College, K12 Inc. Forge Language-Learning Partnership

A student reads on the campus of Middlebury College, in Middlebury, Vt. The well-known liberal arts college and K12 Inc. have teamed up to build online language courses for high school students.

—Bridget Besaw/Middlebury College

By Katie Ash

Spurred by the rising demand for high-quality, affordable foreign-language instruction for cash-strapped schools, as well as to cultivate new streams of revenue, Middlebury College and K12 Inc. have teamed up to build a series of online language courses for high school students.

The partnership between the well-known liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vt., and the for-profit online education company to fill a curriculum void in schools is a model likely to expand as online coursetaking in precollegiate education grows. And that is especially the case with foreign-language instruction, experts say.

“There’s a huge need nationwide that’s not being met,” said Michael Geisler, the academic-development director for the project and the vice president of language schools at Middlebury, which has an international reputation for foreign-language instruction. “The demand for an internationally educated student even before he or she goes to college seems to be recognized by parents, but can’t often be...