Sponsors and Advisors

This is the 12th annual Keeping Pace report. We are grateful to everyone who has helped along the way, including sponsors, researchers and writers, the schools and agencies across the country that provide the source information, and the people who write or call to tell us that Keeping Pace has helped. As the project has matured, the list of people and organizations involved has grown, and it has become increasingly difficult to acknowledge properly everyone who has been involved over the years.

Still, it is worth remembering that the first Keeping Pace was published in 2004, in response to a request for timely online education policy information from the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). Stevan Kalmon, then of the CDE, was a strong advocate for the project and was instrumental in its early development. The report originally was envisioned as a simple document that would be distributed only to the sponsoring organizations, but Cathy Gunn, then of the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory at Learning Point Associates, recognized the work’s larger value and suggested, and then managed, publication and distribution to a wider audience. The four funding organizations in the first year were the CDE, Illinois Virtual High School (IVHS), Learning Point Associates, and Wisconsin Virtual School.

In 2005 Keeping Pace expanded to review all 50 states. The expansion to review the entire country was largely in response to the vision of Matthew Wicks, then of IVHS, who overcame the reluctance of the researchers faced with the daunting task of covering all states.

Sponsors

The cast of Keeping Pace sponsors evolves every year, with the only common thread being that they are educational organizations that share an interest in online and blended learning and that believe current policy and practice information should be available to practitioners and policymakers. Sponsors provide guidance and leadership in planning, research, analysis, and writing. Keeping Pace benefits from the involvement of these experienced and knowledgeable online learning practitioners and their organizations:

Cynthia Rogan: Apex Learning

Rachel Mohl Abrahams : The AVI CHAI Foundation

Pat Laystrom and Matthew Wicks : Connections Education

Mike Lawrence: CUE

Sari Factor and Leslie Sobon : Edgenuity

Eric Swanson : Edmentum

Julie Young: Global Personalized Academics

Allison Powell,  and Maria Worthen : International Association for K-12 Online Learning

Mary Gifford: K12 Inc.

Jamey Fitzpatrick and Joe Freidhoff : Michigan Virtual University

Jefferson Burnett: National Association for K-12 Online Learning

Jim Snyder and Christine Voelker: Quality Matters

Brian Bridges and Sally Savona: Stanislaus County Office of Education

Kate Loughrey and Barbara Smith: Texas Education Agency / Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN)

Jeff Elliott and Amy Michalowski: The Virtual High School