Started in 2002 as the first online school in the northwest, Richard McKenna Online's courses are designed and taught by Idaho certified teachers. Online courses provide the same academic rigor and benefits of the classroom, but with greater convenience and flexibility. All students finishing course requirements receive an accredited high school diploma.

Our teachers are available during posted office hours via phone, email, text, chat, or video conferencing. You get to talk to a human being, not an automated system!  Give it a try, call (208) 580-2449 before 3pm on weekdays and say "Hi"  (Now try that with any other online school)

To best meet the workflow of online courses, we have created our own online learning system called Acquire.

Take a tour and try our demo by clicking Login and then "Login as a guest"

Special Education Services 

Our special education director delivers one-on-one help and direct instruction using video conferencing and screen sharing. The special education director also meets face-to-face with parents and students as needed. Testing is contracted to locally qualified psychologists.

First, complete the registration by clicking Login and then the "New Student" button below the login form. Registration is open about 2 weeks before the school year and closes about 6 weeks into the second semester.

Courses begin every Monday (even on 3 day weekend holidays) and last for 6 weeks. The student's attendance is based on course work completed, which is tracked by Acquire. Each course requires 90 hours of completed work, which may includes student-to-student interaction via blogs and discussion boards. Credit is granted when a student completes all of the daily assignments and the final project successfully.

All of our online students use their own computer and Internet access. You can use a Mac computer (preferably less than 8 years old) or Windows computer (preferably less than 4 years old).  Lessons are best completed on a full computer, however most courses may be completed on a Chromebook or tablet if you prefer.

We are seeing results of raising our first digital natives.  Born in a land where information is freely available without the traditional barriers of location and cost. They process massive amounts of information and have learned to filter out the meaningless to find the valuable.  With more expectations put on them than any other generation, they have learned discernment and confidently call out things that are not working because of a need to fit everything into their day.

Now, put these students in a traditional classroom with overcrowding and a curriculum from the industrial age.  Instead of finding clearly defined goals and an efficient path to learning, the use of time doesn't make sense and distractions are constant. Students are told to put up with the class moving too fast at times and too slow at other times because the class can't move at their pace.

Online learning is the future for our digital natives.  During the sections of a class that are making sense, the student can move on and have more time in their day.  During the sections of a class that are challenging, McKenna's low student to teacher ratio makes our teachers more available to provide individual attention than a traditional classroom teacher.