Collaboration &
Coordination
Another focus of the districts in our network is to collaborate and coordinate on the planning, writing, and implementation of supplemental courses to enhance the high school program of study.
Our partnership allows districts to collaborate to build a robust course catalog that can be shared across districts. It also provides a structure to collaboration efforts to allow us to share seats in courses as well as the course content.
Quality Matters
An additional exciting feature of our partnership is the Consortium-level membership in Quality Matters, a non-profit quality assurance organization, that is the gold standard for online courses.
Consortium-level membership in QM will over time enable the network to formally train staff to evaluate courses that have been developed in the network and conduct our own quality reviews to get a certification of quality. QM Certification is an endorsement that has meaning for students, parents, and districts in the network as it signifies the course has met the QM Standards.
QM Tools and training can be valuable in the design courses, and Quality Matters hosts professional learning opportunities that the network members can participate in to continue to refine our online programs.
Leveraging Economies of Scale
Our network allows us to leverage economies of scale – with our vendor partners and is sharing the administrative oversight of a high-quality virtual program. Virtual/ Online Learning Leaders from the districts meet regularly to help each other and collaborate on work. These leaders have indicated the value of a network doing similar work and helping each other with the lift is a definite benefit to the network.
VirtualSC
VirtualSC has provided technical assistance and support to the efforts of our district network. They have provided guidance to our work, and Low Country Virtual is in the process of seeking to become a VirtualSC Franchisee. Obtaining that status will allow the districts in our network the opportunity to host VirtualSC courses using our own teachers. It will also enable us to share seats across our district network to have the necessary enrollments to offer courses. We are excited about the partnership opportunity and the support we receive from VirtualSC.
Interested in Learning More About Our Network?
You can learn more about our network by contacting the Consortium.
