Blazing a New Mainstream: Why Online Learning May be a Better Alternative to International Schools for Kids with Learning Needs


Over the last couple of years it has proven to be increasingly difficult for children with needs to gain entry into international schools and those that do get in, often find support services very limited.  As a group of educational consultants based in Singapore, it was difficult to sit back and watch this happen.  “There just had to be,” we thought, “a better way.”

In what started out to be a “holding plan” until we could get a student into “proper schools” we decided to try out this new world called “online schooling.”  We connected with the K12 International Academy, an accredited online private school program of K12.com, and together worked to train our inclusion support staff to facilitate the K12 online program in our learning center.  As many of the expatriate parents weren’t keen on leading a home-based online learning program themselves, we knew that our staff working as “Learning Coaches” could facilitate the K12 curriculum as a comprehensive, mainstream program until we could get a “real” school to accept them.

What we have learned, however, is that in the time we have implemented the K12 program with dozens of students, it doesn’t get more “real” or more appropriate, for that matter, than this:  Based on our experiences with the online learning as an option for children with special needs, this type of educational alternative may very well exceed the quality of instruction offered in the brick and mortar, mainstream international schools.  We make this statement substantiated by the following grounds:

1.     International Schools have Selective Admissions:  Mainstream international schools often have discriminating admissions standards for children with learning concerns.  It is such a pervasive issue that we often observe families concealing their child’s needs to get them accepted.  Alternatively they may also try to enroll them in any school that will accept them while the other sibling(s) attend their first school of choice.  The online program solves this issue whereby almost all children gain admission and if siblings do attend other schools, the online program can accommodate for any holiday schedule.

2.     International Schools have Limited Learning Support.  Let’s face it…even if a child does gain admission into a mainstream international school, very few of them can consistently plan, deliver and maintain a model of individualized programming that is at acceptable and appropriate levels.  With online schooling, facilitated by trained learning coaches in our learning center, student needs, learning styles, behavioral trends and motivators are regularly accounted for.  As knowledgeable educators who understand how to interpret psychological assessments, our strong communication link between our organization and K12 allows us to take on a team approach closely aligned to US standards for children with special needs.

3.     International Schools have Minimal Differentiated Practices.  Although international schools can boast cultural diversity, very few of them cater for the diversity in learning styles.  Differentiating instruction is pivotal in heterogeneous classrooms; however, as many of these schools cater to the families of the “upper management expat” there is a notion that the “average is above average” and, as such, differentiation doesn’t seemed to be implemented as often and as comprehensively as it should be.  The supported online learning model we have developed over the past couple of years with K12 has afforded a unique opportunity to truly differentiate for each and every child according to their academic, social and emotional needs.  Individualized programs are developed for the child as opposed to fitting a child into a school’s “one size fits all” curriculum. 

Because students can place into different grades without a child necessarily knowing the level they are being instructed at, the K12 program has proven effective in designing their learning plan on where they are academically, not where they should be according to their age.  What a difference it makes when we teach to their instructional level instead of at their frustration level!  Good educators know that when we teach above a student’s current level of performance, learning is stalled and a child cannot progress.  (Fountas & Pinnell, 1996)  In addition, if our team (Learning Coaches, K12, parents, therapists, etc.) believes instruction is too easy or hard for a child, immediate adjustments can be made.  Our collaboration with K12 allows us to also make appropriate accommodations and modifications for children within the program.  One-to-one facilitation allows for individualized learning, yet with more than a dozen children working on their own K12 programs in our center at any given time, we can implement social skills activities, common break/lunch times, morning meeting activities and drama/PE classes, to name a few. These multi-aged groups make for incredibly meaningful interactions between students.

4.     The Transient Expat.  As expatriate families are highly transient, students often move from country to country, forced to start the process of admissions, advocacy and programming all over again in the new international school community.  By taking advantage of the mobile aspect of K12, the child can complete the curriculum from anywhere, thus reducing the transition challenges that are associated with moving with a child with learning needs. 

5.     The “Learning Support” label is removed.´ Unfortunately for students in the international school world, if a child  requires assistance by their learning support department, this label as a “Learning Support Child” follows him from school to school, making it a continual challenge to be accepted and accommodated for in each new location.  Because K12 is an accredited international school there is no label associated with enrolling in such a program.  Students aren’t identified with the “learning support” tag in their transcripts and are in fact able to prove just how successful they can be when they are taught in the ways that they learn best.

We know that when a child is accommodated for appropriately, she can achieve at or beyond what is expected of her.  When she is educated in a caring, safe environment without the stigma of being “different” than everyone else, anxiety is reduced and more learning can occur.  Based on the achievements we are seeing first hand, every day, kids are actually achieving more and at a quicker pace than if they were educated in the brick and mortar international school.  Kids learn more when they are taught from the right starting point.  Our students, who previously in the mainstream were struggling to achieve close to the levels of their peers, are now closing achievement gaps like never before.  “When you let every student work at their own pace you see students who take a little bit of extra time on one concept or another, but once they get through that concept they just race ahead.  And so the same kids that you thought were slow 6 weeks ago you now would think were gifted.  And we are seeing it over and over again and it makes you really wonder how much all the labels really just are due to a coincidence of time.” (Khan, 2011)

Because our model is a one–to-one ratio, the child gets incredible attention and support, yet still with a focus on independence and skill building.  Take Louis*, for example.  As a 4th grader, he struggled in his previous international school and upon moving to Singapore, couldn’t get accepted anywhere.  We started him in the 3rd grade K12 program, allowing him to build a foundation that he seemed to miss in his previous international school, likely because his unsupported attention deficit kept him from focusing and learning.  In the short 8 months that Louis was with us, he not only finished the third grade curriculum, but almost completed the 4th grade program and gained admission in his new location in a 5th grade, mainstream international school.

Children with learning needs who are enrolled in an accredited online learning program, facilitated by coaches knowledgeable about learning needs makes for a formula that may be far superior to a mainstream, brick and mortar international school. 

There is no doubt that online learning is growing at tremendous rates and is the future of education.  In fact, the children currently enrolled in our “Learning Coach” program with the K12 curriculum are actually part of the trail blazing phenomenon called online learning that is changing education as we know it.  How about that?  The kids who are currently being excluded from the mainstream may just be the ones who define a new mainstream because of it.


*Name was changed for confidentiality reasons

A shorter version of this article is published on www.expat-kids.com, a site I am a regular contributor on.

References:

Fountas, I. & Pinnell, G.S. (1996). Understanding Guided Reading. In Guiding Readers and Writers Grade 3-6: Teaching Comprehension, Genre & Content Literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

                  Khan Academy.  (2011).  Excerpts from speech .  Retrieved October 2, 2011 from:  http://www.khanacademy.org/video/salman-khan-talk-at-ted-2011--from-ted-com?playlist=Khan+Academy-Related+Talks+and+Interviews

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