Press Release: NATIONAL CONFERENCE FEATURES INNOVATIONS OF LOCAL CHARTER SCHOOLS

NEW ORLEANS, LA, Monday, October 22, 2012 – This week’s iNACOL's Virtual School Symposium (VSS), held here in New Orleans, is the premier K-12 online and blended learning conference.  Over 2,000 representatives from national, state, district, private, and other virtual school programs are attending.  Two New Orleans charter schools, Arthur Ashe Charter School and Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School, both part of the FirstLine Schools network, are featured in this week’s events. 

Based on their successful blended learning pilots over the past year and a half, FirstLine school leaders, teachers, and students will be presenters in multiple conference sessions.  Highlights include a tour of Arthur Ashe Charter School with approximately 50 conference attendees, a session discussing how to integrate a blended learning model into an existing school, and sessions detailing best practices. 

“This is a great opportunity to share the lessons we’ve learned in the past year and a half as we integrated more computer-assisted learning into our schools,” stated Chris Liang-Vergara, Director of Instructional Technology for FirstLine Schools.  “I am especially excited that our students have an opportunity to engage with educators from across the country to discuss their ideas and lessons learned from our personalized learning project.”

“Ashe and Clark Prep showed some of the largest student achievement gains in the city in 2012.  Our Personalized (Blended) Learning Project contributed significantly to those gains,” said Jay Altman, Chief Executive Officer of FirstLine Schools.  “Since its inception, FirstLine Schools has been committed to leveraging charter school independence to incubate innovative projects that improve school effectiveness.  We aim to give our teachers as many tools as possible to ensure our students have access to the best opportunities.”

The Virtual School Symposium is taking place at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans through Wednesday, October 24^th. 

For more information on FirstLine Schools’ Personalized Learning Project, please visit http://www.firstlineschools.org/blended-learning-project.html. 

FirstLine Schools

The mission of FirstLine Schools is to create and inspire great open enrollment public schools in New Orleans.  FirstLine currently operates Samuel J. Green Charter School, Arthur Ashe Charter School, John Dibert Community School, Langston Hughes Academy, and Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School.  For more information please visit www.firstlineschools.org. 

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