Indiana Virtual Public School To Serve Elementary Students

Elementary and middle school students in Indiana will have an online alternative beginning in the 2010-2011 school year.

Rural Community Academy, in partnership with Connections Academy, is launching a statewide virtual public school that will serve students in grades 1 through 8. Dubbed Indiana Connections Academy Virtual Pilot School (INCA-VPS), the online school will provide a tuition-free education to Indiana students, providing teachers, support staff, and learning coaches for students.

Connections Academy is a virtual education company that operates several regional K-12 online virtual schools, including 16 state schools and one national academy. Connections Academy operates one school in each of 14 states--Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming--and two schools in California (serving southern and central areas of the state).

The online school will provide an assessment of each student's needs and prescribe a custom instructional plan based on those needs. Unlike some virtual schools, INCA-VPS will not provide free hardware or subsidized broadband to students, except for those who request and qualify for a hardship exception (essentially those who qualify under federal free or reduced lunch guidelines and who do not otherwise have access to the required technology). The academy does provide technical support and various online resources.

Further information about Connections Academy can be found here.

About the Author

David Nagel is the former editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal, STEAM Universe, and Spaces4Learning. A 30-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art, marketing, media, and business publications.

He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrnagel/ .


Featured

  • Google Classroom tools

    Google Announces Classroom Updates, New Tools for Chromebooks

    Google has introduced a variety of features across its products for education, announced recently at the 2025 BETT ed tech event in London. Among the additions are enhancements to Google Classroom and new tools for Chromebooks, "designed to help address the diverse needs of students around the world," Google said in a blog post.

  • Rebind platform

    Grant Program to Give Free Access to AI-Powered Reading Platform

    E-reading publishing company Rebind has announced a new "Classics in the Classroom" grant program for United States high school and college educators, providing free access to the company's AI-powered reading platform for the Fall 2025 term.

  • group of elementary school students designing video games on computers in a modern classroom with a teacher, depicted in a geometric and abstract style

    Using Video Game Design to Teach Literacy Skills

    The Max Schoenfeld School, a public school in the Bronx serving one of the poorest communities in the nation, is taking an innovative approach to improving student literacy.

  • computer with a red warning icon on its screen, surrounded by digital grids, glowing neural network patterns, and a holographic brain

    Report Highlights Security Concerns of Open Source AI

    In these days of rampant ransomware and other cybersecurity exploits, security is paramount to both proprietary and open source AI approaches — and here the open source movement might be susceptible to some inherent drawbacks, such as use of possibly insecure code from unknown sources.