Daniel Jenkins Academy Meets Adequate Yearly Progress as Outlined in No Child Left Behind Act Students Excel with Support and Instruction from Florida Virtual School

Orlando, FL November 7 2003-- Florida Virtual School (FLVS) applauds the Daniel Jenkins Academy, a rural Polk County, Florida school currently utilizing FLVS online courses to drive student achievement and meet both state and federal standards. Daniel Jenkins Academy is one of only approximately 400 out of 3,000 schools within the state of Florida that met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals for all subgroups as outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

"As a new high school, we had a limited student enrollment, but we did not want to limit our students' choices. Although our high school has not yet been evaluated under the state's accountability plan, the fact that our school met federal AYP goals for all student groups speaks volumes regarding our curriculum," said Sue Braiman, Principal of Daniel Jenkins Academy. "I applaud our teachers, students and curriculum partner, Florida Virtual School for all working together to achieve this success."

According to NCLB, each state, with approval from the USDOE, establishes its own definition of AYP for schools. This definition must have measurable objectives for math and reading for all students and for subgroups (poor students, racial or ethnic groups, disabled and limited-English students). Schools make AYP when 95% of students and subgroups of students meet or exceed state annual measurable objectives.

Through a unique partnership, Daniel Jenkins Academy students in grades 9 through 12 take all their courses online through FLVS. The fact that this group of students - whose curriculum is delivered online - excelled provides substantial evidence to support the effectiveness and quality of FLVS' courses. In addition to meeting this new academic standard, the school's students' FCAT scores have improved steadily over the past year. Much of their success can be attributed to the high quality, rigorous curriculum provided to students via Florida Virtual School (www.flvs.net).

Daniel Jenkins Academy began accepting students for grades 9 through 12 in the 2000-2001 school year. In an effort to offer its students a broader selection of courses, Daniel Jenkins again chose FLVS to provide online courses for the majority of its curriculum for the current school year.

Daniel Jenkins Academy also serves middle school students. During the recently completed school year, they offered FLVS' online FCAT Prep course to 18 of its 8th grade students who had scored poorly on the FCAT the prior year. The result, one year later, was that 17 of the 18 students demonstrated improvement.

In fact, Daniel Jenkins Academy's middle school improved from a B to an A under Governor Bush's A-Plus Plan for Education, with approximately two thirds of their students meeting high standards in reading and math, nearly ninety percent meeting high standards in writing, and a vast majority of their students - including their lowest performing students - making significant learning gains this year.

To date, at Daniel Jenkins Academy, 87.5% of its graduating seniors have gone on to enroll in higher learning institutions. One of the school's star graduates even received a $100,000 scholarship to Georgia Tech to study nuclear engineering.

"The partnership between Daniel Jenkins Academy and FLVS is unique because Daniel Jenkins Academy students at all grade levels take FLVS courses while at school. Typically, FLVS serves to supplement traditional public instruction," explained Bruce Friend, Chief Administrative Officer, FLVS. "However, in this case, FLVS provides course instruction for core subject areas, so the progress of these students is validation that these online courses are academically sound and serve as positive evidence regarding the effectiveness of online learning."

Florida Virtual School, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is the largest provider of online middle and high school courses in the United States, offering instruction to students in all of Florida's 67 school districts and beyond.

About Florida Virtual School
Florida Virtual School (FLVS) is an established leader in developing and providing virtual K-12 education solutions. A nationally recognized e-Learning model, FLVS was initially funded by the Florida Legislature as a pilot project in 1997. At that time, FLVS began course development with limited student enrollment, pioneering Florida's first Internet-based, public high school-complete with online high school curriculum. In 2000, the Florida Legislature established FLVS in state law as an independent education entity with a gubernatorial appointed governing board. Today, FLVS serves the state of Florida and beyond, offering virtual education options for grades 7 through 12 as well as adults seeking GED alternatives. For more information, visit www.flvs.net or call 407-317-3326.

About Daniel Jenkins Academy
Daniel Jenkins Academy of Technology is a middle/high school in Haines City, Florida. It is a school of choice with a focus on the use of technology throughout the curriculum.
The middle school offers a curriculum that uses the Internet and technology to immerse students in the intellectual challenges they will face after graduation. Time is given to in-depth projects, where students work in teams to solve problems. The school is small and responsive to individual needs.

High school students take their coursework online through Florida Virtual School. They work from three labs, taking a variety of courses from English I to Advanced Placement Art History. They participate in extra-curricular activities and elective courses at their local high school, Haines City Sr. High. Each student has an individual schedule and the online courses allow the students to access their courses from school and home. This is a unique partnership between FLVS and Daniel Jenkins Academy, and one that has proved to be very successful.







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