Mid-Week Comparison

Okay, for the past while I have been using and, more recently, posting the results of my Google News Alert service for virtual school to this blog. A week or so ago, a friend sent me her Yahoo News service alert for the same two words as a comparison point. So here it is:

CRM Knowledge Base
CRM Knowledge Base Thu, 08 Dec 2005 9:58 AM PSTPUSAN, South Korea

Like most 13 year olds, Jun Ji-hye likes to send e-mail to her friends. But she also uses her school-provided laptop computer to make calculations in math class and to look up the latest U.S. dollar-to-Korean won exchange rate during social studies. During the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit last month, Jun and her classmates relocated their classroom from Daegu City to Pusan, South Korea's second-largest metropolis, to showcase the country's efforts to integrate cutting-edge technologies into schools, a move officials say will not only better prepare students for future careers but will help them to learn more quickly.

State grant to expand online curriculum
Tennessean Thu, 08 Dec 2005 0:14 AM PSTCHATTANOOGA

Hamilton County educators providing online courses for public school students will use a $2.7 million state grant to develop an expanded curriculum for students in other Tennessee communities, Hamilton schools superintendent Jesse Register said yesterday. Register described the county's 3-year-old program getting the e4TN grant as a model for providing coursework on the Internet to students who do not otherwise have access to specific courses they need or who are homebound.

Latest advice to Seattle district: Close schools
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Thu, 08 Dec 2005 0:05 AM PST

School closures, staff reductions, scaled-back student busing and a host of other cuts are necessary to help Seattle Public Schools overcome projected multimillion-dollar deficits, according to a high-powered citizens' advisory committee. The preliminary recommendations, unveiled today, also call for a slew of investments in the classroom to boost overall academic performance.

Blaney and Bartelski chew up competition
Orlando Sentinel Thu, 08 Dec 2005 1:18 AM PST

By the time the final race of his high school career came around, Celebration senior Sean Blaney had chopped a lot of things off his to-do list.He had crossed his share of finish lines in first place, leaving behind competition that trotted at a pace 10 or 20 or 120 seconds slower. He had won conference, district and regional championships.

Like the Google one, there were five other stories that had both words "virtual" and "school" in them, but had nothing to do with virtual schooling. So, what do you think? A good supplement to the Google one? A replacement even? Let me know...

Tags: virtual school, cyber school, high school, education