Phyllis Lentz
Research/Resource Specialist
The Florida High School

Sharon Johnston
Curriculum Specialist,
Florida High Scool

The Florida High School's (FHS) online environment offers a choice for all learners. Home schoolers, athletes, performers, and any students with scheduling conflicts or medical problems benefit from our "any time, any place, any path, any pace" environment. These students have the choice of taking one or six courses with our online environment. FHS courses are accessible via the web so students can logon from a library, school, hotel, or home, wherever Internet connectivity is available. Time is flexible; therefore, students have choice in scheduling time for the online "classroom." According to a national report (SCANS, 1999), "In our current system, time is the constant and achievement the variable. We have it backwards. Achievement should be the constant and time the variable."

Giving students choice in how and when they learn and where they learn is the primary reason for the development of FHS. Our research shows that if students choose our learning environment, they are successful. In several districts, school officials have told students on the first day of school that no teacher is available, so they must report to a lab and take the subject online. This scenario results in poor student results. FHS offers students a choice of a different delivery system, but students must have the right to choose to learn online.

After entering our environment and selecting a course(s), they are asked to choose a timeline for completing the course: accelerated (ahead of school calendar), traditional (follows school calendar) or extended pace (finishes about 9 weeks after the traditional). In addition, students choose whether they want to enter the honors track or stay in the regular track. Throughout the course, students are given several opportunities for selecting the honors track. More importantly, students have the choice of moving among the review tracks, the regular track and the honors track. A student might need the review track in Module 2 but not Module 3. These choices and others empower students to take the responsibility for learning.

FHS provides a caring learning environment that gives students choices in how they learn. By establishing high expectations and curriculum choices (projects) for demonstrating proficiency, teachers engage students in learning. By only asking students to "give us right answers without asking how they arrive at them, make correct choices on multiple-choice questions, or distinguish true from false, . . . they will never see the value of working hard" (Glasser, 1992).

Instead of asking students to "give us right answers," FHS instructors engage students with performance-based choices for demonstrating proficiency. Each course begins with a real-world motif or metaphoric construct, giving students a specific role. For example, in AP Literature and Composition, as members of a dinner party, students examine entrees (classic literature), engage in table talk about language, and create a dinner party for classmates.

To support the statement that FHS gives students choices in how they demonstrate proficiency, specific curriculum examples follow. In Biology, in the enlarged heart cells activity, the students select a physician’s assistant or nurse in a cardiac care unit to interview. Students have the choice of presenting their interview results in a poem, song, slide show, booklet, pamphlet, poster, or videotape skit. In the Physics course, while studying vectors, students are asked to look for vector representations in their everyday environment. Then they select and describe 5 vectors that they find in their chosen environments. Giving students opportunities to select from their own environment enables the students to apply complex physics concepts to the familiar in their lives. The 9^th English and Global studies teachers designed the community scavenger hunt. Students select and interview an established town person to ascertain the past and the changes in the community. In 10^th grade English, students select an area to investigate in Midsummer Night’s Dream such as costuming, choreography, and character dossier to understand Shakespeare’s play. To showcase learning, students collaborate with a traditional drama class to design products such as a diorama, costume, dance, etc. In the SAT course, students utilize the Word of the Day and the Problem of the Day for enhancement choices throughout the course. In Geometry, students design a geometric problem that they execute in whatever section of the zoo they choose. To name a few, students have chosen to calculate the area of a cage or shown the contrasting geometric shapes in fences and buildings. In the English 9 honors drama component, students track a chosen character on his or her psychological journey throughout Romeo and Juliet. In a Life Management Skills’ module, focusing on the danger of chemical substances, students have many choices for investigation: develop, administer and give results of a survey; calculate the costs of substance habits; develop a chart showing the problems associated with substance abuse; research current newspaper articles; write an opinion about substance abuse; or classify various substances and their impact on an individual. In our integrated American Studies course (American Literature and American History), to become an expert in one specific battle of the Civil War, students are given choices of creating a three-dimensional, scale model of the battlefield, creating a travel brochure for a must-see battlefield, creating a front page of a newspaper, or communicating their battlefield knowledge through a web page. With these choices in performance-based activities, we know that we are enabling students to be successful in the modern problem-solving workplace.

Even with increased student participation, currently over 2,000 enrollments, we have observed high student achievement in course work as evidenced in final grade reports. One of the strengths of our environment is that students can submit assignments for review and feedback before submitting for a grade. Teachers review the assignment and send specific feedback, so students can revise and resubmit. The success of this process is evidenced in the high number of students achieving A’s and B’s on final grade reports. Data from a 1999 study of FHS by the Florida State University’s Center for Learning shows that 84% of our completers earned an A or B. Another area that demonstrates high achievement is in student performance on the College Board Advanced Placement Exams in AP Computer Science C++, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Biology. AP Physics, and AP MacroEconomics. The students taking exams in these courses achieved a 72% pass rate. The College Board states that a school is successful in its advanced placement program if 66% or more students pass the exams. An amazing feat was that 60% of our computer science students earned a 5 (highest AP score). In addition, our students are receiving first and second place awards in state competitions in Computer Science and Latin.

To ensure that students who choose to learn online succeed, FHS has established a caring, community environment. As students enroll, teachers welcome students with a phone call and emails. Throughout the course, teachers call students often to compliment them and/or to encourage more submission of assignments. Since student-teacher interaction is essential for success, teachers respond to student emails and course submissions within 24 hours. This 24-hour turn around keeps students and teachers working together, so students can succeed. Knowing the importance of the role of parents in the learning process, teachers also call and email parents often. We are finding that parents sit next to our student and observe or participate in the learning. To keep the parents and students connected with the FHS, at any time the community has access to teachers’ homepages, events at school, guidance newsletters, and school newsletters. Designing and delivering a cyber learning environment where students choose to learn is a challenging and rewarding project for The Florida High School.

Works Cited

Glasser, W. The Quality School. (Second, Expanded Edition ed.). New York:
Harper Collins, 1992.
In Learning a living: A SCANS Report. Secretary's Commission on Achieving
Necessary Skills. Washington, D.lC.: U.lS. Department of Labor, 1992.

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