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College & Workforce Readiness Opinion

Getting Smart Podcast | Julie Young on Powerful Online College Prep

By Tom Vander Ark — November 01, 2017 1 min read
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Julie Young is CEO of ASU Prep Digital, a virtual program preparing students for acceptance and success at leading universities and encourages them to explore future majors and careers in our increasing interconnected world.

ASU Prep Digital combines online high school and college courses and the merger creates a unique and powerful learning opportunity for full time, part time and international learners. What’s the biggest difference between ASU Prep Digital and other programs that seem similar? Many things, but perhaps the biggest is their concurrent enrollment offering (vs. dual enrollment that is most seen).

Dual enrollment has grown dramatically, but most of that happens in community colleges where in many states there is no guarantee that those credits will transfer to in state universities, much less out of state and most certainly not to selective university.

Students at ASU Prep Digital are enrolled an R1 University known world wide. When you have a transcript with ASU credit, that will most certainly transfer to any university on the planet, thus creating unlimited opportunities for students nationally and internationally.

You may recognize Julie’s name. Julie was the founding president and principal of Florida Virtual School (FLVS) and has been a leader in online and blended learning for over 30 years. In this podcast episode, Tom talks with Julie about FLVS, her new gig at ASU Prep Digital and gets her predictions about the future of online learning. Listen for their in-depth discussion about what made FLVS a huge success as well Julie’s reflections and what future implementations are coming for ASU Prep Digital.

Podcast Highlights


  • A look inside the growth of FLVS and how Julie and her team were able to rethink traditional school.
  • How FLVS differs from other online charter schools.
  • Why Julie thinks iNACOL is a vital organization for education.
  • A look at ASU Prep Digital and the rigorous, personalized pathways the online program is creating for students.
  • The difference (and value) of concurrent online credit vs. dual enrollment.

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