LEC Closed Monday, Feb. 1, for Teacher Planning Day

LEC will be closed this Monday, February 1, for a teacher planning day following the end of the second quarter. Teachers and other staff will be on site to complete grade reports and prepare for the third quarter, which begins February 2nd. Students get to enjoy a three-day weekend.

LEC Promotes Teacher to Special Educator, Hires New Math Teacher

A short time ago, our Special Education Coordinator, Susan Raat, moved on from LEC to new endeavors. This provided our current math teacher, Sandy McGregor, with the possibility to pursue her long-term goal of moving into the special education field. Sandy came to us two years ago after putting in a year with Serendipity Center, an area special needs school. While Sandy works towards adding a Basic Handicapped Learner's endorsement from Portland State, she will be working under the close supervision of Program Director Doug Rogers who currently holds a special educator's license.

As Sandy's replacement, we would like to welcome Tim Eagan. Tim's most recent work has been with the Perry Center, where he taught a variety of subjects. He also has a considerable amount of experience providing one-on-one support to students with special needs.

Supported Online Education

With the coming of the second semester at LEC, we will be offering supported online education courses to a select group of students. The two students are both 11^th graders and will be taking classes that we would otherwise be unable to offer.

There are many opportunities for students to enroll in online courses outside of LEC, but what we are offering is a different plan. The state only requires that students participating in K-12 online education meet with an instructor twice a month. For our students that is simply not enough support. The LEC model for online education places students in a regular class of up to eight. The online course provides the curriculum, but the teacher provides the encouragement and additional academic support that our students need.

Access to Odysseyware online courses has been granted to us through a very generous donation by AllPrep Academies and Early Colleges. Odysseyware is probably the best known and most widely used K-12 online education provider in the US and offers approximately three-dozen different online classes at the middle- and high school levels. The courses offer text-to-speech support and multimedia instruction, a necessary component for our population. Students who do well on pre-assessments for each course only need to complete targeted lessons and units rather than the entire course, allowing students who have fallen behind on their credits to recover credits at a faster rate.

The development of this online education component will allow LEC to provide services to students in 11^th and 12^th grades for the first time in its history. Of the two students initially piloting the program here, one is specifically slated to earn the credits necessary to receive an Oregon Basic Diploma from his school district based on credits earned at LEC. A similar process could be used for students working towards modified diplomas, and we are involved in discussions with the Oregon Department of Education to determine whether or not it is a viable option for LEC to provide the diplomas directly.