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Beloit Virtual School reports steady enrollments, sets 50% passing goal and expands blended options
Summary
Director Jeff Zendres told the School District of Beloit board that the district’s virtual program, run with Wisconsin Virtual School, served about 124 students over the last year and will keep a 50% passing/engagement benchmark while expanding blended cross‑enrollment options and weekly progress monitoring.
Jeff Zendres, the district’s director of career and technical education and alternative education, briefed the School District of Beloit board Tuesday on the status of Beloit Virtual School, a partnership with Wisconsin Virtual School that serves elementary through high school students.
Zendres said the district moved to Wisconsin Virtual School three years ago to obtain Wisconsin‑licensed teachers and more frequent student outreach. He described an orientation course used as a "gateway" for enrollment and a part‑time Beloit coordinator, Sue Bailey, who tracks progress and coordinates tutoring.
The presentation included enrollment data showing that, since the COVID year, the program has served fluctuating cohorts ("we had 71, 124, 118, 124" during different years, Zendres said). Zendres characterized a 50% engagement metric — defined as students completing about three quarters of assigned lessons — as a realistic benchmark for the virtual‑school population and said the district will aim to raise the share of students earning a C or better by 5 percentage points in 2025‑26 and push total course‑pass rates toward 50%.
Board members pressed for comparisons with other districts and for strategies to increase engagement. Zendres said he did not have hard comparative data but that other alternative programs he’s encountered post lower or comparable pass rates. He described weekly progress‑monitoring reports, coordinator outreach calls, teacher contacts from Wisconsin Virtual School and occasional withdrawals when students show no engagement. He also described new blended options that let students take some in‑person courses while enrolled in the virtual program.
Zendres flagged a testing challenge: low in‑person participation has made traditional FORWARD test reporting difficult, so the district filed an alternate accountability report with the Department of Public Instruction and will consider a virtual testing option if DPI guidance allows. "We get three or four [students] that show up for testing," he said, which undermines state testing sample sizes.
The presentation closed with board discussion about tracking long‑term outcomes and whether the district could follow students after they leave BVS to see whether they enter postsecondary programs or careers. Zendres said the district collects some post‑exit data and that there are opportunities to expand follow‑up reporting and encourage virtual students to participate in district activities such as athletics and cultural events.
Next steps cited in the presentation include continuing weekly monitoring, piloting blended enrollment models with Beloit Memorial High School and other buildings, and coordinating with DPI on virtual testing protocols.
Sources: Presentation by Jeff Zendres to the School District of Beloit Board of Education (transcript segments beginning SEG 049), board Q&A (SEG 243–SEG 499).
