Vol. 41, No. 42
May 30, 2007
CONTACT: JIM MORRIS |
DESE Re-opens Registration for New “MoVIP” Classes
Registration for Missouri’s new “virtual school” will re-open at 8 a.m. tomorrow (May 31) and continue until further notice, state education officials said today.
A total of 1,700 students have already registered for online courses that will be available during the coming school year through the Missouri Virtual Instruction Program (MoVIP). The initial online registration period was May 7 through May 29.
Education officials estimate that as many as 4,000 students could take advantage of state-funded virtual classes during 2007-08. The number of available “slots” will be determined annually by the amount of funding authorized by the legislature to support virtual classes.
“We did not know what to expect in the initial round of online registration for MoVIP classes, but I am pleased with how the online system worked this month,” said Curt Fuchs, director of virtual schools for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Of the 1,700 students who have registered to date, more than 1,150 are at the high school level (grades 9-12), and 535 are elementary-age (grades K-5), Fuchs said. Students have enrolled from every part of the state, including 102 of Missouri’s 114 counties and the City of St. Louis.
Overall, one-fourth of all the students have registered for full-time MoVIP classes. However, most elementary-level students (314 out of 535) are planning to take a full-time virtual schedule, compared to about 10% of the high school-aged students. The state will pay for a maximum of six classes per semester for one student.
To date, the most popular classes at the high school level are personal finance, algebra I, Spanish and biology. The most popular elementary choices, so far, are grades 5, 4 and 3, respectively.
Based on the amount of registrations received to date, state education officials do not expect to need to use a lottery to select students for available class slots, Fuchs said.