ANNOUNCEMENTS 2008-09 :: OCTOBER 31, 2008

NCVPS PARTNERS WITH KRAMDEN INSTITUTE TO HELP PROVIDE COMPUTER ACCESS FOR E-LEARNERS

Raleigh, NC - Three of the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) Wave 1 pilot districts have received high quality, refurbished computers so they can install an e-learning lab for students taking online courses from NCVPS. Kramden Institute, a non-profit located in Durham contacted the online public school regarding the need for students to have better access to NCVPS courses before, during and after school - especially students who do not have computers at home. The goal of this partnership is to help provide students who only have internet access at school with a dedicated space for taking their online courses. This is done at no cost to the district or student. Many of the computer labs in schools are booked with face to face classes and students compete for computer time, so by installing a dedicated lab, the NCVPS students now have better accessibility and more time to work on coursework. Mike Shumake, Kramden's Volunteer Education Director, immediately saw the need as many of his online students could only access materials during the day and only 30-40 minutes per day. "Hopefully we will see other school districts opening computer labs so kids can have internet access outside of school hours. NCVPS classes are rigorous, and, just like face-to-face classes in education, they require more time than the 90 minutes allocated in a class period. We have successfully targeted and helped NC students who cannot afford computers with this ongoing project, " Shumake comments. Kramden Institute collects, refurbishes, and reuses computers and then provides them to students who don't have computers at home.

Wave 1 pilot districts who qualified for these machines will use their own technical teams to support these machines and assure that they are used for online courses. Vance County was one of the initial three districts to receive computers. "Vance County Schools greatly appreciates the donation of the computers from Kramden. We are putting the computers in one of our newly dedicated "distance learning" labs at Northern Vance High School. Student registration in NCVPS classes is considerably greater than last semester and we anticipate the donated computers will be used every period of the school day", Pam Bello, who directs the Vance County Career and Technical Education Department commented.

After taking the helm of NCVPS in December, Executive Director, Dr. Bryan Setser immediately began working to find strategic partners to help provide the 21st century tools to assist in moving the mission of the online public school forward. "Like Kramden, NCVPS believes in the power of tools to inspire, educate, and motivate student to succeed on the internet. We are grateful for this partnership to put the tools in the hands of students so that they can be successful and reach their dreams inside the four walls of school and outside of them", comments Setser. Over 150 machines will be distributed to five qualifying pilot districts.

For more information on the North Carolina Virtual Public School, visit us at www.ncvps.org. For more information or to learn more about how to donate to Kramden, visit their website at www.kramden.org.