Farmington considers online options
FARMINGTON — A committee of 13 school administrators and teachers is in the process of helping to decide what online school will look like next year for the School District.
Stephanie Pinkerton, assistant superintendent, is chairing the committee, and right now the group is reviewing four companies to provide the curriculum and learning management system for Farmington Virtual Academy for the 202122 school year.
Farmington is using Lincoln Learning and Buzz this year for kindergarten through 8th grades and Virtual Arkansas for the high school. The platforms are being considered along with other options available.
“We want to look at what’s out there and what’s available and what is the best option for our students,” Pinkerton said.
The district is required to submit its online learning plan for 2021-22 to the Arkansas Department of Education by May 1.
Committee members have been asked to look at certain subjects and grade levels of the different learning systems and use a scoring rubric for each of those. From there, the committee will get back together to discuss its research.
Lincoln Learning and Buzz have pros and cons, Pinkerton said.
“A pro is that it was readily available and the state was paying for it,” Pinkerton said, adding the state has agreed to pay for Lincoln Learning and Buzz for the 2021-22 school year.
Lincoln Learning also provided options for the district on teachers it could use for the curriculum, she said.
“One of the cons is that we had to learn a whole new platform so there was a learning curve there to have it ready,” Pinkerton said. “Our teachers did a great job learning it.”
For this year, some Farmington teachers are teaching both on-site classes and online students, which has been a challenge, Pinkerton said. She said the hope is the district will not have to do that next year, though some teachers have already volunteered to serve in that capacity.
Virtual Arkansas has worked well for Farmington High because the school uses Virtual Arkansas teachers and Farmington teachers are available to facilitate as needed, Pinkerton said.
“They are going to offer it (Virtual Arkansas) for grades 7-8, in addition to grades 9-12, next year,” Pinkerton said. “That will be a strong factor in our decision because we would like the junior high and high school using the same virtual curriculum provider.”
Virtual Arkansas is costly, she said, but staff believe it offers a rigorous curriculum for Farmington students.
Currently, Farmington has an enrollment of 2,177 students, with 450 students in the online academy, down from 608 at the beginning of the year, according to Pinkerton.
Pinkerton said the school is doing a pre-enrollment survey to get an idea of how many students will attend online and in-person next year. She said a parent’s response to the survey is not locked-in, but the information will help the district in planning for next year.