Is a Cyber Charter School Right for Your Child?

Posted on September 8, 2016September 20, 2016 by Matt Hillesland

Pennsylvania virtual charter schools are revolutionizing what it means for a child to get a truly individualized, high quality education—and one that prepares them for the digital future. Online charter schools provide an alternative to traditional K-12 schooling, one where students can work asynchronously and in a more self-directed way, while striving for the highest possible academic achievement. Many parents find themselves wondering if this kind of school might be right for their child. And for many, the answer is yes.

There are many different kinds of families and children who choose a Pennsylvania virtual charter school. It’s a personal choice that only you can make. Here are some of the top reasons we see with students who thrive in the virtual environment:

To learn to be self-directed. One of the most important life skills for anyone growing up today is being capable of taking initiative and managing oneself in self-directed work activities. This has always been a key skill for leaders and is increasingly in demand for top jobs across all industries. A virtual charter school helps students learn this habit at a young age, by allowing them to structure their own schedules around fixed academic requirements. Academic mentors will help the student build a schedule that will allow him or her to be successful.

To provide stability with busy schedules. All kinds of families find value in an online school, but for many, it’s a way to accommodate a life that is busy with other interests. Traditionally, students would attempt to balance a schedule that required them to be in school for seven straight hours with pursuit of an outside interest such as acting, dancing, music, or athletics. With an online school, students are still able to have the structure of formal schooling while working their school hours around an intense pursuit of their interests.

To teach 21st century computer skills. The future of business is online. When your child grows up, they will perform many of their work tasks in an online environment and often work with colleagues and supervisors who are in different cities or even on different continents. By growing up in this kind of environment, they will be at home in tomorrow’s professional climate.

Individualized education. The flexible environment provided by cyber charter schools allows students to build an educational experience tailored to their specific needs. Students are able to structure their days around a school schedule that suits them, spending less time on subjects they learn easily and spending more time on subjects they struggle with.

How to Overcome Test Anxiety

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Matt Hillesland

Does the thought of taking an exam make your heart race and palms sweat? Though it’s normal to feel a little nervous before a test, feelings of intense worry or self-doubt can hinder your test-taking abilities, as well as cause discomfort. People of all ages can suffer from test taking anxiety— even adult professionals taking a certification test.

Fortunately, there are many techniques that can help manage and even overcome your test anxiety. However, while these strategies may for work some, they may not work for everyone. Talk our cyber schools’ counselors or a mental health provider for further assistance with overcoming your anxiety.

Come prepared. Being ill-prepared for a test can contribute to your anxiety. Make sure you are preparing for your exam using a study approach that works for you. To do this, think about how you retain information best. Some students are visual learners, while others may benefit most from reading and writing the material. You’ll feel more at ease if you’ve thoroughly studied and practiced the material that will be on the test.

Learn to relax. There are a variety of relaxation techniques that can help you remain relaxed and confident come exam time. Focus on calming yourself through deep breathing exercises, relaxing your muscles, and refocusing on a positive outcome.

Think positive. Approach the test with confidence and personalize your success using a strategy that works for you. You may prefer repeating some words of encouragement to yourself, or closing your eyes and visualizing a positive outcome. Focus on clearing your mind of negative thoughts, and view the test as an opportunity to show off your knowledge and hard work.

Talk to your teachers. You don’t have to feel alone when you have test anxiety. Your teachers are here to help and support you. Talk to your teachers and let them know what’s going on. Your teacher can help you feel more comfortable and offer suggestions, as well as help you understand what will be on the test and how to prepare.

Remember, if you suffer from test anxiety, you are not alone. Reach out to your family, counselors, teachers and classmates for support.

5 Effective Study Tips for High Schoolers

Posted on May 17, 2016May 17, 2016 by Matt Hillesland

Developing good study habits is crucial to academic success. Not only does studying help students earn high marks on exams, but also it enables them to develop a more thorough understanding of a given subject. Here are some effective study tips to help students expand their knowledge and succeed academically.

Identify your learning style. Everyone learns differently. The learning style that works for you may not work for someone else. Generally speaking, there are four types of learners: visual, auditory, read-write, and kinesthetic. Understand which type of learner you are and cater your study approach to best suit your needs. Maybe you learn best with visuals. Or, perhaps writing down what you’re reading helps you retain information best.

Minimize distractions. Create a designated study space that’s free of noise and other distractions. If you’re studying at school, pick a secluded area in the library where you can really focus. At home, choose a quiet room that’s closed off from the rest of the house and away from the common living spaces. Your room may be a good place to study if you have a desk. Studying in bed can result in you laying down and falling asleep. No matter where you study, avoid any distractions that can disrupt your focus, such as your phone and TV.

Don’t procrastinate. When studying for an exam, many students make the mistake of procrastinating. Putting off your studies until the last minute and cramming the night before is not a good study practice. Cramming makes it difficult for your brain to retain all the information you are learning. Instead, study your coursework throughout the semester. In addition to your assignments, study your coursework a little every night. This will lessen your workload come exam time and ensure you’re really understanding and retaining the information.

Ask questions. Reach out to your teachers if you have questions about any of the material you’re reviewing. Teachers are available to answer any questions you may have. Reaching out for help will also show your teacher that you’re dedicated to the class and really want to learn.

Get a good night’s sleep. The night before a big test, make sure you get a full eight hours of sleep. While you may be tempted to stay up late studying, doing so will only hurt your chances of acing the test. Your brain needs to be well rested so you can remain focused and attentive at test time.

To improve your grades and expand your knowledge, utilize these five study tips. For more helpful resources, visit our online school in PA.

October is Bully Prevention Month!

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Ben Ozgur

It’s October, and that means a lot of things! Breast Cancer Awareness, Fall Festivals, and Bully Prevention Month. This is a time of the year in which people come together to raise awareness about bullying. Here are some quick facts about bullying and the things you can do to help when you know others are being bullied!

The Facts:

An estimated 160,000 children miss school every day because they are fearful of intimidation, taunting, and ridicule by their classmates.

1 in 7 students in grades K-12 is a bully or a victim of bullying.

90% of 4^th through 8^th graders report being victimized by bullying.

4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC, are caused by suicide. It is the 3^rd leading cause of death among young people.

61% of students said they shoot others because thy have been victims of physical abuse at home.

Types of Bullying:

Verbal: teasing, name calling, insulting

Social/Indirect: spreading stories/rumors, exclusion from groups, embarrassing someone in public

Physical: hitting, kicking, punching, spitting, tripping, pushing, breaking someone’s things

Cyber: using social media (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Blogs, etc) or other technologies to bully

Prevention:

So, what can you do about bullying? Some of these ideas might be helpful to you.

Make sure your school has a clear policy in place to define and deal with issues of bullying.

Start a school club or program for Anti-bullying.

Use social media for good! Help to spread the word about the negative repercussions of bullying.

Talk to someone! Your teachers, guidance counselors, friends, and others are here to help you!

Continue to educate. Knowledge is power. Spread the word about bullying, what it is, and how it can be prevented. Become an advocate today!

Time Management!

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Ben Ozgur

We are well into Quarter 1! Great job to everyone who has been working hard in classes. Your teachers are glad and excited to see such great progress!

In an effort to help you keep on track, we wanted to share some great tips. What is time management all about? How can you get on the right track and organize your day in the best possible way? Read below to learn more about time management.

1.) Discover Your Schedule.

What do you do everyday? How is your schedule currently arranged? The first step to designing a time management plan that will work for you is to recognize and then analyze what you are currently doing. Then, you can start to break down how you work. You can ask yourself questions such as these:

– Do you spend several hours each day working at all once?

– Do you need to take frequent breaks?

– What are the biggest distractions for you?

2.) Build Blocks of Time

Are there certain things that you would like to do in specific chunks of time? Perhaps you love art and would like to spend at least two hours each day working on that. Perhaps you struggle with science and need to dedicate a lot of time to that. Whatever you need to schedule in order to complete your work should live on a schedule, broken into feasible chunks of time. Perhaps 2 hours of science or math will not work for you. That’s ok! Maybe 15 minute chunks will work better. Trial and error will help you decide. Piece together something that you can feasibly see yourself completing, and take it from there.

3.) Create Breaks!

It is unrealistic to work all day every day. You need to make sure to include appropriate break times. That means just the right amount of them, and breaks that last for the right amount of time. Maybe taking a two-hour break will become too distracting, making it harder to get back to work. Figure out what is feasible for your learning style and stick to it!

4.) Study Space

Be sure that the area in which you are working is appropriate for your work. Your study and work space should be quiet, comfortable, temperature appropriate, and productive. Setting up shop in your living room with the television on may not help! Sitting in a space that is too cold or too hot can even become distracting! Ask your parents/guardians for help. Make your study space someplace you’d like to be each day.

5.) Make Time for Review

Your attempt at time management may not be successful the first time around. That is OK! This means that you may need to map out a new plan or a new schedule. Talk with your learning coach, teachers, and parents/guardians for assistance. Trying a new schedule, blocks of time, break routine, or study space is completely acceptable! Evaluating your needs on a regular basis is important. Be sure to openly communicate your learning needs so that you can become successful!

Life As A Cyber Senior!

Posted on October 2, 2013October 27, 2015 by Ben Ozgur

Hi, everyone! My name is Hannah Bisbing and I am a senior at 21CCCS. Last year, I was fortunate enough to compose a blog post instructing students how to cope with school-related stress. This year, I have returned to the 21CCCS blog for a new adventure. Throughout the year, I will be updating our blog with posts about senior life. These blogs will cover topics including: the challenges of college applications, SATs, dealing with senioritis, and other random anxieties.

~Welcome to “Life as a Cyber Senior!”~

To begin our first discussion, I will provide some personal information about my current school life. Within the past month, I have submitted two college applications to attain a priority status at Pennsylvania State University. I have written numerous personal/supplemental essays for other schools, studied for the October 5^th SAT, and attempted to stay on track with my schoolwork for 21CCCS. Without a doubt, this is certainly an exciting, yet chaotic, time for seniors. While school will be demanding this year, especially for the first semester, each of us should try to enjoy our hectic experiences as much as possible. That’s because for many of us, college life is less than a year away!

Last week, I also attended an informative event at Penn State, which was targeted at high school seniors. I actually went to the same event during my junior year, but the experience was even more thrilling the second time around. This time I knew that I had already applied! These types of occasions are excellent ways to become familiar with college settings, to ask questions to knowledgeable staff and students, and to visualize your contribution to a particular school. I highly suggest that seniors, juniors, and perhaps some eager sophomores take part in a few of these trips before deciding where to apply to school. Sometimes the college where you think you “should attend” is not actually where you truly belong. Feeling comfortable at a college and being able to envision yourself succeeding there is just as important as any college’s academic aspects.

For now, my main advice about getting back into the school cycle is to breathe. Focus on your goals and keep plugging along with your work. You can do this! Just take one step at a time.

And just for seniors, here’s a little reminder:

…but I think we can all agree that the meme goes a bit more like this…..

If you would like to comment or share any information, please visit the 21^st Century Cyber Charter School Facebook page. Feedback from students, parents, and teachers could be featured in upcoming posts!

Very Cool Event This Weekend!

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Ben Ozgur

For more information, CLICK HERE and access the web page directly.

A Visit from Senator Folmer!

Posted on September 19, 2013October 27, 2015 by Ben Ozgur

21CCCS was fortunate to host the Senate Education Committee Chairman, Senator Mike Folmer, this past Tuesday. These meetings are usually opportunities for small schools like ours to show our local legislators what we are all about. Charter schools and the School Choice Movement have gotten a lot of attention in recent years. For the coming year, we are anticipating charter school funding reform, further discussion of the Common Core, and Keystone Exams, and more. With so much happening across the legislative landscape, we wanted to contribute to the discussion.

We shared with Senator Folmer how our individualized instructional model works here at 21CCCS. We spoke to our students’ needs and how we accommodate them. We shared how proud we are to teach such a diverse student body, and how cyber education has given many students the learning model they need to succeed. The senator observed some of our teachers and had an opportunity to speak with Mrs. Vice, Mr. Kinsch, and Ms. Ball. He asked about how successful our students are and how our school’s model contributes toward learning and academic success.

We had a great visit!

If you would like to help inform your own legislators about some of the benefits of cyber charter schooling, you can do this, too! Write letters, send emails, and follow these individuals on social media. Your opinions and thoughts matter! Your voice makes a difference and can help frame the discussions occurring in our Capitol. Learn more here:http://www.pasenategop.com/committees/education.htm

Cyber Charter School Spending

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Ben Ozgur

What’s an EMO? What’s a Non-profit?

Public education is supported by taxpayer dollars. This is something we can all agree on, right? Well, sort of. Noting this fact and fully understanding its implications are two very different things. How do tax dollars support public education? How does spending occur?

To answer those questions, let’s first try to gain a little insight into the types of public school in existence today.

The public school landscape has grown. Public schools used to be only those brick-and-mortar institutions set up to serve individual districts across the state. Depending on the district in which you live, your child/children attend school for free because your taxes are paying for it. Today, public education is still provided through traditional brick-and-mortar school districts. But the School Choice Movement has added charter schools and cyber charter schools to the equation.

Now, let’s examine organizational structure.

Public schools are organized to operate as non-profit organizations, serving a population of students at no additional cost to the student (or student’s parents). In addition to receiving tax dollars, the state allocates additional funds to help schools deliver educational needs.

The designation as a “non-profit organization” implies that the organization will use surplus revenues to support and drive operations, instead of distributing profits out to shareholders or other groups (Wikipedia, 2013). This is because non-profit organizations are structured specifically to benefit some group of constituents. Spending, budgeting, and accountability are all outlined and justified to serve the public domain.

On the other hand, a for-profit organization is built to trade goods and/or services for the sole purpose of generating profit. These organizations are privately run and have less limiting restrictions in place to define operating procedures and expectations. Their missions and visions are simply constructed in a very different way, aimed at building a brand and making money, rather than serving.

So, what does this have to do with education?

All of the public schools in the state of Pennsylvania are considered non-profit organizations. As such, they receive public dollars to fund and support their efforts.

Across the political landscape right now, there are plenty of discussions about how schools spend their money, since their money is our money (public funds). But, cyber charter schools operate a little differently.

Being a charter school means that a charter was drafted and approved by the state of Pennsylvania. A charter consists of an outline, which defines and organizes all operations for the school. The charter defines levels of accountability for things such as school operations, budgetary expectations, management, human resources, curriculum, policies, and more. These restrictions and definitions match many of the expectations delineated for traditional public schools.

Once a charter is accepted and approved, a charter school may begin operations. But, in recent years, an additional entity has come on the field. Since the mid-2000s, organizations called Educational Management Organizations (EMOs) have operated to provide additional services for educational institutions. In a recent article, Education Week reporter, Debra Viadero reported that, “Over the 2008-09 school year, these [educational management] groups operated 609 public schools in 25 states.” These EMOs are quickly gaining greater traction and becoming more prevalent. But what are they?

EMOSs are for-profit organizations that can work in conjunction with whatever efforts a non-profit school has already initiated. They provide services, which can include school performance evaluations and analyses, accountability initiatives, curricular development and enhancement, and marketing expansion.

Some EMOs work on a large scale, providing services to multiple schools across the country. This means that some schools that operate as a single cyber charter school in one state may receive similar services to those provided to other cyber charter schools in other states.

The benefit of EMOs is that they represent a body of innovation and growth in education. They have the time, money, and resources to help schools in ways that a traditionally operating non-profit school district simply cannot. These efforts cost time and money that were out of reach for a traditional non-profit organization. EMOs are bringing a huge service to the educational field that is not only needed, but imperative to help student development.

So, why are EMOs problematic?

The presence of EMOs is a good thing. Make no mistake. What has not been ideal is the development of assumptions and misunderstandings about school funding that has followed the EMO movement. Larger cyber charter schools, especially those serving upwards of 12,000 students, are supported by large EMOs that represent many schools across the nation. These for-profit organizations are able to contribute massive dollars toward marketing efforts. This means that while a cyber charter school is supported by public dollars, it can also be supported by EMO efforts, which are not supported by public dollars. So, when various sources tout public dollars are being spent on massive marketing ad campaigns, that’s not entirely true. Dollars are flowing from an EMO, which is supported by shareholders and other contributing investors.

The confusion occurs because not everyone recognizes that some cyber charter schools are enhanced by an EMO. Additionally, not all cyber charter schools operate in the same way. For example, 21CCCS is not affiliated with an EMO. Our curriculum is developed in-house. Our budget is very different, and our marketing efforts are drastically dissimilar. But we are all being lumped into the same category.

Are schools spending money to market their learning environments? Sure. But are millions of public dollars going toward it? Millions of EMO dollars are.

Help us to send the message that public dollars are not necessarily going toward wasteful marketing ads. We are not all the same, and we are not all operating similarly. Cyber charter schools continue to provide services and meet alternative educational learning needs for students across the state!

Support cyber charter schools today! Like us on Facebook and follow our handle @21CyberSchool

Alumni Spotlight! Introducing…Jessica!

Posted on July 31, 2013October 27, 2015 by Ben Ozgur

We LOVE our alumni! They teach us a lot of things about the opportunities just waiting around the corner after graduation. We are so proud of our students and feature their success stories HERE on our blog. This month we’d like to introduce Jessica. She is an animal lover, a writer, and an advocate for bullied teens. To learn more about Jessica, read below!

In her words:

“Hello! My name is Jessica. I am currently living with all of my pets, which include: two cats, two dogs, and six little puppies (only one of which I will keep). What have I been up to since graduation? Well, to answer that is simply, I have been working my tail off. But not just at work. I have many personal goals in life as well– which I am working toward in exciting ways each day.

Let’s begin with my work life. I work at a Bon-Ton, which is near my current home. I am a make-up and beauty adviser. I love my job so much. I get to work with amazing, fun people everyday. I have the opportunity to make others feel good about themselves when they leave my counter. It has been a challenge to transition into working, but I’m working through it a little everyday.

I have also been working on my most loved passion: my writing. I recently entered a contest for a newspaper. This contest aims to find a new advice columnist for the newspaper agency. This would be a very exciting opportunity for me because I love to give advice. I am hopeful about the future. Additionally, I have written a children’s book. I am excited to one day become a published author. I hope that my children’s book can be the first of many others to come. Currently, I am working on a novel. It may be a while before it is finished. It contains a ton of different characters and plot lines. The intricate details make for a lot of hard work on my end, but I am excited to complete the project.

Finally, I am also managing my time to work on a personal website. It is a work in progress. My website is designed to help kids, teens, and adults to understand the effects of bullying. Bullying can have a lot of negative effects on people. I feel that it is important to get help, talk to someone, and learn to live life to the fullest. My website hopes to help people dealing with bullying.

In the future, I hope to go back to school to pursue my interests. But, until then I will continue to work on several projects with the hopes of succeeding.

Feel free to check out my new anti-bullying website at:
http://originaljess.wix.com/dontbullyme

21st Century Cyber Charter School

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