1. An EdisonLearning Success Story
EdisonLearning partnership provides innovative
online learning options for Pennsylvania students
The Capital Area Intermediate Unit Story
The Challenge
School districts in Pennsylvania were facing two challenges.
First, many districts did not have the resources to provide
students with online learning programs. With no option in
the district, increasing numbers of students were leaving to
attend virtual charter or other non-district schools. Secondly,
small districts were struggling to provide expanded course
selections for their students. Courses, such as AP courses and
foreign languages like Chinese, were not available due to lack
of means to hire teachers for these specific topics.
Capital Area Intermediate Unit (CAIU) wanted to help its
member districts address these challenges. They sought to
redesign their high school offerings to increase learning options
for high school students through online learning.
The SoluTion
CAIU established the Capital Area Online Learning Association
(CAOLA) in 2009 to provide flexible online learning options to
its member districts. Partnering with EdisonLearning, they
expanded their high school offerings through EdisonLearning’s
eCourses. CAOLA was also able to offer a full-time online high
school program through EdisonLearning’s eAcademy.
The ReSulTS
• In its first year, CAOLA program had 13 participating districts.
The program has now grown to 17 school districts in various
regions of the state with more growth in the fall of 2010.
• The program started with 17 students successfully earning
summer school credits. CAOLA now has 230 students enrolled
in over 70 different courses.
• The CAOLA model has proven to be cost-effective, saving
districts thousands of dollars when compared to dollars
they would need to spend on sending students to virtual
charter schools.
The STepS along The Way
CAIU is a regional educational service agency in Pennsylvania,
serving 24 member districts, 2 vocational technical schools
and over 50 non-public schools in Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry
and northern York counties.
CAIU was looking to redesign their high school offerings
with a vision of “Engage – Achieve – Succeed: Options for
Every Learner”. CAIU established CAOLA to provide flexible
online learning options to member districts and the students
they service.
“Our districts love the opportunity for customization
and the flexible options available. They can do what
works best for each student and each school, and rely
on the support CAIU and EdisonLearning to make their
program a success. Of the providers I have worked with
in the past, none have offered t hat kind of flexibility.”
- Holly Brzycki, Supervisor of Online
Learning Capital Area Intermediate Unit
objectives for an online program
When CAOLA set out to select and online program, the top
objectives were to find a provider with:
1) a wide variety of courses that would greatly expand what
students could take
2) increased options for instruction in various learning
modalities and environments
3) options for credit recovery, interventions and alternative
education
4) a full-time online program to decrease student migration
to virtual and non-district schools
The providers’ ability to coordinate the program across
multiple districts with different needs and varying numbers
of students in the program was also considered.
Furthermore the program needed to begin quickly, be highly
scalable and sufficiently meet the needs of all types of
students from gifted to credit recovery.
a solution to fit online learning needs for all districts
With over 100 courses available in 2009 (with 85 more
expected to be added by end of year 2010) and a unique
modular structure that allows courses to easily be applied in
different learning situations, EdisonLearning provided a good
choice for CAIU.
