Online Learning for the Gifted

There are millions of American students facing a variety of barriers that isolate them from receiving a quality education. Our urban students may live in the shadows of great education and economic institutions, but far too many still attend high schools where graduation is not the norm. Rural students may have to travel fifty miles across a mountain to visit a museum or other off-site learning experiences. Perhaps a suburban student has a particular course of study that her school is simply not able to meet. Or the limited availability of qualified Chinese instructors restricts motivated students from studying one of the world's newly dominant languages.

Although it is impossible to get high-performing content teachers into every classroom, online learning programs can unite high-quality content and instruction with a teacher in the classroom who effectively guides the students. World-class education can come literally from anywhere in the world and be blended with effective pedagogy.

Online courses can help students work around issues such as inadequate schools, family situations, poverty, and limited course offerings. These classes can be accessed any time of day, making them available when it fits into the student's schedule.

The classes can be taken exclusively by attending a virtual school, as a supplement to traditional school, or in partnership with a real-time teacher in a traditional school. The possibilities are limitless.

Here are some quality programs to begin your search.

• Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) 
• TheEducation Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY) at Stanford University 
• Stanford University Online High School 
• Kahn Academy 

For more suggestions, visit Cogito and click on click on Programs and Events and then Distance Ed.

Also click on Open Courseware under Index in the right column of this web page.