Newsroom

CORVALLIS, Ore. - This fall the Oregon State University K-12 Online program began an innovative partnership with the Gresham Barlow School District, offering web-based courses to a select group of middle school students who need assistance in improving their reading skills.

The new Middle School Options program is a blending of the Read 180 program offered by Scholastic, Inc., and the K-12 Online program operated by OSU Extended Campus. The two resources were combined to help address the needs of a special population of seventh and eighth graders - those with the lowest reading scores who appeared to be "disengaged" with education.

For three hours each school day, two groups of 15 students work on their reading skills, then study the online, project-oriented thematic units, which combine work in English, math, science, social science and art.

"The use of technology has opened up the door to discussions and getting the critical points of science and math across to the students," said Dana Domenigoni, an instructor in the K-12 Online program. "The combination of these two unique programs has been great."

One teacher and an assistant are present in the classroom, and Domenigoni facilitates the thematic units via the Internet. The units include "Art in the Real World," which examines math and geometry in art, and "Chance and Happenstance," highlighting statistics, gaming and probability. Already, there has been "a remarkable difference" in confidence levels, spelling abilities, and general communication, Domenigoni said.

The self-paced, interactive instruction is appealing to the students, and the integrated thematic units offer them choices in their studies, said Gresham Barlow K-8 curriculum director Jim Schlachter. He hopes to retain the current students throughout the year and continue it next year. There is already a waiting list for future classes.

OSU K-12 Online is beginning its third year of online courses through OSU Extended Campus, and K-12 coordinator Tryna Luton said course inventory is constantly updated. This fall, marine science, Spanish I and II, and advanced television production were added. K-12 online is just one component of P-12 Outreach, which provides other high school programs online and on-site at OSU.

More information on these and other OSU Extended Campus programs can be obtained on the web at k12online.oregonstate.edu, ecampus.oregonstate.edu, or by calling 800-667-1465.