Full-time virtual schools for K-12 students area relatively new phenomenon in the U.S. Enrollment in these schools has gone from a few hundred students in the year 2000 to almost 200,000 students in 2012, and enrollment is continuing to rise.
These numbers and data about the students who are choosing full-time virtual schooling come from a study by the National Education Policy Center. Despite sky-rocketing numbers over the past decade-plus, this study represents the first ever attempt to draw a nation-wide portrait of virtual schools in the US and determine how well they are serving students.
There's a lot of fascinating stuff in the study (and lots of pretty graphs), so I encourage you to read the whole thing. But two particularly worrisome take aways are these:
1. Despite the fact that virtual education is touted as a beneficial alternative for students with disabilities, this study finds that, compared with mainstream public schools, a lower percentage of virtual students are living with disabilities: "Overall, the proportion of students with disabilities in the virtual schools is around half of the national average, or 7.2% compared with 13.1%."
2. Academic performance in virtual schools is, apparently, abysmal. "In the 2010-2011 school year, there was a 28 percentage point difference between full-time virtual schools meeting AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress] and traditional brick-and-mortar district and charter schools that did: 23.6% compared with 52%, respectively." There are at least two caveats to be added here, however. First, AYP is a crude tool that only gives a rough overall snapshot of school academic performance. And secondly, it's not at all clear whether academic performance is lower in virtual schools due to selection bias--that is, students who are performing worse academically might be more likely to wind up in virtual schools, so the schools' performance will naturally be lower.
Although it's far too soon to pass judgement on virtual K-12 education as a whole, these facts ring alarm bells for me, and hopefully for you, too.
These numbers and data about the students who are choosing full-time virtual schooling come from a study by the National Education Policy Center. Despite sky-rocketing numbers over the past decade-plus, this study represents the first ever attempt to draw a nation-wide portrait of virtual schools in the US and determine how well they are serving students.
There's a lot of fascinating stuff in the study (and lots of pretty graphs), so I encourage you to read the whole thing. But two particularly worrisome take aways are these:
1. Despite the fact that virtual education is touted as a beneficial alternative for students with disabilities, this study finds that, compared with mainstream public schools, a lower percentage of virtual students are living with disabilities: "Overall, the proportion of students with disabilities in the virtual schools is around half of the national average, or 7.2% compared with 13.1%."
2. Academic performance in virtual schools is, apparently, abysmal. "In the 2010-2011 school year, there was a 28 percentage point difference between full-time virtual schools meeting AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress] and traditional brick-and-mortar district and charter schools that did: 23.6% compared with 52%, respectively." There are at least two caveats to be added here, however. First, AYP is a crude tool that only gives a rough overall snapshot of school academic performance. And secondly, it's not at all clear whether academic performance is lower in virtual schools due to selection bias--that is, students who are performing worse academically might be more likely to wind up in virtual schools, so the schools' performance will naturally be lower.
Although it's far too soon to pass judgement on virtual K-12 education as a whole, these facts ring alarm bells for me, and hopefully for you, too.