Virtual Schools - Major Reform and Major Confusion

One of this week’s Education Week front page stories ($)reports on growing support among district leaders for online learning, especially courses which blend online activities with traditional classroom instruction. Research by the Sloan Consortium finds that 63 percent of districts make use of some form of online learning, with an additional 20 percent planning to do so within the next three years.

Online learning is a heavily coded term; for some it evokes scary images of kids plugged into computers, downloading information without engaging in the human process of learning. For others it represents a new tool for preparing students for an increasingly technology driven future, while simultaneously improving efficiency by freeing up classroom teachers and effectively lowering class-sizes. These debates end up largely polarized in part due to the simple fact that most people don’t really know what online learning is or how it works.

For example, the Ed Week article states:

“Online K-12 education nationwide has grown steadily in recent years. At least 24 states have established their own online education programs, and several have created “virtual schools,” offering classes in both required subjects and electives.”

This shows how easy it is to get confused about the distinctions between various online options and their relative market shares. As a recent Education Sector report demonstrates (full disc: I’m one of the co-authors) 28 – not several – states have full fledged virtual schools, though the vast majority of them only offer courses that supplement students traditional brick and mortar experiences. In other words, students in those states enroll in the state virtual school in order to take a particular class that will then count for credit at their local school. The polarized debate between online learning advocates and critics thus becomes largely moot due to the fact that these programs work in concert with local schools and districts and don’t end up delivering the majority of any students’ educations.

But this Ed Week article is important because it points out the degree to which district leaders are becoming advocates of the benefits that online learning has to offer. Rather than being seen as a potential threat, online learning is now becoming seen as a means for increasing flexibility, programmatic individualization, and student readiness for the new economy.

State virtual school programs are serving over 140,000 public school students across the country: more than those served by better known programs such as Teach for America, KIPP, and Aspire Public Schools put together.

But more importantly, virtual schools have the capacity to really shake up the status quo of a variety of traditionally intractable issues. What do teacher transfer provisions mean when teachers can teach across district lines via the internet? Why should Carnegie Units matter when students can work at their own pace? Why should students be stuck with limited curricular offerings when they can have access to a wider variety through their state’s virtual school?

As more and more states build and expand their virtual school programs, and increasing numbers of district leaders embrace online learning, virtual schools will come to be seen as the catalyst for conversations about significant reforms to our industrial model education system.