julie young

Julie Young began her career as a classroom teacher and has since served as an administrator and leading e-Learning expert and advocate. Today, as the president and chief executive officer of Florida Virtual School, she directs the work of more than 1200 faculty and administrators, courseware developers, web design specialists and technology support personnel. She is a frequent national conference speaker and has played an important role in charting the course of virtual K-12 education.


Ms. Young is the Chairman of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) and serves on the boards of the International Association for K12 Online Learning and the Florida Learning Alliance. She is a member of the Southern Regional Education Board’s Distance Learning Task Force, the Florida Taxwatch Center for Educational Performance and Accountability, and the UT TeleCampus National Advisory Board. Ms. Young was recognized by Technology & Learning Magazine as one of the Top 30 influencers in Ed Tech, along with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. In 2003, she was inducted into the USDLA “Hall of Fame.”


Under Ms. Young’s leadership, Florida Virtual School has been recognized for its work by the National School Boards Association and the Canadian Association for Distance Education. Florida Virtual School has received two 2010 CODiE Awards: Best Reading/English Instructional Solution & Best Social Studies Instructional Solution. FLVS was also honored with the 2009 and 2007 USDLA 21st Century award for Best Practice in Distance Learning, the 2008 Better Government Competition Award from the Pioneer Institute, the EdNET 2007 Pioneer of the Year Award and the 2006 EdNET Impact award. In 2003, her school was named as one of the WebSmart Top 50 organizations by Business Week Magazine.


Ms. Young earned her Master of Science degree in Administration and Supervision from the University of South Florida, and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education from the University of Kentucky.


going to be the first diploma giving virtual school
 - then changed our minds

don't want to be a seat time model... only monitored by what students do

change is always easy when it's not about you..
people came to us with a passion to change

how do you evaluate your success
we have been fortunate.. we have focused in on what a student leaves us with rather than grades
we allow students to resubmit
if they fail ch 1 - they stay at ch1, until they pass it

made a determination early on.. experience matter as much as if you can help the student get the job done
how do you manage prof devleop: have a pd dept... most teachers finish yr with over 100 hrs of prof develop
they create pd tracks for new teachers, peer coaching, talent track, content buddies, licensing and developing pd outside the state

if you can put a child in a diff environment..

i love this:
let's try not to pigeonhole anything  at this point (blended vs online vs ?) - let's try to focus on the student

teacher's need to be available from 8 to 8 and on weekends

a very data rich school - probably the most in the world.

we are behind other countries.. that data doesn't lie.

[my questions... behind them in what? doesn't a lot of data lie?..]

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