STEUBENVILLE, OH – The Jefferson County Educational Service Center (JCESC) Virtual Learning Academy (VLA) has earned national attention for providing tools for homeschooling families, having recently received the 2025 Best Homeschool Curriculum and Resources award from How To Homeschool.
How To Homeschool is a highly regarded national organization that provides resources, reviews and recommendations for homeschooling families across the United States.
VLA Director Mark Masloski and Assistant Director Martariesa Logue said the award reflects VLA’s commitment to empowering families with high-quality flexibility and engaging educational tools.
Masloski said VLA has offered homeschool curriculum for about 20 years and it is used in the local area, across the nation and in other countries. Logue said the curriculum has proven valuable for students involved in sports overseas.
“We’ve always had homeschool students and parents that wanted opportunities for students to learn virtually, and I believe that our platform is attainable and it’s an easy transition for students and parents to work through the content and curriculum,” Masloski said.
He said parental control is a central feature to VLA’s curriculum, with parents able to monitor their children’s learning.
“They’re able to print out progress reports, transcript reports, they can see how long their child is being active in the unit,” he said. He also pointed out the varied options VLA has on offer.
“What they like about us is there’s a flexibility,” he said. VLA’s curriculum includes electives such as music, art and physical education. “That might not be something that’s available for homeschool parents that they’re able to utilize with us.”
Masloski said the VLA’s K-12 material is also age and grade-level appropriate and the curriculum lines up with state requirements so a student will not be left behind should the child transfer into the public school system.
He said good experience with VLA has helped spread word of their services throughout the homeschooling community. VLA has become a staple for homeschooling families.
“A lot of homeschool parents have multiple children, so we have seen students that started here at a very young age until the 12th grade, and we have their siblings that are homeschooled,” he said.
Logue added the curriculum is offered at an attainable price for large families.
They recount how the program has evolved. Logue said they have incorporated a wide range of interactive engaging curriculum and Masloski noted the many offline activities that homeschool parents appreciate.
He said VLA also offers coursework in the classics.
“They want to see Roman mythology or Greek mythology or Renaissance art,” he said. “We have a population of homeschool students and parents that are Catholic, so they want their child to learn some Latin. They know we have something scripted already. It makes it a little easier for them, they don’t have to reinvent the curriculum for their child.”
Parents can also conveniently create a portfolio of student progress.
“With our system, there’s plenty of content that they can create a really good student portfolio and share their work and how they’re progressing,” he said.
“We’re able to offer them more opportunities for learning and learning in a different variety of ways, and I think that’s what the award shows. We have the capability to not just meet one type of homeschool parent, but a variety of homeschool parents,” Masloski said.
“We have plenty of courses,” he said. “Each parent can individualize their student’s lessons based on the student’s needs. That’s a big part of what we can do for those parents so they can have a unique individual plan.”
Logue added for convenience the VLA system is available on the internet rather than bound to a specific app.
“So all the students need is an internet connection,” she said. “If they don’t have the internet, they can easily export it into a pdf file.”
Masloski and Logue anticipate future innovations that may interest homeschoolers. VLA staff will attend the Greater Ohio Homeschool Convention April 24-26 in Columbus. Masloski said they were very attentive to new developments and the needs of homeschooling families. He said one option could be creating an online support group.
“We’ve been ahead of the game just with the offline activities and making sure our information’s appropriate for parents. They understand that there’s not going to be anything inappropriate in our content and our lessons. The big thing is choice, and there’s plenty of choices for parents to make with our content curriculum. We might be a small organization, but our courses aren’t small. We have a variety of different courses and a variety of different levels of courses.”
VLA has built a strong reputation.
“There’s a trust factor,” he said. “At ESC, everybody knows our first thought is the students.”
He said families know their children can count on support and individual attention.
“They’re comfortable with us.”
Logue said VLA is adept at tracking a student’s learning curve as they transition to or from homeschooling. These and other services make the program a well-regarded resource among schools.
“We are recommended by the schools. When a student wants to go homeschool, one of the options that the schools do say is check out VLA, because they already know us,” she said. “So it is an honor for schools to recommend our curriculum to their homeschool parents.”
One parent’s testimonial on the VLA site praises the range of core classes and electives, the ease of keeping track of her son’s progress, and the quick and friendly responses to any questions.
“It’s not primarily dependent on multiple choice answers as many online school programs are, so I have a much easier time seeing if my student is truly understanding the material,” she said, adding she is able to review the material being taught. She said the ability to send the assignment back for correction is unique among the programs she has tried and very helpful for assuring mastery of subjects. She also praised the rubrics included with writing assignments, which are valuable in reviewing and grading. She has multiple children of different ages homeschooling and plans to move her son’s younger sister into the VLA program.
Located in the R. Larry George Training Annex at 1913 Estelle Ave., Steubenville, the VLA serves all students including those who are credit deficient, home bound, or home schooled. JCESC VLA can serve as a stand-alone program or implemented within a district’s already existing curriculum.