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Virtual Learning Puts Education Within Reach of All Barren County Students
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Barren County schools are known for innovative approaches to educating children.
In 2004 Barren County took advantage of the state’s Internet-based high school curriculum to create BAVEL, the Barren Academy for Virtual Enhanced Learning.
The program allows students to go online for all course work needed to earn a diploma. Fifty-eight students, about half from the Barren County Schools system, were enrolled in January 2008.
“The students come from all walks of life, with some at the top of the class and some not,” BAVEL director Amanda Wright says.
Among them are youth who are disabled, home-schooled, teen parents and those who want to enhance their learning or make up credits.
The schools benefit from virtual learning by being able to offer an expanded curriculum in a time of teacher shortages and limited capital budgets. The curriculum has plenty of Advanced Placement subjects; core courses required for graduation; specialized science, such as oceanography; and several foreign languages, including Mandarin Chinese. Certified personnel from all over Kentucky teach the courses, draw up tests and grade the students’ work.
They keep in touch with individual students by e-mail and telephone.
Wright is the local contact who guides students’ program of study and monitors their progress. “I love working with kids and helping them achieve success,” she says.
Story by Gretchen Monti
