School district brings home technology awards

The Beaufort County School District has won a statewide award for its virtual summer school program, and a district middle school has been recognized for its technology curriculum.
The district was awarded the Technology Innovative Program Award by the South Carolina Association for Educational Technology. Virtual summer school teachers Eve Heaton and Tina Johnson accepted the award for the district at the annual SC EdTech Conference in Myrtle Beach.
The district’s virtual summer school program provides students in kindergarten through Grade 8 with the opportunity to continue learning via computer during summer vacation.  More than 2,200 students participated in the voluntary program last summer.  During the program’s first debut in summer 2010, the district saw that students who participated did not experience the traditional learning loss that affects students over their extended vacations.
“In almost all grade levels we saw growth in Language Arts for students who participated in virtual summer school during 2010,” said Cory Tressler, the district’s Director of Virtual Learning.  “Virtual summer school is an opportunity for parents to become ‘learning coaches’ for their children and reinforce the importance of education over the summer.”
Virtual summer school students used curriculum modules in CompassLearning Odyssey, web-based learning software that is aligned to state curriculum standards.