NEWARK In just over a week, 80 sixth-graders will walk into a brick office building in downtown Newark, flip open their wireless laptops, and log on to class in one of the states newest schools.

Merit Preparatory Charter School will begin classes Aug. 27 on one floor of a Broad Street building, with walls removed to create a large open space, glass partitions defining classrooms, and wireless routers dotting the ceiling.

Students have been using computers to learn for years, but Merit Prep, and Newark Prep, a new charter high school, are unique in that students will primarily learn math, language arts, social studies and other subjects online. They will spend only half the school day working with one of seven instructors in small groups to sharpen their knowledge of the class material.

At a time when online learning has become commonplace in workplaces and colleges, and when students routinely use Powerpoint for homework or collaborate with classmates online, many say virtual teaching seems like the next step in education.

"I think New Jerseys overdue. Colleges are starting to insist students take online courses to help prepare them for the global economy," said Sr. Elizabeth Dalessio, assistant superintendent of Monmouth Ocean Educational Services Commission, which provides online classes for grades 6-12 through the New Jersey Virtual School.

Dalessio said students from 100 districts across the state that use the commissions courses work at their own pace, and even get more teacher contact, often via e-mail.

"I had one student say I feel like Im in the first row of the classroom," she said.

Merit Prep and Newark Prep are not the first in the state to try virtual teaching; a few districts run online alternative schools or summer schools and a "hybrid high school operated briefly in Newark, but they are leading a wave of charter schools planning to offer online education in New Jersey including several proposed full-time virtual schools.

New Jersey is one of only 10 states that does not yet have a statewide virtual school, which would allow students to take classes from home. That may soon change.

Next year, the Monmouth Ocean commission hopes to open New Jersey Virtual Charter School, one of two virtual charter schools awaiting final approval from the state whose students would take all classes at home.

Original post:
Strides in online education pave way for virtual charter schools in N.J.