By Alabama Public Radio
Tuscaloosa, AL – Many Alabama students are getting to take classes even if they don't have a teacher trained in that subject. Akron Community School East does not have a foreign language teacher. But its students are learning to speak Spanish, because they take their lessons via the Internet. The subject is necessary for students to qualify for an advanced diploma, so the school began taking the web course a semester-and-a-half ago. The school is using the Alabama Online High School. The program operates out of the University of Alabama's Program for Rural Service and Research. It has existed since the fall of 2000, but it recently received its accreditation as a distance-education school. Both the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation have approved the program. More than 88 schools across the state participate in Alabama Online High School courses.