The service is geared largely to students who need to make up required courses they failed so they stay on track toward graduation.

"It's a great opportunity for kids looking to recover from a class," said Gainesville High School principal Dave Shumake.

But students also can take advanced instruction online.

Robert Thorpe, principal of Gainesville Middle School, said a student may come from another system having taken Algebra I, the highest level of math offered at the school.

Instead of placing that student in another Algebra I course, the school might press for the student to take a geometry course online.

Advanced Academics offers 60 courses that match state standards in core and elective areas such as language arts, math, science and social studies. Sex education is one of the health classes offered.

Thorpe said the courses also could be an avenue of instruction for students whose parents have "opted to take their kid out of exploratory, or elective, classes to take academics," Thorpe said.

No students have signed up yet for the classes at the middle or high schools. However, the school system has eight students enrolled in the online program at the system's Alternative Learning Center.

The center traditionally has been a place for students in grades six through nine who have been removed from the normal school setting due to disciplinary problems.

The system is allowing students to choose to take classes there. The center features small-group and individualized instruction without the distractions and frills of a regular school.

But because of its small number and range in grades, "we have found students' needs in the school to be varied," Thorpe said.

"It's difficult to have a teacher for each grade level in a content area," Thorpe said. "We have three teachers (at the school) and they're teaching at different grade levels."

Eva Solomon-Lauderdale, who teaches math and science at the school, said online instruction began Friday and "it's too early to tell" how effective the program will be.

However, "I see it as a great learning tool," she said. "The students are getting in-depth lessons with a lot of different activities that (classroom teachers) can't give them because of time restraints and materials."

Thorpe said teachers still would be in computer labs to help students, who are guided by online instructors.

"The (company) will monitor the student's progress, and if they're not making progress, they will alert us and the student and see what the issues are," Thorpe said. "Also, I can go on the Web and pull up the student's progress and reports from my desk."

Shumake said he visited Oklahoma City Schools, which has spent $650,000 on the program.

"It is a very rigorous academic program online," he said. "In my opinion, it is certainly worthy of involving our students."

Thorpe also was excited about the program's possibilities.

"We now need to get a feel for how we want to market it to students and parents," he said.