Unsung Super Star Award (School/District) – Virtual Arkansas DYS Campus

Posted Date: 03/03/2023

Virtual Arkansas is the state’s online course provider, offering courses to students who are mostly enrolled in
mainstream schools. But Virtual Arkansas has also been quietly building a strong reputation in the state, and
they were approached by the state’s division of youth services, asking if they could serve students who are
incarcerated at one of five facilities across the state. As you might imagine, these are students who had not
previously been receiving a great education in too many cases. The system was overloaded, teachers were not
always available, those who were, were often not well trained. This is not an easy situation to walk in to, but
Virtual Arkansas saw that they could help, and the program has grown. VA has nine full-time and two part-time
teachers dedicated to this program; these teachers meet with students often and make monthly site visits to
these facilities. About this program and the teachers in it, VA wrote “Our students know exactly who their
teacher is, when the teacher is available, what the expectations are and that their teachers have a heart for
them.” This is exactly the type of “relationships before rigor” approach that benefits these students the most.

https://bit.ly/unsungsuperstar