources, research and reports as well as news articles highlighting K-12 online learning. NACOL continues to run the Forums section of the website to build community. In the online Forums, NACOL members can discuss recent news related to online learning, post and search for jobs, look up conferences and grants, as well as discuss topics related to online learning, course development and professional development. For more information, visit http://www.nacol.org/forum.

NACOL Program Committee
The Program committee oversees the development and implementation of programs such as VSS, webinars, and other NACOL sponsored events. The Program committee meets on the fourth Friday of the month at 10:30am PST / 1:30pm EST. Chairperson: Fred Sagester (drfred@indva.com)

NACOL Membership Committee
The Membership committee works to develop and implement strategies for increasing NACOL memberships and providing increased value and benefits for members. The Membership committee meets on the fourth Thursday of the month at 12:00pm PST / 3:00pm EST.

NACOL Research Committee
The Research committee works to advocate and improve K-12 e-learning by identifying the research needs and gaps and collaborating on and facilitating research projects that will disseminate important research findings to the K-12 online learning community. The Research committee meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 10:00am PST / 1:00pm EST. Chairperson: Cathy Cavanaugh (cathycavanaugh@coe.ufl.edu)

NACOL Advocacy and Issues Committee
The Advocacy and Issues committee develops NACOL advocacy and issues through work on policy positions and developing recommendations to address advocacy needs with external (including federal, state and local) policies. The Advocacy and Issues committee meets as needed, and not on a recurring schedule. Chairperson: Mickey Revenaugh (mrevenaugh@earthlink.net)

NACOL State Committee in California
NACOL members from online programs from across the state of California meet on a conference call to share updates of their programs, issues and discuss topics specifically related to online learning in California. Chairperson: Kip Leland (kip.leland@lausd.net)

NACOL State Committee in Georgia
NACOL members from online programs from across the state of Georgia meet online on a monthly basis to share updates of their program and discuss topics specifically related to schools in Georgia. Chairperson: Lisa Watkins (LWatkins@doe.k12.ga.us)

NACOL Midwestern Regional Committee
NACOL members from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin meet online on a monthly basis to share updates and issues they are facing in their state and within their programs. This committee meets on the first Friday of the month at 9:00am Central. Chairperson: Marcel Kielkucki (MKIELKU@kirkwood.edu)

NACOL Western Regional Committee
NACOL members from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming meet online on a monthly basis to share updates and issues they are facing in their state and within their programs. This committee meets on the third Friday of the month at 9:00am PST / 12:00pm EST. Chairperson: Donna Vakili (dvakili@idla.k12.id.us)

International Survey
NACOL collected data from over 15 countries across the world to learn more about policies, professional development, content development, online student and teacher profiles, challenges, and the current state of online learning in each country. A copy of the results and a matrix of the findings can be found on the NACOL Resources website. Countries who did not participate in the first study are welcome to complete a survey to be added to the research.

Media Relations and Advocacy
NACOL is the “Go To” organization with international, national and local media. NACOL responds to media inquiries, provides a fact sheet for reporters and has citations in stories in the following publications: New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, London Times, Washington Times, Houston Chronicle, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Christian Science Monitor and many more, including industry publications such as Education Week, District Administrator, Converge, eSchool News and more.

NACOL Expertise as “Go To” on National Reports and Documents
We are working to increase the visibility and recognition of NACOL as the leading advocate of the promise of online teaching and learning to transform education in every region of the country and for all students. NACOL is building a reputation as a repository of expertise and the latest research findings in areas of K-12 online learning. NACOL was invited as the national expert to help develop, review and provide recommendations for several national publications including the Keeping Pace report, the APA Funding Virtual Schools report, and Education Sector’s Laboratories of Reform report.

Publications

National Standards for Quality Online Teaching, NACOL, February 2008

Virtual Schools and 21st Century Skills, NACOL and Partnership for 21st Century Skills, November 2007

National Primer for K-12 Online Learning, NACOL, April 2007

Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning: A Review of State Level Policy and Practice, John Watson, Evergreen Consulting, November 2007

Equity and Access in Online Classes and Virtual Schools, NACOL, November 2007

Professional Development for Online Learning and Virtual Schooling, NACOL, November 2007