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Ed. Groups Outline E-Teacher Quality Guidelines

Many State-Sponsored Online Schools are Setting Standards Around Guidelines From the International Association for K-12 Online Learning and the Southern Regional Education Board

Both the International Association for K-12 Online Learning , or iNACOL, based in Vienna, Va., and the Southern Regional Education Board , or SREB, in Atlanta, have published compatible guides for national standards and professional development of online teachers. Those guidelines are often cited when policymakers and experts talk about how to establish such principles.

"We use iNACOL's standards to review [online teachers'] professional development and make sure it reinforces a high level of online teaching,” said Barbara B. Smith, the project director of the Texas Virtual School Network , which vets online courses used in the state. "We're finding many of the state virtual schools are standardizing around them."

The “National Standards for Quality Online Teaching” from iNACOL were first released in 2008 and were updated this year. They embraced the "Standards for Quality Online Teaching" published by the SREB and also reviewed other online-teaching guides such as the National Education Association's "Guide to Teaching Online Courses" and the Ohio Department of Education's "Ohio Standards...