Wisconsin Virtual Academy (WIVA) is a virtual school

Virtual school

A virtual school or cyberschool describes an institution that teaches courses entirely or primarily through online methods. Though there are tens of thousands of commercial and non-accredited courses available online, the term "virtual school" is generally reserved for accredited schools that teach...

 in Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. It is currently operated as a charter school

Charter school

Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...

 by the McFarland School District

McFarland School District

McFarland School District is located in McFarland, in Dane County, Wisconsin, USA. It operates McFarland High School and the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, a charter school.- McFarland schools :...

, which has a contract with the for-profit K12 Inc.

K12 Inc.

K12 Inc. is a technology-based education company that offers curriculum and educational services for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.- History :...

 corporation of Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

.

School history

The original WIVA was operated as a charter school

Charter school

Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...

 of the Northern Ozaukee School District of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin from 2002 until 2009. In a December 2007 ruling of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Wisconsin Court of Appeals

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals is the intermediate appellate court in the state of Wisconsin, above the Wisconsin Circuit Courts but below the Wisconsin Supreme Court...

 unanimously declared that such an operation was violating Wisconsin school laws by misapplying the state's open enrollment

Open enrollment

Annual enrollment is a period of time, usually but not always occurring once per year, when employees of U.S. companies and organizations may make additions, changes or deletions to their elected fringe benefit options...

 statute. The issues were resolved with the DPI about the open enrollment statute and a cap on virtual school enrollment under Act 222 was imposed, limiting the number of virtual school students to 5,250. Lawmakers are now working to repeal the cap due to the great number of students wanting to enroll.

In late 2008 WIVA changed its name to Wisconsin Virtual Learning (WVL), then beginning in the 2009-2010 school year they wished to offer their students more options in curriculum. They changed their curricula providers to Little Lincoln and Calvert for grades K4-4. For grades 5-12, Lincoln Interactive, Calvert, Aventa, and Florida Virtual are providing the curriculum.

McFarland School District

McFarland School District

McFarland School District is located in McFarland, in Dane County, Wisconsin, USA. It operates McFarland High School and the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, a charter school.- McFarland schools :...

 of McFarland, Wisconsin

McFarland, Wisconsin

McFarland is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States, on the eastern shore of Lake Waubesa. The population was 7,808 at the 2010 census...

opened a charter school called Wisconsin Virtual Academy (WIVA), supplied by K12 Inc., in the 2009-2010 school year.

Curriculum and teaching

WIVA has Wisconsin-licensed teachers who help the parents and students with their courses through live (for student help and classes with other students), phone, or e-mail contact. WIVA students are also required to take Wisconsin State testing between October and November. Like most K12 Inc. supplied schools, the student is provided with textbooks, materials, and a loaned computer from K12 so the student can access his/her online lessons. The course lessons and lessons are on the K12 Online School (OLS): here parents are allowed to customize their student's school calendar and add/remove course lessons from the daily plan and add/remove vacation days. However the student must have completed each core course (Math, English, Science, and Social Studies) to 90% or higher by the first Friday of June and have had at least 180 school days. Course lessons include online reading followed by offline textbook work and then the lesson test, also called an assessment. The test consists of an online multiple choice quiz and/or a textbook quiz that has multiple choice and/or short answer. The offline textbook multiple choice and/or short answer questions are answered by the student, the answers are then graded with the teacher guide answer key book by the parent who enters the results into the online test. The online questions are then graded by the computer and the test grade is then displayed. At the end of the school day the parent records attendance on the OLS of what courses their student worked on that day and how much time they spent. The Wisconsin certified teachers pick key course lessons and have the student send the completed lessons to them though K-mail for lesson evaluation. The teachers also have complete access to the student's progress and test results. The teachers have office hours Monday thru Friday in every week. Teachers schedule classes that the majority of the WIVA students are currently working on, so that the students can discuss the lessons together.