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Brooke Point senior Jordan Ross takes Advanced Placement biology online through the Virtual AP School program. Dave Ellis View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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Students surf for hard-to-find classes

Virginia gives high school students the chance to take AP classes online, via teleconferencing

By KELLY HANNON

Date published: 9/28/2004

By KELLY HANNON

Planning for a career in marine biology, senior Jordan Ross signed up to take Advanced Placement biology at Brooke Point High School this fall.

Unfortunately, she had little company, and the Stafford County school couldn't offer the course.

In the past, Ross would've had to take a different class. Instead, she enrolled in the Virtual AP School, a Virginia Department of Education program that helps students who are having a hard time signing up for AP classes by offering them online or via satellite television.

It's part of Gov. Mark Warner's Senior Year Plus program. Designed to help students get a financial and academic head start on college, it aims to enroll more high school seniors in college-level courses.

The Virtual AP School kicked off this July, offering a mix of 15 popular and slightly more obscure AP classes to high school students.

So far, Ross is pleased with her choice. She spends sixth period at a computer station in her school's library, reading assignments and doing class work.

She said she has excellent access to her virtual teacher--who takes questions by instant messaging every night from 9 to 11--and is able to approach her work with greater focus.

"Sometimes, I feel like in the classroom I don't learn as much because there is distraction from other kids, but in the virtual classroom it's me by myself and I can get more work done," Ross said.

While she misses the hands-on dissections that are normally a part of biology, she says benefits outweigh any drawbacks.

In 2003, just over a million students nationwide took 1.7 million AP tests. In Virginia, 22 percent of high school juniors and seniors--36,597 students--took at least one AP exam last year.

The exams are administered annually in May, and, depending on a student's score, can help secure college credit.

But not all schools offer AP courses.

Statewide, almost 600 students have signed up for the Virtual AP School, said Greg Weisiger, associate director of teleproduction services at the Virginia Department of Education. Most live in the southwest and southside regions of Virginia and attend rural schools.

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Date published: 9/28/2004