Advanced physics and other specialty classes could be just a click away for thousands of public, private and home-schooled students next fall under a new distance learning program.

Thirty-five school districts are forming a statewide consortium that would allow students in one district to take classes taught in another over the Internet.

A meeting is planned Friday in Helena to discuss details and brainstorm possible curriculum.

Students in the program would attend classes and interact with teachers through streaming video on a computer. Tests and assignments would be downloaded off the Web.

Education leaders hope the effort, in the works for several years, will diversify Montana's public schools, boost sagging enrollment, and make it easier for small schools to meet stiff requirements under the No Child Left Behind education reforms.

"Children and teachers in small schools and children and teachers in large schools will benefit from this," said David Puyear, director of the Montana Rural Education Association. "What we're proposing to do is serve as a clearinghouse of information for all districts."

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Article source: billingsgazette.com