K-12 Online Learning: An Annual Review

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Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning: An Annual Review of Policy and Practice (2010) is the latest in a series of annual reports that began in 2004 that examine the status of K-12 online education across the country. The report provides an overview of the latest policies, practices, and trends affecting online learning programs across all 50 states.

Here are some highlights of the report:

While K-12 online learning continues to grow rapidly, the shape and pace of growth is uneven. Constrained education budgets, new policy developments, and changing technologies are accelerating growth in some areas while slowing growth in other segments, but the growth trend persists. As of late 2010, online learning opportunities are available to at least some students in 48 of the 50 states, plus Washington DC. No state, however, provides the full range of potential online learning opportunities—supplemental and full-time options for all students at all grade levels.

State virtual schools, or state-led online learning initiatives, now exist in 39 states. Their size varies greatly, from many schools with fewer than 2,500 course enrollments (one student taking one semester-long course) to the Florida Virtual School, with more than 220,000 course enrollments. Together, the state virtual schools had about 450,000 course enrollments in 2009-10. This was an increase of nearly 40% over the previous year. However, two state virtual schools—in North Carolina and Florida—alone account for 96% of the net growth, meaning that the total enrollment increases and decreases in other state virtual schools amount to only a 4% increase.

State virtual schools are in flux due to funding constraints and policy changes. In 2010, a multiyear trend has accelerated as it has become clear that the role of state virtual schools is changing amid expanding online learning opportunities with new providers, business models, and products emerging and evolving rapidly. In addition, there is significant turmoil in many of the states that had supported prominent state virtual schools. The key role of the state virtual schools has evolved from being primarily a provider of supplemental online courses, to also helping states and districts build online learning expertise, and providing thought leadership around online learning issues.

Full-time online schools that draw students from across multiple districts, and often an entire state, make up a second major sector of online learning. As of fall 2010, 27 states plus Washington DC have at least one full-time online school operating statewide. The number of states that have full-time online schools is growing, as is the number of these schools, and the number of students obtaining most or all of their education online. Keeping Pace estimates 200,000 students are attending full-time online schools. Although not equal across all states, in general the growth in full-time online schools across the country has been steadier than that experienced by state virtual schools.

Individual school districts operating online programs for their own students make up the fastest growing segment of K-12 online learning. Many districts are creating blended learning programs that combine online and face-to-face instruction. Because very few reporting requirements exist for single-district online programs, the number of students in these programs is unknown. Keeping Pace research, as well as other published reports, suggests that about 50% of all districts are operating or planning online and blended learning programs. District programs account for most of the difference between the online students identified in state virtual schools and full-time online schools, and the total of 1.5 million students taking one or more online courses estimated by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning.1


Ten notable developments in 2010

While new developments seem to be occurring nearly constantly in online learning, the key developments during 2010 include:

• New state virtual schools opened in Vermont and Montana, and Alaska began the process of opening a statewide online learning network.

• Michigan and Massachusetts both created their first full-time online schools, although with restrictions in each case. Michigan will start with limited enrollments in only two statewide schools. A state board of education ruling in Massachusetts requires online schools to enroll 25% of the students from within the district creating the school, but allowing for the possibility of a waiver to the 25% requirement. Online schools are also capped at 500 students.

• Many large school districts created or significantly expanded their online offerings. In fall 2010 New York City is piloting Advanced Placement,® credit recovery, and blended courses across the city, and Los Angeles opened its first full-time online school.

• Connecticut passed a law with two notable components. First, the law allows online teachers to be certified in any state, instead of requiring that teachers be certified in Connecticut. Second, the law requires districts with a dropout rate of 8% or higher to establish an online credit recovery program as of July 2010.

• State audits of online charter schools were released in Wisconsin and Idaho. The audits were more notable for what they did not say than for what they did say. In previous years, audits of online schools in Colorado, Kansas, and several other states found that state policies and the operating practices of some (not all) online schools called for improved oversight and quality assurance measures. The 2010 audits found far fewer major issues and mostly reported on the number of online students and schools, their growth rates, and similar data.

• Washington created a requirement that school boards have an online learning policy as part of a larger state certification process for multi-district online programs.

• Alabama passed a measure by which students can be granted credit based on mastery instead of seat time. While this is not a rule specific to online learning, it has significant implications for online and blended learning.

• In Idaho, Standards for Online Teachers were approved by the State Board of Education and adopted in 2010, establishing 10 core standards for online teacher competency.

• As of July 30, 2010, online teachers in Wisconsin must have completed 30 hours of professional development “designed to prepare a teacher for online teaching.” The Department of Public Instruction notes that the professional development should be based on the online teaching standards created by iNACOL.

• In August 2010, Chicago Public School officials announced a pilot program to add 90 minutes to the school day at 15 elementary schools using online courses that are not teacher-led. Despite the growth of online and blended learning, policy and access barriers still exist for many