Sugar-Salem is First Idaho District to Require Online Learning

The Sugar-Salem School District has become the first district in Idaho to mandate online learning as a requirement for high school graduation.

Beginning next school year, in partnership with Idaho Digital Learning (IDLA), all students graduating in 2013 or later, must complete one online credit to graduate.

“This is where education is heading,” Alan Dunn, Sugar-Salem Superintendent, said in a news release. “Children have to learn how to negotiate this online world in which we live. We want them to learn now, in a structured environment and with the help and support of Idaho Digital Learning.”

Currently Michigan, Alabama and New Mexico require all graduating students statewide to take an online course. Sugar-Salem is the first district in Idaho to adopt such a policy.

The state sets statewide minimum high school graduation requirements that all Idaho public schools must implement; however, school districts have the flexibility to go above and beyond these standards if they choose.

Next year’s 9^th grade class will be the first required to take at least one online course at Sugar-Salem High School. If taken through IDLA, the class will be paid for by the district. The Sugar-Salem School District, near Rexburg, has approximately 1,500 students, including 410 high school students.

Read more about the new requirement here. 

~ Melissa M.