On October 19th, 2012, Governor Corbett released a statement expressing his commitment to the charter school movement. He acknowledged disappointment in the House’s failure to bring a recently proposed Senate bill 1115 to the table. Although the bill passed a vote in the state Senate, it has yet to be voted on in the House, says Daily Time Correspondent Lois Puglionesi.

Her article, Haverford Discusses Charter School Bill outlines the reasons that both supporters and naysayers of the bill feel the way they do. Ultimately, the bill will bring attention to fiscal allocations for charter schools, specifying “governance and academic accountability rules.” Movement on the bill would help charter schools by setting more specific expectations for school funding.

The governor’s intention to draw attention to the bill means high hopes for January elections. For more information on the bill proposed, check out this link to view a copy of it! Playing an active part in your education starts with knowledge. Get informed!

Pennsylvania is one of the more popular states in the nation to have a high concentration of cyber school options. This year saw the addition of four new cyber schools. The 2013-2014 school year already has proposals in for eight more cyber schools. Because cyber charter schools each follow a different learning methodology, the goals and focus of each proposed school is a little different. To learn more about the ambition and goals of these school models, CLICK HERE, and read the article recently released by Post-Gazette.com.

Sometimes the best way to discover whether a public cyber school is the best option for your child or not is by conversing with other parents. To learn the skinny on public cyber schools and what they can afford your student, check out the ‘Pennsylvania Families for Public Cyber School’ Organization. They keep up to date on the legislation affecting Pennsylvania schools, build advocacy efforts, and reach out to other parents like you!

Want to know what’s trending in the public cyber world? Check them out and join their efforts to keep public cyber education as an option for our children!

The Pennsylvania Department of Education constitutes a charter school as one that “operates free from many educational mandates, [and] offers alternatives in education using strategies that may save money and improve student performance.” Charter schools in PA have benefited student learning because they are awarded the flexibility to cater to different student learning styles. They do this by piloting different learning models, which work to find innovative delivery of instruction.Research suggests that some models are more effective than others.

But what is the charter school movement actually achieving? The Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools recently released data suggesting that Pennsylvania state’s charter schools are outperforming district schools across the commonwealth. In October of this year, the organization reported, “Statewide, 49.85 percent of traditional school districts made AYP, compared to 58.97 percent of Pennsylvania’s charter schools.” 105,056 students are currently enrolled in charter schools throughout Pennsylvania and that number is climbing. There are waiting lists for several charter schools, and enrollment has doubled over the last ten years.

Pennsylvania has seen first hand that charter schools are helping children to achieve, and they’re doing it one school at a time. There are presently 167 charter schools in PA and that number continues to increase. Also increasing are the number of cyber schools. The 2012-2013 school year will see the opening of four new cyber charter schools. The standardized test scores speak for themselves, but what’s more important are the increasing demands of students. They want educational options. They want learning alternatives, and they want to succeed.

For a list of new charter schools opening across the state, check out PCPCS’s posted article here.

We see first hand how our school is changing the lives of our students. Cyber education offers students the kind of individualized instruction that encourages them to embrace learning. Our students are excited to log into their classes each day. They work with teachers who show students how to heighten their natural abilities, hone their strengths, and challenge their weaknesses.

The news about cyber school success is spreading! A news release recently posted by the Commonwealth Foundation on PATownHall.com reports that Pennsylvania’s  cyber schools are providing the alternative students have been looking for. A reporter at the Commonwealth Foundation, Nate Benefield said, “Education has finally caught up with twenty-first century technology to produce viable choices for parents and opportunities for students to grow, learn, and thrive in a competitive global market.”

21CCCS proudly contends that our learning styles and strategies are reaching a population of students in search of something different. Education is accessible by all when offered in different delivery models. Because 21CCCS is able to accommodate and shift instruction to be presented in inventive and exciting new ways, our students reap the benefits. We hope to help others see how cyber education can offer more than just computer screen images to its students. We are offering resources, opportunities, and growth in education for students.

To read the case study on which the PATownHall.com article was written, entitled, The Learning Revolution, CLICK HERE. It was released by the Commonwealth Foundation in October of 2012.