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RICHMOND

Beginning Monday, April 13, WHRO Public Media will broadcast teacher-led classroom instruction aligned with Virginia’s academic standards.

According to a press release from the Virginia Department of Education, WHRO, which serves the Hampton Roads region, is one of four public media stations to do so, the others being Blue Ridge PBS, VPM and WETA. The initiative, known as “VA TV Classroom,” is intended to provide instruction to students in grades K-10 who are unable to access other distance learning options due to a lack of high-speed internet.

VA TV Classroom will air from 1-3 p.m. Monday through Friday as follows:

• K-3 instruction will air from 1-2 p.m. “Learn to Grow with WHRO” segments will be 15 minutes in length.

• Grades 7-10 instruction will air from 2-3 p.m. with Standards of Learning-aligned content focusing on Earth science and algebra I.

• During the week of April 27, VA TV Classroom will add a special hour from 3-4 p.m. called “AP Prep Week,” with content provided by Virtual Virginia in collaboration with WHRO, focusing on a different advanced placement subject each day. The hour will include two 30-minute segments.

“WHRO is proud to be a part of ‘VA TV Classroom.’ WHRO actually stands for Home Room One,” WHRO President and CEO Bert Schmidt said. “WHRO was created nearly 60 years ago as a way to bring the classroom into homes via the TV. Much of our educational instruction is now created digitally, but knowing so many students now don’t have access to our online resources, we were thrilled to bring this important instruction back to our air.”

To access WHRO viewers are asked to tune into 57.1 via antenna, channel 107 on Cox or 460 on Verizon FiOS.

“I believe that ‘VA TV Classroom’ will make a tremendous difference this spring as schools endeavor to provide continuity of learning for students, especially in communities where online learning is a challenge,” said VDOE Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane. “This programming builds on the long-standing partnership between VDOE and public television to support teaching and learning across the state.”