Virtual Virginia Expanded To Help Teachers With Distance Learning

VIRGINIA — After Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam closed K-12 schools for the remainder of the academic year, school districts have been planning strategies to offer distance education. Northam announced an additional resource Monday to aid public school teachers with virtual instruction.

The Virginia Department of Education's online learning system Virtual Virginia will expand to allow all Virginia public school teachers to share lessons and activities through June 30. More than 6,000 students are already enrolled in Virtual Virginia’s 81 high school-level courses. The expansion will allow elementary and middle school students to learn content missed during the school closure.

Courses will start in May. The course content will be available to free of cost to a school district that enrolls students and teachers in the program.

"Access to the Virtual Virginia platform will be especially helpful for teachers and students in school divisions without robust distance learning systems," said Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane.

Get the latest updates on the new coronavirus in Virginia as they happen. Sign up for free news alerts and a newsletter in your Patch town.

According to the Virginia Department of Education, school districts make their own decisions on continuity of learning and making up missed content. The state's education department provided guidance to help districts plan for distance learning while accounting for equity, access to technology, special education needs and English language learner needs. The options include virtual learning, additional instruction through summer programming and adding instruction into the next academic year. The Standards of Learning testing has been cancelled for the school year. Additional guidance outlines flexibility on graduation requirements allowed under the governor's executive order.

School districts are taking different approaches to continue education. Fairfax County Public Schools, the state's largest school district, started its distance learning plan Tuesday, April 14 through weekly learning packets and other means. Loudoun County Public Schools will launch its distance learning on Wednesday, April 15, and Prince William County Schools are carrying out a multi-phase plan to support continuity of learning. However, Arlington Public Schools opted to focus continuity of learning plan on previously-taught content.

Monday also marked the launch of VA TV Classroom to provide teacher-led instruction broadcast on public media stations. The content aims to reach students in grades K-10 unable to access other distance learning options due to a lack of high-speed internet. Participating stations include the DC region's WETA, Blue Ridge PBS, VPM and WHRO Public Media. Content for grades K to 3 airs from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and content for grades 7 to 10 is available from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. During the week of April 27, the "AP Prep Week" special will air from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. with a different AP subject each day.