By Dr. Jim Grunwald

Imagine being able to attend a course taught from a Scriptural perspective no matter where you live. With ALHS Online, you can do just that. But what is ALHS Online, how did it develop, and what is its future?

It all began in 2010 when the WELS Association of Lutheran High Schools (ALHS) created a committee to explore the possibility of WELS high schools sharing online courses and instructors. It was felt that this might allow each school to expand their own curricular offerings in a cost-effective manner, and thus strengthen each school’s individual program of instruction. Hence, a two-year pilot program was launched in 2011-12, with three courses offered the first semester and two the second. Tuition costs were kept as low as possible at $150 per student, per course, per semester.

The first year of the pilot program was blessed by a gracious God with student enrollment surpassing expectations, with a total of about 30 students enrolling each semester, representing students from eight WELS high schools. Since the first year of the pilot program demonstrated that it was not only viable but it also filled a need, it was decided to transition out of the pilot program and into a regular program already during the 2012-13 academic year.

Due to the rapid growth of ALHS Online, it was necessary to become a non-profit corporation in the state of Minnesota and to obtain 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS in 2012. Throughout the process, the primary purpose of ALHS Online remained to facilitate the offering of high-quality online courses taught from a Scriptural perspective to WELS high schoolstudents.

ALHS Online has continued to grow at a rate of about 80% each year. This year over 180 students are being taught in 15 different courses each semester. Students come from 18 different WELS high schools, and a handful come from home or public school settings. The courses are taught by 16 dedicated WELS teachers, well qualified in their content area and trained in online teaching and learning. Some teachers teach in WELS schools; others are retired teachers, professors, pastors, or stay-at-home parents. Additional teachers are becoming qualified to teach online each year as the program continues to expand. God-willing, in 2015-16 course offerings will increase to about 20 each semester, with student enrollment increasing between 50 and 80 percent.

As would be expected, the greatest expansion for ALHS Online has been courses where the WELS high schools might only have one or two students interested in the course, but if all of these students are placed into a single online section, the course can be offered to students at each school cost effectively. Therefore, the most popular courses through ALHS Online are Advanced Placement (AP) courses and other student electives.

In recent years, ALHS Online has received several requests from WELS elementary schools looking for courses that their qualified 7th and 8th graders might be able to enroll in. Therefore, ALHS Online will be conducting a pilot program with a couple already selected WELS schools in 2015-16 by offering Spanish 1 and Algebra 1, with the hope of expanding into other WELS elementary schools and subject areas in the future, God-willing.

More information on ALHS Online and its mission, including informative handbooks for schools, students, and teachers, can be found on the ALHSO.org website. Or you may contact Dr. Jim Grunwald, ALHS Online superintendent, at grunwajr@mlc-wels.edu.

James Grunwald, PhD (DMLC ’78) is the Director of Academic Computing at Martin Luther College, New Ulm MN.