The Daily Tell

School districts across Pennsylvania will offer online courses to high school students through nonprofit regional education service agency Capital Area Intermediate Unit and for-profit education company EdisonLearning, according to a statement released Tuesday.

The online classes will allow Pennsylvania high school students to take subjects that are not otherwise available in their local school districts. These will include a number of Advanced Placement and foreign language courses that traditional schools would ordinarily be unable fill or teach.

"Instead of moving to alternative cyber schools to meet their needs, students can stay within their district and still have access to wonderful new educational opportunities," said Amy Morton, executive director of CAIU.

In addition to expanding curriculum offerings, the online courses are expected to expand the flexibility of student schedules by allowing schools to offer special credit recovery, alternative education and summer courses.

"I am able to work whenever I please, and am able to take courses that are either not offered at my school, or I have been unable to take due to scheduling conflicts," said Madeline Seefeldt, a high school student from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

Approximately 150 Pennsylvania students currently take courses offered by CAIU. This number will increase dramatically as service is extended to all school districts in the state and the nonprofit group expands the number of full-time cyber classrooms offered.

Online courses have been available at the university level for years, and have allowed students from around the world to gain access to teachers and educational resources that are otherwise unavailable in their countries or regions. The rise of online high school education could help close achievement gaps in many underserved school districts by making a wide selection of courses available to all students, regardless of where they live.