RAPID CITY - Just one month into the school year, enrollment in the Rapid City School District's virtual high school is 134 percent of last year's.

Deb Steele, principal of the district's academy programs, relayed the good news to the school board this week.

The Virtual Campus had 275 enrollments in various classes by Oct. 1. At its peak last year, the online program had 205 enrollments. Enrollment is not calculated by students, but the total enrollments in all courses because students can enroll in more than one class.

"We have more (enrollments) from out of district than in district," Steele said.

Shannon County has 55 students enrolled in an online class, she said.

"We have invested a lot in this, and it is beginning to pay off," superintendent Peter Wharton told the board. The district budgeted more than $300,000 for computer-assisted instruction this year.

Rapid City's online program is the only asynchronous program approved by the state Department of Education. Working from home or another computer, students can access their courses at anytime of the day or night. Students can also post questions and have discussions with their teachers and classmates online.

Students must enroll through South Dakota Virtual High School to earn high school credit for the courses they take through The Virtual Campus. Students in the Rapid City School District pay $60 per half-credit course. Students outside the district or living out of state pay $310 per half credit.

In addition to high school courses, The Virtual Campus is offering middle school courses. One school district is using the program for a sixth-grade language arts class.

Steele has also had requests from middle school students interested in taking online courses for high school credit.

But, until the state board of education changes its policy on granting middle school students high school credit, there are issues ahead, Steele said.

Middle school students taking high school courses must pass a test-out exam with a score of at least 85 percent to earn high school credit, she said.

The state's policy applies not only to virtual students, but middle school students taking a course in a high school, Steele said.

"That seems incredibly unfair," board member Eric Abrahamson said. Abrahamson said it is inherently unfair for students sitting in a classroom with other students to not receive credit for their work if they satisfy the course requirements.

Assistant superintendent Katie Bray reminded the board that she and Pat Peel, the former director of student achievement and staff development, both visited with the state Board of Education about the test-out policy.

Members of the Board of Education made it clear their concern is the maturity of middle school students, Bray said.

"Their concern is that they (middle school students) would not grasp all the concepts and contents the way a high school student would," she said.

Bray added the state has developed its own test-out tests. The school district will have to use those tests or have its tests approved by the state, Bray said.

Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com