From Stanford to Harvard, there is a lot of new activity in the world of online education and digital resources, and Harker is joining in as a member of the Global Online Academy (GOA). Started in the 2010-11 school year by schools including Lakeside (Seattle), Catlin Gabel (Portland), Kings Academy (near Amman, Jordan), Head-Royce (Oakland), Punahou (Honolulu), Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.) and Dalton (New York), GOA is operated by a consortium of member independent schools.

Courses are taught by faculty of member schools exclusively to students of member schools. A teacher at Dalton might have a mix of students from Jordan, Seattle and Honolulu. Each student’s course and grade appear on his or her transcript from the home school and no more than three students from any one school may participate in any one course.

Harker has a long history of effective use of digital resources to support our teaching and learning including being the first high school to have a “Bring Your Own Laptop” program, but approached online learning initiatives carefully. GOA meets Harker’s standards of excellence and the upper school will pilot the program for the 2012-13 academic year.