Cliff Green, executive director of the iSucceed Virtual High School, has spent the past two months stumping in juvenile correctional facilities, cities with significant Latino populations and community programs aimed at getting kids off the streets.
The nonprofit online charter school is part of Insight Schools, a Portland-based company that operates one of the largest networks of virtual high schools in country. With schools in Oregon, California, Washington and Wisconsin, Insight plans to open more this fall in Idaho, Minnesota and Kansas.
If the Idaho school opens in September as scheduled, Green wants to maintain a Latino student population of at least 20 percent. As part of their recruiting strategy, administrators bought ads on Spanish radio stations, advertised classes with bilingual brochures and drafted Latino community leaders to serve on its board of directors.
When Green learned a large portion of the St. Mary's Catholic Church congregation in downtown Boise was Latino, he wrangled an appointment to speak after Sunday services.
''If there was any way to get me to go to mass,'' said Green, who is not Catholic, ''this would be it.''
Born out of gaps in traditional education, online schools have historically targeted advanced students who learn at a faster pace, or those who struggle adhering to a normal class schedule, such as young athletes. But recently, many of these virtual schools nationwide have shifted focus to at-risk students, said Susan Patrick, president of the Virginia-based North American Council for Online Learning.
''To me this is a really good sign,'' said Patrick, a former U.S. Department of Education technology director. ''We're struggling with a fairly largely high dropout rate.''
Nationwide, approximately 25 percent of high school students did not graduate on time with a regular high school diploma in 2004, according to a 2007 report from the U.S. Department of Education. In Idaho, more than 2,100 high school students dropped out last year. Of those, 468 claim Latino heritage, according to the state Department of Education.
