Black education trend: virtual schools

By Julius Rea for JETmag.com

Statistics show that Black kids drop out of school at a higher rate. Whats not so clear is why or
how to combat this problem.
According to a spring report by the BBC, more African-American families these days are
looking into alternative schooling options for educating children, which dovetails with the
national trend. Around two million American children are home-schooled, the BBC notes.
For the African-American community there was a huge amount of pressure against it, because
in America, the grandparents of todays home-schooled children fought for desegregation of
schools. They thought, The public schools are going to save us,National Home Education
Research Institute director Brian Ray told the BBC.
He said thatAfrican-American attitudes towards homeschooling are changing fast and its easier
for Black families to have access to homeschooling.
The traditional school setting works for most kids but not for all kids, said Craig Butz, head of
Chicago Virtual Charter School, one of the many state-recognized alternative education
programs across the country.
Its about having a high-quality option for students who, for whatever reason, are not as
successful as they might be in a traditional setting, he said.
CVCSs growing popularity offers insight into African-Americans growing embrace of
alternative education. According to Butz, over 70 percent of his students are African-American.
LaShone Kelly, 48, and her husband Jonathan, 50 are two such parents who have turned to
virtual education as an alternative.
The Kellys have 15 children including La Wanda, 30, Jonathan, 27, Jordan, 25, Roscoe, 24,
Raynard, 22, Lynette, 21, Lynda, 19, Joseph, 17, Jacob, 15, LaShone, 14, Laura, 11, Jeffrey, 10,
Leah, 9, and Lena, 7.
Their youngest, Jachin, is 5 years old. As of September, he is the youngest member of the Kelly
family to attend CVCS since the family enrolled three years ago.
Kelly said she took her children out of traditional school after dealing with a lack of parent
involvement and outdated teaching materials. One of her daughters who was attending fourth
grade was given a book her husband used when he was the same age.
She then explored homeschooling, charter schools and private education.

We liked homeschooling best because of the time it allowed the children to go in depth into the
subjects they were more interested in, she said. Ive been able to monitor the childrens
progress more closely than when I was in a public school setting.
And, of course, she loves CVCS. Since the school is a hybrid home school, it give students
access to educational materials online while providing teacher communication, which includes
weekly face-to-face meetings, emails and phone calls.
[Because I have] 15 children, of course, they all have different learning curves. What works for
one child wont necessarily work for another child, she said.
Just as diverse as the Kelly children, enrolled families have a variety of different backgrounds.
Upon her children entering CVCS, Kelly said she noticed the melting pot of religions.
You could see that a lot of people who chose the Chicago Virtual School wanted their children
to be in an atmosphere where they were not ridiculed for their religious practices. The parent
could still integrate that part without it interfering with education, she said.
Butz said that alternative education is an option for families looking for religious expression,
curriculum for academically advanced children and support for students with special needs.
Parents are getting quite frustrated with what their students are going through in a traditional
school, CVCS parent Shaun Banks said.
Banks a Chicago Public School teacher supports the traditional school setting, but she said
virtual schools are better for students who have needs traditional schools cannot meet. She
struggled to find a suitable method to educate her son, who has special needs.
In my experience as an educator, I found that I made some progress with him when I stopped
working and I was able to individualize his needs, she said.
Banks enrolled her son into CVCS as a third grader; hes now entering high school.
Looking for a drastic change, Sabrina Boyle enrolled her three children in CVCS after they
attended Catholic school and public school.
Part of the problem is that one of my children has ADHD; we were told to get him into a public
school, and it would help him out, she said. It just didnt. They were unwilling to help. Several
teachers actually told me ADHD doesnt exist.
Boyle said the schools format forces parents to take more responsibility with their childrens
education while staying in tune with their kids learning styles.
Butz said in alternative education and homeschooling programs like CVCS parents are an
integral part in the students education because theyre the ones who are overseeing the day-today education.

As alternative education, homeschooling and hybrid home schools grow in popularity, parents
will likely continue to take education in their own hands.
However, parents interested in alternative education should assess their reasons to turn to
alternative education. Butz, Banks, Boyle and Kelly said they need to look into the time
commitment.
While some state education websites offer information on homeschooling, the Missouri
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education says that a homeschooling parent must
offer 1,000 hours of instruction during the school year, with at least 600 hours in the basics,
which will be in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science.
If you dont have the time to put [into your childrens education], you could be setting up your
child for failure, Kelly said.