The Center for the Study of Teaching and Learning will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Florida High School for policy and program decision-making to enhance student learning outcomes through on-line internet instruction in the State of Florida.
The Florida High School officially began in November 1996 as a joint project between the Alachua County School and Orange County Public Schools. Inter-district delivery of courses began in the 1997-98 school year with approximately 200 students enrolled in six elective and four core courses. Since that time, 33 Florida School Districts, representing 56.5% of the secondary students in the State of Florida have signed affiliation agreements to enroll students in the Florida High School during the 1998-99 school year. Given the extraordinary interest in and exponential learning opportunities available through the Florida High School, the 1998 Florida Legislature passed to expand and evaluate the Florida High School.
The Florida High School was created to address the rapidly growing student population in the State of Florida and to provide secondary students in the less populated areas of the state with an opportunity to gain access to high school courses not otherwise available to them. With the rapidly growing statewide expansion of the Florida High School, it is important to assess the delivery tools and measure student learning outcomes of this unique on-line instrucitonal program. A comprehensive evaluation of the Florida High School will establish an accountability model for equitable and efficient delivery of high quality on-line instruction.

The evaluation will be conducted utilizing a team of experts in the fields of educational program management, evaluation, learning systems, cost benefit and process measurements. The evaluation model will address six major components:

  • Goverenance and Administration

  • Technology Delivery System

  • Curriculum and Instruction

  • Fiscal Resources

  • Student Access and Performance Results

  • Customer Satisfaction.
Comprehensive evaluations will be conducted on each component with reports provided on findings, conclusions and recommendations. Recommendations will be based on a collective review of the team of experts.