CONTACT:  Miguel Gonzalez  (202) 822-7823 

November 9, 2006 

NEA Unveils Guide to Ensure Highly Qualified Teachers for Online Courses

Guide establishes framework for effective online education systems

WASHINGTON—The National Education Association unveiled a comprehensive guide to ensure the quality of online instruction delivered to secondary students at the 2006 Virtual School Symposium sponsored by the North American Council for Online Learning.

“The NEA Guide to Teaching Online Courses is a roadmap for educators, administrators and policymakers who are considering providing quality online instruction to students or making policy choices affecting online education,” said NEA President Reg Weaver. “Every student deserves a highly qualified teacher. And a highly qualified teacher—whether online or in a traditional bricks and mortar classroom—is essential for great public schools.”

The NEA Guide to Teaching Online Courses gives school leaders a framework for designing an effective online education system. The publication is focused on ensuring that teachers leading online courses are of the highest quality, well equipped, trained and supported for the many challenges of educating today's students through online instruction. This latest guide complements an earlier NEA publication, Guide to Online High School Courses , that outlined criteria and quality standards for distance education courses.

“Well prepared and well supported educators have always been the key to educational success, and this clearly extends into the online world,” said Weaver. “It’s imperative that key stakeholders provide an environment where teachers can perform at their highest levels.”

Recognizing the enormous potential of online learning, the NEA Guide to Teaching Online Courses helps practitioners define an effective online education environment; outline steps for creating a framework for online teaching and learning; and prepare, hire, evaluate and support online teachers.

The 2006 Virtual School Symposium attracts 200 of the nation’s leading experts and researchers about online learning. The NEA Guide to Teaching Online Courses is a product of the collaborative work of NEA, the International Society for Technology in Education, the North American Council for Online Learning, the National Commission for Teaching and America’s Future and Virtual High School, Inc.

To view a copy of The NEA Guide to Teaching Online Courses, please visit:
www.nea.org/technology/images/onlineteachguide.pdf

To view a copy of The NEA Guide to Online High School Courses, please visit:
http://www.nea.org/technology/images/02onlinecourses.pdf

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The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.