Summit Education Group

Summit Education Group was formed in 2011, to serve children and adult learners everywhere who deserve the best possible opportunity for life success, regardless of their life challenges and situation. Summit Education Group is a professional Education Management Organization committed to ensuring those opportunities are available to young people and adult learners. Summit Education Group was converted to a Colorado Public Benefit Corporation in 2014.

www.cde.state.co.us/onlinelearning/schools AIM Global

        AIM Global
        Certified Multi-District Online School
        107 W. 11th Street
        Pueblo, CO 81003
        
        Phone: 855-965-3354
        
        Grades served: 6-12
        
        Authorized by:
        Las Animas School District
        1021 2nd St.
        Las Animas, CO 81054
        Authorizer Phone: 719-456-0161
        

sumedu.website/single-post Colorado opens door to online education By C.S. Boddie ColoradoWatchDog.org

Colorado has cracked open the door to multi-district online learning a little wider.

The Colorado State Board of Education approved certification for two schools at its June meeting at Pueblo Community College, at the same meeting where it recognized three teachers and a counselor for excellence in blended and online education.

Parents and students can now go to enrollinschool.com to make initial contact for the tuition-free, multi-district programs.

AIM Global — AIM stands for achievement, innovation, mastery — is a school for at-risk kids in grades 6–12 who have struggled in traditional schools. Immersion School for Sciences, Technology and the Arts is a college prep school for students who need academic enrichment.

The schools are a cooperative venture between Summit Education Group, which will run them, and the Las Animas School District in southeastern Colorado. Funding will come from state per pupil money, with 10 percent going to the school district and 90 percent to SEG.

Las Animas Superintendent Elsie Goines was the authorizer on the application for certification. She said that the number one benefit, and the number one reason the district engaged with SEG, was that the district’s own students will benefit in that they’ll have opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise…

“We’re always looking at how can we share resources and be more effective with the resources we have,” Goines said.

The biggest concern she had before getting on board with online learning was accountability, and that it will deliver a quality education for students. “We’re making sure we’re going into this with eyes wide open and that it’s going to do the things we say it’s going to do.”

She added that she’ll be looking for transparency and accountability.

Online and blended education have had their share of critics, including some from within the charter school movement.

A recent report from the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools concluded that virtual school students perform worse on academics than traditional school students. The NAPCS and National Association of Charter School Authorizers have recommended performance-based funding and shutting down low-performing schools.

As of August 2014 there were 135 virtual charter schools serving about 180,000 students in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

Larry Kerr, director of communications for SEG, said that as many as 1,000 students from different Colorado school districts might enroll in the Las Animas project, which will feature a combination of working online and face-to-face with teachers certified in the four core content areas, and interacting with life enrichment coaches.

The coaches will reach out to students once a day and help them with social-emotional issues. They’ll also provide “wrap-around services” as needed, such as providing food, bus passes, and even diapers for babies of students who are teen parents.

The coaches will also help advanced students enroll in college courses.

“We do what we call concurrent enrollment, because we have relationships with all the community colleges, and Summit pays for the courses,” Kerr said.

If it works, expect SEG to take their show on the road.

“We’ve had a great deal of interest from other states,” Kerr said, “and we really want to duplicate this model, but we want to get everything set in Colorado first.”