Higher Ed Holdings' bringing together of these individuals and entities should really concern those who are invested in public education and access to quality teaching. Perhaps virtual learning is a solution for some (privileged) students, but when it comes to first-generation, minority students, depriving us from access to people will certainly impact both our educational experiences and the kind of social capital needed to attain advanced degrees.
-Patricia
Doug Lederman | Inside Higher Education
October 7, 2011
IRVINE, Tex. -- Taken at face value, the Future of State Universities conference that began here Thursday is like many other higher education meetings: "a bunch of important people listening to a bunch of somewhat more important people," as David Longanecker, president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education and a participant in many such events, said about this one.
Some cosmetic differences were evident. While many of the speakers were familiar faces from the circuit of "think-y" higher ed conferences -- including Arizona State University's Michael Crow (on his vision for a "new American university"), U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha J. Kanter, and the hot new face, Clayton Christensen, the innovation guru -- the profile of the presenters was quite a bit higher than usual. They included two former prime ministers (Britain's Tony Blair and Australia's John Howard), two former U.S. governors (Jeb Bush of Florida and Jim Hunt of North Carolina), Education Secretary Arne Duncan (via video), and Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy.
The setting was serene (a Four Seasons resort and spa), the 400 or so invited participants each got an iPad to use for the duration of the meeting (but not to keep), and the production values were slicker and snazzier than is typical for a higher ed conference.
Those surface factors (especially the big-name speakers) were a major draw for the presidents and provosts, public higher education leaders, and other curiosity seekers who received coveted invitations to attend the meeting -- but they weren't what really distinguished the Future of State Universities conference from others on the topic.
The big difference was the sponsor: not the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, or the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, groups that often hold such meetings, but Academic Partnerships, a for-profit company that works with public universities to build, market and support online academic programs.
Academic Partnerships (formerly known as Higher Ed Holdings) has helped some universities significantly expand their online footprints, but its approach has sometimes been controversial -- and, in a small number of cases, challenged and blocked. The company is owned by the entrepreneur Randy Best, who also operates for-profit colleges in the United States (master's degrees through American College of Education) and in seven Latin American countries (Whitney University System).
The meeting's underlying thesis -- that as state funds erode, public colleges and universities must use technology to create more innovative and sustainable business models -- is oft stated, and many leaders of public higher education embrace it. But delivered by a messenger like Academic Partnerships, given its clear interest in promoting such a trend, the theme of the meeting produced skepticism on the part of many attendees -- although most said they came in with eyes open.
"A lot of us did" come to the meeting suspicious about the motivations of the sponsors, said Muriel Howard, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, who said she debated whether to come. She chose to, she said, because of the importance of the topic and the fact that public college leaders (to judge by, among other things, the views they expressed in Inside Higher Ed's survey of college presidents last spring) seem to be recognizing the need to make better use of technology to deliver instruction.
'We Want Public Universities to Thrive'
In an interview, Best said that his company's goal for the meeting -- in consultation with Hunt and Bush -- was to "expose our public sector friends ... to the extraordinarily exciting thing that happens to be going on while we're all here": the transformation that technology is bringing about in society, and how it can help public colleges and universities continue to thrive in an environment in which states are gutting funding and families are getting fed up with ever-rising tuition prices. For-profit colleges have been the primary beneficiaries of the shift to online learning, Best said, and public universities should not cede that terrain.
He described the shift to more technology-driven instruction and online learning by public colleges as "inevitable," said he hoped the meeting (and others like it) would contribute to an environment that drives the shift "more rapidly than if we had not done this." By sponsoring the conference, he acknowledged, Academic Partnerships "wants to be identified with what is going to happen anyway."
"Just about every meeting has sponsors, and to put up money, sponsors have to have some reason to do it," he said. "We want public universities to thrive. If they win, we have to win, because we are tethered to them."
In the weeks leading up to the meeting, Academic Partnerships was fairly transparent about its role in underwriting it; its logo appeared on all communications promoting it, although Hunt and Bush were front and center as the "hosts." But the transparency did not apply universally. In a news release Wednesday promoting Kanter's appearance at the conference, the U.S. Education Department described Hunt and Bush as hosting the event, but failed to mention Academic Partnerships.
And nowhere before or during the event was it acknowledged that Hunt is on the board of Academic Partnerships or that Bush -- whom Best describes as a "close friend" -- is on the advisory board of Whitney University System.
Quite a few attendees said they hadn't been fully aware of the company's role and potential self-interest in the meeting, but most conceded that they had been drawn by the speakers and hadn't paid much attention to the small print.
How much the Academic Partnerships connection concerned them varied. "This is an important conversation, and it's unfortunate that it's tainted by the implication that it's being done for commercial purposes," said a senior administrator at one major public research university, who asked not to be identified. "Any time a commercial organization underwrites an event, you have to have that skepticism."
Other participants said they had such skepticism about just about every meeting, since those put on by associations and other noncommercial groups have financial sponsors that the organizers want to please. For those people, the event would rise or fall based on its content -- and on that score, the reviews were generally positive.
Academic Partnerships promised attendees a non-solicitation policy at the conference, and the company was largely invisible at the meeting, apart from a few thank-yous from speakers.
Speakers like Crow and Kanter gave talks that were similar to those they have given in other settings, and their messages -- while generally supporting the theme that major change is necessary in higher education -- were not always consistent with the idea that online education is the answer (though Arizona State, where Crow is president, is an Academic Partnerships client). Kanter, for instance, promoted the open educational resources movement that is her personal mission, and that trend could, if taken to its logical extension, by making classroom materials free, obviate the need for providers like Academic Partnerships.
So, too, would Khan Academy, which was described and displayed (to a rapt audience) by its founder Khan. He said the Google- and Microsoft-backed network of freely available video and other lessons for self-paced learning would eventually move toward a model where it would offer credentials of some kind.
Other presentations, like Michael Wesch's entertaining talk (including his eye-opening videos) about how today's students learn, drove home the idea that classroom instruction should take far better advantage of technology, but the Kansas State University anthropologist had little to say about online education itself.
Promotion From the Podium
Pro-distance education messages, however, were plentiful -- and some subtler than others. (Besides Hunt and Bush, several other speakers had ties to Academic Partnerships or Best, including Richard Ferguson, an Academic Partnerships vice president and former president of ACT, and Walter Bumphus of the American Association of Community Colleges, who worked for Voyager Learning Systems, which Best sold in 2005.)
While Tony Blair's most notable higher education accomplishment while prime minister was pushing to democratize access to higher education for Britons, his speech focused on how the country increased its recruitment of international students and the need for more technological innovation in instruction. "There is going to be no alternative but to try to reshape education, with distance learning being a major component," he said. (Blair and Australia's John Howard, who speaks today, have no ties to Academic Partnerships but were paid honorariums through the Washington Speakers Bureau, Best said.)
Bush and Hunt, in their duties as moderators, spoke frequently about the need for "new and sustainable models, with new revenue models, new delivery systems," as Bush put it.
And Hunt said that for public universities to "take the next big steps" in increasing access for their states' citizens, "when the money's not available," leaders will have to "realize that getting online education is much more affordable" and that "students like to get [their education] online." Some in the audience clearly bristled at statements like that, which they said struck them as oversimplifications if not outright misstatements.
Amid the voices promoting online learning as a potential savior for public higher education, there were none from faculty critics of distance learning or, perhaps not surprisingly, the larger number who question whether arrangements with private entities like Academic Partnerships are the right way for public institutions to go.
At the end of the first day, several attendees said that they had been generally impressed by the quality of the discussion, and that that overshadowed any qualms they might have had about the independence of the sponsors (especially given the lack of a "hard sell" that some feared -- at least on the first day). "I heard some really interesting and useful things today," said Longanecker of WICHE, "and that's certainly not true of every meeting."
Showing posts with label virtual schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label virtual schools. Show all posts
Sunday, October 09, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Pearson Acquires Connections Education: Gains leading position in fast-growing market for virtual schools
Blurb from Inside Higher Education:
-Patricia
PRESS RELEASE
Sept. 15, 2011, 9:43 a.m. EDT
NEW YORK, Sep 15, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Pearson, the world's leading learning company, is announcing today the acquisition of Connections Education from an investor group led by Apollo Management, L.P.
Through its Connections Academy business, the company operates online or 'virtual' public schools in 21 states in the US--serving more than 40,000 students in the current school year. These virtual charter schools are accredited and funded by the relevant state and are free to parents and students who choose a virtual school in place of a traditional public institution or other schooling options.
Virtual schools serve a diverse population of students including those who may be gifted, struggling, pursuing careers in sports or the arts, in need of scheduling flexibility, or who have chosen home schooling. It is a large and rapidly-growing segment in US K-12 education: in 2010, 48 states and Washington, D.C. had virtual school programs and 27 states allowed virtual charter schools. Approximately 200,000 students attended full-time online courses and an estimated 1.5 million students took one or more courses online. (source:Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning)(source:2010)(source:Evergreen Education Group).
Connections Education has produced revenue growth of more than 30% in each of the past three years. The transaction is subject to a Hart-Scott-Rodino review.
Since its founding in 2001, Connections Academy has built a complete virtual school system to support personalized learning for each student. This includes high-quality teachers, training for learning coaches (who are often parents), digital and print curriculum materials (already often from Pearson), provision of computers, assessment and reporting tools, social events and learning technologies. Connections Academy has developed proprietary technologies including education management system Connexus which provides on-demand access to schedules, lessons, gradebooks, resources and teachers; teaching tool LiveLesson which allows teachers to lead real-time interactive and adaptive classes over the internet; and a wide range of multimedia curriculum tools and games.
Connections Academy Schools perform favorably compared with other full-time online programs and have consistently received high performance ratings, particularly in states focused on measuring growth in student learning. Parents of students enrolled in Connections Academy schools give consistently high satisfaction ratings: in the 2010-11 school year, more than 92% of parents gave their Connections Academy school a grade of 'A' or 'B'.
Connections Education has recently launched a new division, Connections Learning, which makes its courses and technologies available to educational institutions and other organizations in the US and globally. It supports the development of blended learning environments which combine classroom and online instruction and will further broaden Pearson's range of school services across curriculum materials, assessment and learning technologies. Connections Learning also operates the National Connections Academy private online school that serves students throughout the US and internationally.
For Pearson, the acquisition provides a leading position in the fast-growing virtual school segment and the opportunity to apply Connections Education's skills and technologies in new segments and geographic markets. It extends Pearson's investment in education services and technologies that have both a direct connection with the learner and a strong record of enhancing student achievement.
Marjorie Scardino, Pearson's chief executive, said: "For a decade or more, we've invested in education technologies that have the potential to make learning more effective for each child. Connections Education does that. Virtual schooling is an attractive choice for a growing group of American parents and in the next decade it will take off in other countries. Beyond that, Connections Education has developed a broad array of highly effective learning tools that we intend to make available to all kinds of schools and all kinds of students."
Based in Baltimore, Maryland, Connections Education is headed by co-founder Barbara Dreyer. She will stay on as CEO of Connections Education and as a senior executive at Pearson.
Dreyer said, "Joining forces with Pearson gives Connections Education the opportunity to share our proven virtual education solutions with a much wider global audience, and collaborate with the developers at Pearson in creating an even more robust set of online and blended offerings for students of all ages. We look forward to growing this business and making high-quality digital learning available to anyone, anywhere."
Will Ethridge, CEO of Pearson North America, said, "We see Connections Education as highly complementary to our own business, and it provides an opportunity for developing new models of instruction and increasing the effectiveness of Pearson's global educational programs. Our joint goal is to ensure that every student is college and career-ready when they graduate."
About Pearson
Pearson is the world's leading learning company. Its major businesses are: Pearson, the global leader in education, providing print and digital learning materials and services used by millions of students of all ages every year; The Financial Times Group, which has an international network of business and financial newspapers and online services that are read by millions of business executives and investors every day; and Penguin Group, which is one of the pre-eminent names in consumer publishing, with an unrivalled range of fiction and non-fiction, bestsellers, and classic titles. Through its books, newspapers and online products and services, Pearson helps people of all ages to live and learn. See www.pearson.com .
About Connections Education
Connections Education is an accredited provider of high-quality, highly accountable virtual education for students in grades K-12, and online learning solutions to educational institutions globally. Through tuition-free public schools, full-time and part-time private school programs, and turnkey online courses for bricks and mortar schools, Connections Academy delivers superior, personalized education for students, accessible anywhere. The combination of certified teachers, a proven curriculum, technology tools, and community experiences creates a supportive and successful online learning opportunity for families and children who want an individualized approach to education. See www.connectionseducation.com
SOURCE: Pearson
Pearson continued adding to its education empire, buying the online charter school operator Connections Education, the company announced Thursday. Connections Education, which runs online K-12 schools in 21 states, represents a new sort of business for Pearson, which currently offers a variety of online education products but does not operate any American educational institutions on its own. Pearson bought the company from Apollo Management, a private equity firm that is unrelated to the Apollo Group, owner of the University of Phoenix.
-Patricia
PRESS RELEASE
Sept. 15, 2011, 9:43 a.m. EDT
NEW YORK, Sep 15, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Pearson, the world's leading learning company, is announcing today the acquisition of Connections Education from an investor group led by Apollo Management, L.P.
Through its Connections Academy business, the company operates online or 'virtual' public schools in 21 states in the US--serving more than 40,000 students in the current school year. These virtual charter schools are accredited and funded by the relevant state and are free to parents and students who choose a virtual school in place of a traditional public institution or other schooling options.
Virtual schools serve a diverse population of students including those who may be gifted, struggling, pursuing careers in sports or the arts, in need of scheduling flexibility, or who have chosen home schooling. It is a large and rapidly-growing segment in US K-12 education: in 2010, 48 states and Washington, D.C. had virtual school programs and 27 states allowed virtual charter schools. Approximately 200,000 students attended full-time online courses and an estimated 1.5 million students took one or more courses online. (source:Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning)(source:2010)(source:Evergreen Education Group).
Connections Education has produced revenue growth of more than 30% in each of the past three years. The transaction is subject to a Hart-Scott-Rodino review.
Since its founding in 2001, Connections Academy has built a complete virtual school system to support personalized learning for each student. This includes high-quality teachers, training for learning coaches (who are often parents), digital and print curriculum materials (already often from Pearson), provision of computers, assessment and reporting tools, social events and learning technologies. Connections Academy has developed proprietary technologies including education management system Connexus which provides on-demand access to schedules, lessons, gradebooks, resources and teachers; teaching tool LiveLesson which allows teachers to lead real-time interactive and adaptive classes over the internet; and a wide range of multimedia curriculum tools and games.
Connections Academy Schools perform favorably compared with other full-time online programs and have consistently received high performance ratings, particularly in states focused on measuring growth in student learning. Parents of students enrolled in Connections Academy schools give consistently high satisfaction ratings: in the 2010-11 school year, more than 92% of parents gave their Connections Academy school a grade of 'A' or 'B'.
Connections Education has recently launched a new division, Connections Learning, which makes its courses and technologies available to educational institutions and other organizations in the US and globally. It supports the development of blended learning environments which combine classroom and online instruction and will further broaden Pearson's range of school services across curriculum materials, assessment and learning technologies. Connections Learning also operates the National Connections Academy private online school that serves students throughout the US and internationally.
For Pearson, the acquisition provides a leading position in the fast-growing virtual school segment and the opportunity to apply Connections Education's skills and technologies in new segments and geographic markets. It extends Pearson's investment in education services and technologies that have both a direct connection with the learner and a strong record of enhancing student achievement.
Marjorie Scardino, Pearson's chief executive, said: "For a decade or more, we've invested in education technologies that have the potential to make learning more effective for each child. Connections Education does that. Virtual schooling is an attractive choice for a growing group of American parents and in the next decade it will take off in other countries. Beyond that, Connections Education has developed a broad array of highly effective learning tools that we intend to make available to all kinds of schools and all kinds of students."
Based in Baltimore, Maryland, Connections Education is headed by co-founder Barbara Dreyer. She will stay on as CEO of Connections Education and as a senior executive at Pearson.
Dreyer said, "Joining forces with Pearson gives Connections Education the opportunity to share our proven virtual education solutions with a much wider global audience, and collaborate with the developers at Pearson in creating an even more robust set of online and blended offerings for students of all ages. We look forward to growing this business and making high-quality digital learning available to anyone, anywhere."
Will Ethridge, CEO of Pearson North America, said, "We see Connections Education as highly complementary to our own business, and it provides an opportunity for developing new models of instruction and increasing the effectiveness of Pearson's global educational programs. Our joint goal is to ensure that every student is college and career-ready when they graduate."
About Pearson
Pearson is the world's leading learning company. Its major businesses are: Pearson, the global leader in education, providing print and digital learning materials and services used by millions of students of all ages every year; The Financial Times Group, which has an international network of business and financial newspapers and online services that are read by millions of business executives and investors every day; and Penguin Group, which is one of the pre-eminent names in consumer publishing, with an unrivalled range of fiction and non-fiction, bestsellers, and classic titles. Through its books, newspapers and online products and services, Pearson helps people of all ages to live and learn. See www.pearson.com .
About Connections Education
Connections Education is an accredited provider of high-quality, highly accountable virtual education for students in grades K-12, and online learning solutions to educational institutions globally. Through tuition-free public schools, full-time and part-time private school programs, and turnkey online courses for bricks and mortar schools, Connections Academy delivers superior, personalized education for students, accessible anywhere. The combination of certified teachers, a proven curriculum, technology tools, and community experiences creates a supportive and successful online learning opportunity for families and children who want an individualized approach to education. See www.connectionseducation.com
SOURCE: Pearson
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Perry Announces Creation of Online Texas University
by Reeve Hamilton | Texas Tribune
August 3, 2011
Higher education leaders in Texas have been pushing for more pathways to college degees for Texas. Today, Gov. Rick Perry, along with higher education committee chairs Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, and Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, announced a new one: Western Governors University Texas.
"Earning a college degree is one of the most effective ways for individuals to improve the quality of life for themselves and their families," Perry said in a statement.
Western Governors University is an online university that was created by governors of 19 states, including Texas, in 1997, and has grown steadily over time. Currently, roughly 1,600 Texans — out of about 25,000 students nationally — are enrolled in the university. For some perspective, that's slightly less than the total enrollment at Texas A&M University at Galveston, one of the state's smallest public four-year universities.
As noted in the press release announcing the initiative, WGU primarily serves working adults whose work schedules demand flexibility. By taking courses at their own pace and advancing based on proven competency — as opposed to logging a requisite number of hours — WGU lets them earn bachelor's and master's degrees in areas such as business, information technology, education and health professions. Tuition is about $5,780 per year.
WGU Texas, which does not receive state funding, is being created by an executive order that calls on state agencies such as the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Texas Education Agency and Texas Workforce Commission to step up their coordination, data sharing and involvement in WGU. It also establishes an advisory board that will be appointed by the governor.
Robert Mendenhall, the president of WGU, said, "We look forward to this partnership with the state, which will help thousands of Texans earn the college degrees they want and need, on a schedule they can manage, at a cost they can afford."
Higher education costs have been a repeated theme of Perry's in recent months. Earlier this year, he famously called for the creation of a $10,000 bachelor's degree (books included) in his State of the State address — a level of affordability this new option might not quite reach at WGU's current costs.
Texas is also currently lagging in higher education goals for certifying teachers and graduating minority students, which make up a large chunk of WGU's population. Branch and others hope this new option will help boost the state's workforce. "Texas needs legions of new, sharp, credentialed minds to succeed in a knowledge-based economy," he said.
August 3, 2011
Higher education leaders in Texas have been pushing for more pathways to college degees for Texas. Today, Gov. Rick Perry, along with higher education committee chairs Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, and Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, announced a new one: Western Governors University Texas.
"Earning a college degree is one of the most effective ways for individuals to improve the quality of life for themselves and their families," Perry said in a statement.
Western Governors University is an online university that was created by governors of 19 states, including Texas, in 1997, and has grown steadily over time. Currently, roughly 1,600 Texans — out of about 25,000 students nationally — are enrolled in the university. For some perspective, that's slightly less than the total enrollment at Texas A&M University at Galveston, one of the state's smallest public four-year universities.
As noted in the press release announcing the initiative, WGU primarily serves working adults whose work schedules demand flexibility. By taking courses at their own pace and advancing based on proven competency — as opposed to logging a requisite number of hours — WGU lets them earn bachelor's and master's degrees in areas such as business, information technology, education and health professions. Tuition is about $5,780 per year.
WGU Texas, which does not receive state funding, is being created by an executive order that calls on state agencies such as the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Texas Education Agency and Texas Workforce Commission to step up their coordination, data sharing and involvement in WGU. It also establishes an advisory board that will be appointed by the governor.
Robert Mendenhall, the president of WGU, said, "We look forward to this partnership with the state, which will help thousands of Texans earn the college degrees they want and need, on a schedule they can manage, at a cost they can afford."
Higher education costs have been a repeated theme of Perry's in recent months. Earlier this year, he famously called for the creation of a $10,000 bachelor's degree (books included) in his State of the State address — a level of affordability this new option might not quite reach at WGU's current costs.
Texas is also currently lagging in higher education goals for certifying teachers and graduating minority students, which make up a large chunk of WGU's population. Branch and others hope this new option will help boost the state's workforce. "Texas needs legions of new, sharp, credentialed minds to succeed in a knowledge-based economy," he said.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
The Evidence on Online Education
Inside Higher Ed
June 29, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Online learning has definite advantages over face-to-face instruction when it comes to teaching and learning, according to a new meta-analysis released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education.
The study found that students who took all or part of their instruction online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through face-to-face instruction. Further, those who took "blended" courses -- those that combine elements of online learning and face-to-face instruction -- appeared to do best of all. That finding could be significant as many colleges report that blended instruction is among the fastest-growing types of enrollment.
The Education Department examined all kinds of instruction, and found that the number of valid analyses of elementary and secondary education was too small to have much confidence in the results. But the positive results appeared consistent (and statistically significant) for all types of higher education, undergraduate and graduate, across a range of disciplines, the study said.
A meta-analysis is one that takes all of the existing studies and looks at them for patterns and conclusions that can be drawn from the accumulation of evidence.
On the topic of online learning, there is a steady stream of studies, but many of them focus on limited issues or lack control groups. The Education Department report said that it had identified more than 1,000 empirical studies of online learning that were published from 1996 through July 2008. For its conclusions, however, the Education Department considered only a small number (51) of independent studies that met strict criteria. They had to contrast an online teaching experience to a face-to-face situation, measure student learning outcomes, use a "rigorous research design," and provide adequate information to calculate the differences.
The department noted that this new meta-analysis differs from previous such studies, which generally found that online education and face-to-face instruction were similarly effective on issues of learning, but didn't give an edge to online learning that may now exist.
While the new study provides a strong endorsement of online learning, it also notes findings about the relative success (or lack thereof) of various teaching techniques used in online courses. The use of video or online quizzes -- frequently encouraged for online education -- "does not appear to enhance learning," the report says.
Using technology to give students "control of their interactions" has a positive effect on student learning, however. "Studies indicate that manipulations that trigger learner activity or learner reflection and self-monitoring of understanding are effective when students pursue online learning as individuals," the report says.
Notably, the report attributes much of the success in learning online (blended or entirely) not to technology but to time. "Studies in which learners in the online condition spent more time on task than students in the face-to-face condition found a greater benefit for online learning," the report says.
In noting caveats about the findings, the study returns to the issue of time.
"Despite what appears to be strong support for online learning applications, the studies in this meta-analysis do not demonstrate that online learning is superior as a medium," the report says. "In many of the studies showing an advantage for online learning, the online and classroom conditions differed in terms of time spent, curriculum and pedagogy. It was the combination of elements in the treatment conditions (which was likely to have included additional learning time and materials as well as additional opportunities for collaboration) that produced the observed learning advantages. At the same time, one should note that online learning is much more conducive to the expansion of learning time than is face-to-face instruction."
In a statement, Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged educators to consider the report's findings. “This new report reinforces that effective teachers need to incorporate digital content into everyday classes and consider open-source learning management systems, which have proven cost effective in school districts and colleges nationwide,” he said.
John R. Bourne, executive director of the Sloan Consortium, a group of colleges and other organizations that work on online education issues, said he was not surprised by the findings, but thought it was quite important that the Education Department was the source. "I think this is incredibly significant," he said. "Those of us in the business have thought these things for some time, but we have had enormous trouble convincing some folks" about the quality of online education. "I think this will give more credibility to the things that have been said."
Diana G. Oblinger, president of Educause, also was pleased with the findings. "Online education provides additional opportunities," she said. "It gives people greater opportunity for flexibility, for experiential learning, for illustrating things in multiple ways such as visualization." What the study demonstrates, she said, is that colleges need to think broadly about using online education, and not be "artificially limited" to face-to-face instruction.
Lawrence N. Gold, director of higher education at the American Federation of Teachers, said via e-mail that it was important to pay attention to the report's caveats and not view it as evidence for shifting everything possible online.
"This report correctly recognizes that online learning and blended learning are growing components of higher education and, employed properly, can play a significant role in promoting student learning. Further public investment in experimentation and technology is certainly warranted," he said.
But noting the caveats in the report about factors other than medium of instruction, he said that "we should not take the report as saying it is simply better to move to online learning. These results demonstrate why more research is needed -- broadly based research that moves well beyond case studies conducted by distance education practitioners, research focused on student retention in online environments and especially research that looks behind the instructional medium to isolate the characteristics of instruction that produce positive results. Successful education has always been about engaging students whether it is in an online environment, face to face or in a blended setting. And fundamental to that is having faculty who are fully supported and engaged in that process as well."
June 29, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Online learning has definite advantages over face-to-face instruction when it comes to teaching and learning, according to a new meta-analysis released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education.
The study found that students who took all or part of their instruction online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through face-to-face instruction. Further, those who took "blended" courses -- those that combine elements of online learning and face-to-face instruction -- appeared to do best of all. That finding could be significant as many colleges report that blended instruction is among the fastest-growing types of enrollment.
The Education Department examined all kinds of instruction, and found that the number of valid analyses of elementary and secondary education was too small to have much confidence in the results. But the positive results appeared consistent (and statistically significant) for all types of higher education, undergraduate and graduate, across a range of disciplines, the study said.
A meta-analysis is one that takes all of the existing studies and looks at them for patterns and conclusions that can be drawn from the accumulation of evidence.
On the topic of online learning, there is a steady stream of studies, but many of them focus on limited issues or lack control groups. The Education Department report said that it had identified more than 1,000 empirical studies of online learning that were published from 1996 through July 2008. For its conclusions, however, the Education Department considered only a small number (51) of independent studies that met strict criteria. They had to contrast an online teaching experience to a face-to-face situation, measure student learning outcomes, use a "rigorous research design," and provide adequate information to calculate the differences.
The department noted that this new meta-analysis differs from previous such studies, which generally found that online education and face-to-face instruction were similarly effective on issues of learning, but didn't give an edge to online learning that may now exist.
While the new study provides a strong endorsement of online learning, it also notes findings about the relative success (or lack thereof) of various teaching techniques used in online courses. The use of video or online quizzes -- frequently encouraged for online education -- "does not appear to enhance learning," the report says.
Using technology to give students "control of their interactions" has a positive effect on student learning, however. "Studies indicate that manipulations that trigger learner activity or learner reflection and self-monitoring of understanding are effective when students pursue online learning as individuals," the report says.
Notably, the report attributes much of the success in learning online (blended or entirely) not to technology but to time. "Studies in which learners in the online condition spent more time on task than students in the face-to-face condition found a greater benefit for online learning," the report says.
In noting caveats about the findings, the study returns to the issue of time.
"Despite what appears to be strong support for online learning applications, the studies in this meta-analysis do not demonstrate that online learning is superior as a medium," the report says. "In many of the studies showing an advantage for online learning, the online and classroom conditions differed in terms of time spent, curriculum and pedagogy. It was the combination of elements in the treatment conditions (which was likely to have included additional learning time and materials as well as additional opportunities for collaboration) that produced the observed learning advantages. At the same time, one should note that online learning is much more conducive to the expansion of learning time than is face-to-face instruction."
In a statement, Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged educators to consider the report's findings. “This new report reinforces that effective teachers need to incorporate digital content into everyday classes and consider open-source learning management systems, which have proven cost effective in school districts and colleges nationwide,” he said.
John R. Bourne, executive director of the Sloan Consortium, a group of colleges and other organizations that work on online education issues, said he was not surprised by the findings, but thought it was quite important that the Education Department was the source. "I think this is incredibly significant," he said. "Those of us in the business have thought these things for some time, but we have had enormous trouble convincing some folks" about the quality of online education. "I think this will give more credibility to the things that have been said."
Diana G. Oblinger, president of Educause, also was pleased with the findings. "Online education provides additional opportunities," she said. "It gives people greater opportunity for flexibility, for experiential learning, for illustrating things in multiple ways such as visualization." What the study demonstrates, she said, is that colleges need to think broadly about using online education, and not be "artificially limited" to face-to-face instruction.
Lawrence N. Gold, director of higher education at the American Federation of Teachers, said via e-mail that it was important to pay attention to the report's caveats and not view it as evidence for shifting everything possible online.
"This report correctly recognizes that online learning and blended learning are growing components of higher education and, employed properly, can play a significant role in promoting student learning. Further public investment in experimentation and technology is certainly warranted," he said.
But noting the caveats in the report about factors other than medium of instruction, he said that "we should not take the report as saying it is simply better to move to online learning. These results demonstrate why more research is needed -- broadly based research that moves well beyond case studies conducted by distance education practitioners, research focused on student retention in online environments and especially research that looks behind the instructional medium to isolate the characteristics of instruction that produce positive results. Successful education has always been about engaging students whether it is in an online environment, face to face or in a blended setting. And fundamental to that is having faculty who are fully supported and engaged in that process as well."
Friday, April 03, 2009
Virtual schools, real questions
This is an interesting article and actually has relevance to current Texas policy trying to promote virtual learning. Another concern is that this kind of instruction "virtually" eliminates the need for teachers. A sneaky approach if you're trying to avoid teacher shortage problems. Education without teachers - something to think about.
Patricia
by The Editorial Board
Thursday April 02, 2009, 4:04 PM
Lawmakers should support existing online charter schools while adopting a moratorium to resolve the policy issues they raise
Oregon legislators clearly don't know what to make of virtual education, the online charter schools that serve 4,000 kids in this state, and, by most accounts, serve them well.
The Oregon Education Association, the state teachers union, is pushing a bill in Salem that would cripple online charter schools. Meanwhile, K12 Inc., the private vendor that operates the largest of Oregon's virtual schools, is lobbying for a competing bill that would encourage more online charter schools in the state.
Neither approach, in our view, makes sense for Oregon right now. Lawmakers and state education officials simply are not prepared to resolve the issues raised by online charter schools. Instead, lawmakers ought to pass a bill that places a one- or two-year moratorium on new or expanded virtual schools while ensuring that the existing schools can continue to operate.
As it stands, Oregon has no well-informed policy on virtual schools. The state's largest online school, the Oregon Connections Academy, is run out of one of Oregon's smallest school districts, the Scio School District. ORCA, as the online school is known, has more than 2,500 students. Scio itself had 676 students at the state's last count. One of the questions a work group must answer is whether it is appropriate for small districts to operate large, statewide schools.
There are many other significant issues. Some are financial: Should full state per-pupil funding follow students of virtual schools if there are no associated costs for heat, busing, building maintenance or capital improvements? Are virtual schools a way for home-schoolers to obtain a private education at public expense?
Other questions are about accountability: What kind of financial and academic transparency should Oregon demand of private vendors and other entities operating online charter schools? How can the state fully assess the rigor and quality of online schools?
Oregon isn't prepared to answer all those questions right now. What lawmakers can clearly see, though, is that many families are prepared to strongly defend existing online schools. One state survey of parents of online charter schools found that 96 percent gave their schools an "A" or "B" grade. The public school system would certainly love those kinds of grades.
The bill pushed by the Oregon Education Association would require that 50 percent of the students of any online charter school live within the boundaries of the sponsoring school district. That would kill the ORCA school -- only a small percentage of its students live in the tiny Scio district -- and crimp the entire online school movement in this state.
Oregon shouldn't do that. Virtual schools hold tremendous promise, and those who are pioneering online learning in this state should be encouraged, not driven away. It's clear that self-paced learning can effectively meet the needs of both gifted students and students who need more time. To put it bluntly, a state that sees a quarter or so of its students drop out from regular public schools shouldn't be blithely eliminating alternatives.
Yet if the Oregon Education Association is wrong to try to shut down existing virtual schools, it is not wrong to point out that this state has not answered hard questions about money, equity and accountability raised by the growth of online charter schools.
Lawmakers should keep the existing schools open and establish a work group to draft a well-reasoned policy on online education. The times and the technology keep moving forward. Oregon education policy needs to run and catch up.
Patricia
by The Editorial Board
Thursday April 02, 2009, 4:04 PM
Lawmakers should support existing online charter schools while adopting a moratorium to resolve the policy issues they raise
Oregon legislators clearly don't know what to make of virtual education, the online charter schools that serve 4,000 kids in this state, and, by most accounts, serve them well.
The Oregon Education Association, the state teachers union, is pushing a bill in Salem that would cripple online charter schools. Meanwhile, K12 Inc., the private vendor that operates the largest of Oregon's virtual schools, is lobbying for a competing bill that would encourage more online charter schools in the state.
Neither approach, in our view, makes sense for Oregon right now. Lawmakers and state education officials simply are not prepared to resolve the issues raised by online charter schools. Instead, lawmakers ought to pass a bill that places a one- or two-year moratorium on new or expanded virtual schools while ensuring that the existing schools can continue to operate.
As it stands, Oregon has no well-informed policy on virtual schools. The state's largest online school, the Oregon Connections Academy, is run out of one of Oregon's smallest school districts, the Scio School District. ORCA, as the online school is known, has more than 2,500 students. Scio itself had 676 students at the state's last count. One of the questions a work group must answer is whether it is appropriate for small districts to operate large, statewide schools.
There are many other significant issues. Some are financial: Should full state per-pupil funding follow students of virtual schools if there are no associated costs for heat, busing, building maintenance or capital improvements? Are virtual schools a way for home-schoolers to obtain a private education at public expense?
Other questions are about accountability: What kind of financial and academic transparency should Oregon demand of private vendors and other entities operating online charter schools? How can the state fully assess the rigor and quality of online schools?
Oregon isn't prepared to answer all those questions right now. What lawmakers can clearly see, though, is that many families are prepared to strongly defend existing online schools. One state survey of parents of online charter schools found that 96 percent gave their schools an "A" or "B" grade. The public school system would certainly love those kinds of grades.
The bill pushed by the Oregon Education Association would require that 50 percent of the students of any online charter school live within the boundaries of the sponsoring school district. That would kill the ORCA school -- only a small percentage of its students live in the tiny Scio district -- and crimp the entire online school movement in this state.
Oregon shouldn't do that. Virtual schools hold tremendous promise, and those who are pioneering online learning in this state should be encouraged, not driven away. It's clear that self-paced learning can effectively meet the needs of both gifted students and students who need more time. To put it bluntly, a state that sees a quarter or so of its students drop out from regular public schools shouldn't be blithely eliminating alternatives.
Yet if the Oregon Education Association is wrong to try to shut down existing virtual schools, it is not wrong to point out that this state has not answered hard questions about money, equity and accountability raised by the growth of online charter schools.
Lawmakers should keep the existing schools open and establish a work group to draft a well-reasoned policy on online education. The times and the technology keep moving forward. Oregon education policy needs to run and catch up.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Technology Reshapes America's Classrooms
By REUTERS
Published: July 7, 2008
By Jason Szep
BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) - From online courses to kid-friendly laptops and virtual teachers, technology is spreading in America's classrooms, reducing the need for textbooks, notepads, paper and in some cases even the schools themselves.
Just ask 11-year-old Jemella Chambers.
She is one of 650 students who receive an Apple Inc laptop each day at a state-funded school in Boston. From the second row of her classroom, she taps out math assignments on animated education software that she likens to a video game.
"It's comfortable," she said of Scholastic Corp's FASTT Math software in which she and other students compete for high scores by completing mathematical equations. "This makes me learn better. It's like playing a game," she said.
Education experts say her school, the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School in Boston, offers a glimpse into the future.
It has no textbooks. Students receive laptops at the start of each day, returning them at the end. Teachers and students maintain blogs. Staff and parents chat on instant messaging software. Assignments are submitted through electronic "drop boxes" on the school's Web site.
"The dog ate my homework" is no excuse here.
The experiment at Frederick began two years ago at cost of about $2 million, but last year was the first in which all 7th and 8th grade students received laptops. Classwork is done in Google Inc's free applications like Google Docs, or Apple's iMovie and specialized educational software like FASTT Math.
"Why would we ever buy a book when we can buy a computer? Textbooks are often obsolete before they are even printed," said Debra Socia, principal of the school in Dorchester, a tough Boston district prone to crime and poor schools.
There is, however, one concession to the past: a library stocked with novels.
"It's a powerful, powerful experience," added Socia. Average attendance climbed to 94 percent from 92 percent; discipline referrals fell 30 percent. And parents are more engaged, she said. "Any family can chat online with teacher and say 'hey, we're having this problem'."
Unlike traditional schools, Frederick's students work at vastly different levels in the same classroom. Children with special needs rub shoulders with high performers. Computers track a range of aptitude levels, allowing teachers to tailor their teaching to their students' weakest areas, Socia said.
SURGE IN ONLINE COURSES
The Internet is also a catalyst for change. U.S. enrollment in online virtual classes reached the 1 million mark last year, 22 times the level seen in 2000, according to the North American Council for Online Learning, an industry body.
That's only the beginning, said Michael Horn, co-author of "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns."
"Our projections show that 50 percent of high school courses will be taught online by 2019. It's about one percent right now," said Horn, executive director of education at Innosight Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Massachusetts.
K12 Inc, which provides online curriculum and educational services in 17 U.S. states, has seen student enrollment rise 57 percent from last year to 41,000 full-time students, said its chief executive, Ron Packard.
Much of the growth is in publicly funded virtual charter schools.
"Because it is a public school, the state funds the education similar to what they would in a brick and mortar school, but we get on average about 70 percent of the dollars," Packard told Reuters.
"We don't usually get capital dollars, or bond issue dollars. Sometimes we don't get local dollars. So on average it works out 70 percent of the per pupil spending that an average school in the state would receive," he said.
"We're getting the kids who the local school is not working for. And the spectrum goes from extreme special education to extremely gifted kids," he said.
U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley says K12 and similar companies look set to capture an increasing share of the $550 billion publicly funded U.S. education market for children aged from about 5 to 18 as more U.S. states adopt virtual schools.
Virginia-based K12 recently opened an office in Dubai to expand overseas. Packard says he expects strong offshore demand for American primary and secondary education tailored for foreign nationals who want to enter U.S. universities.
Apex Learning Inc, based in Bellevue, Washington, is seeing a similar surge in demand. It started in 1997 by offering online advanced-placement courses to parents and individual schools but now sells an array of online classes for entire school districts and state departments of education.
"Over the last two years in particular we have seen very, very significant growth in the interest and demand for our type of digital curriculum," Apex chief executive Cheryl Vedoe said in a telephone interview.
Apex enrollments rose 50 percent to 300,000 in 2006-2007, and likely grew at the same pace last year, she said.
"Where we see the greatest growth today is actually in brick and mortar high schools for programs for students who are not succeeding in the existing programs," she added.
Online tutoring is also expanding rapidly. Bangalore-based TutorVista, which launched online U.S. services in 2005, estimates its average global growth in active students at 22 percent a month -- all taught by "e-tutors" mostly in India.
Horn expects demand for teachers to fall and virtual schools to boost achievement in a U.S. education system where only two-thirds of teenagers graduate from high school -- a proportion that slides to 50 percent for black Americans and Hispanics, according to government statistics.
"You deliver education at lower cost, but you will actually improve the amount of time that a teacher can spend with each student because they are no longer delivering one-size-fits-all lesson plans," he said. "They can actually roam around."
Published: July 7, 2008
By Jason Szep
BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) - From online courses to kid-friendly laptops and virtual teachers, technology is spreading in America's classrooms, reducing the need for textbooks, notepads, paper and in some cases even the schools themselves.
Just ask 11-year-old Jemella Chambers.
She is one of 650 students who receive an Apple Inc laptop each day at a state-funded school in Boston. From the second row of her classroom, she taps out math assignments on animated education software that she likens to a video game.
"It's comfortable," she said of Scholastic Corp's
Education experts say her school, the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School in Boston, offers a glimpse into the future.
It has no textbooks. Students receive laptops at the start of each day, returning them at the end. Teachers and students maintain blogs. Staff and parents chat on instant messaging software. Assignments are submitted through electronic "drop boxes" on the school's Web site.
"The dog ate my homework" is no excuse here.
The experiment at Frederick began two years ago at cost of about $2 million, but last year was the first in which all 7th and 8th grade students received laptops. Classwork is done in Google Inc's free applications like Google Docs, or Apple's iMovie and specialized educational software like FASTT Math.
"Why would we ever buy a book when we can buy a computer? Textbooks are often obsolete before they are even printed," said Debra Socia, principal of the school in Dorchester, a tough Boston district prone to crime and poor schools.
There is, however, one concession to the past: a library stocked with novels.
"It's a powerful, powerful experience," added Socia. Average attendance climbed to 94 percent from 92 percent; discipline referrals fell 30 percent. And parents are more engaged, she said. "Any family can chat online with teacher and say 'hey, we're having this problem'."
Unlike traditional schools, Frederick's students work at vastly different levels in the same classroom. Children with special needs rub shoulders with high performers. Computers track a range of aptitude levels, allowing teachers to tailor their teaching to their students' weakest areas, Socia said.
SURGE IN ONLINE COURSES
The Internet is also a catalyst for change. U.S. enrollment in online virtual classes reached the 1 million mark last year, 22 times the level seen in 2000, according to the North American Council for Online Learning, an industry body.
That's only the beginning, said Michael Horn, co-author of "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns."
"Our projections show that 50 percent of high school courses will be taught online by 2019. It's about one percent right now," said Horn, executive director of education at Innosight Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Massachusetts.
K12 Inc
Much of the growth is in publicly funded virtual charter schools.
"Because it is a public school, the state funds the education similar to what they would in a brick and mortar school, but we get on average about 70 percent of the dollars," Packard told Reuters.
"We don't usually get capital dollars, or bond issue dollars. Sometimes we don't get local dollars. So on average it works out 70 percent of the per pupil spending that an average school in the state would receive," he said.
"We're getting the kids who the local school is not working for. And the spectrum goes from extreme special education to extremely gifted kids," he said.
U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley says K12 and similar companies look set to capture an increasing share of the $550 billion publicly funded U.S. education market for children aged from about 5 to 18 as more U.S. states adopt virtual schools.
Virginia-based K12 recently opened an office in Dubai to expand overseas. Packard says he expects strong offshore demand for American primary and secondary education tailored for foreign nationals who want to enter U.S. universities.
Apex Learning Inc, based in Bellevue, Washington, is seeing a similar surge in demand. It started in 1997 by offering online advanced-placement courses to parents and individual schools but now sells an array of online classes for entire school districts and state departments of education.
"Over the last two years in particular we have seen very, very significant growth in the interest and demand for our type of digital curriculum," Apex chief executive Cheryl Vedoe said in a telephone interview.
Apex enrollments rose 50 percent to 300,000 in 2006-2007, and likely grew at the same pace last year, she said.
"Where we see the greatest growth today is actually in brick and mortar high schools for programs for students who are not succeeding in the existing programs," she added.
Online tutoring is also expanding rapidly. Bangalore-based TutorVista, which launched online U.S. services in 2005, estimates its average global growth in active students at 22 percent a month -- all taught by "e-tutors" mostly in India.
Horn expects demand for teachers to fall and virtual schools to boost achievement in a U.S. education system where only two-thirds of teenagers graduate from high school -- a proportion that slides to 50 percent for black Americans and Hispanics, according to government statistics.
"You deliver education at lower cost, but you will actually improve the amount of time that a teacher can spend with each student because they are no longer delivering one-size-fits-all lesson plans," he said. "They can actually roam around."
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Texas Virtual Academy lets kids attend public school online
Texas Virtual Academy lets kids attend public school online
06:11 AM CST on Monday, January 7, 2008
By KAREN AYRES SMITH / The Dallas Morning News
kayres@dallasnews.com
Going to school now means going online for Victoria McClure-Esqueda.
JIM MAHONEY/DMN
Victoria McClure-Esqueda, 8, squeezes her eyes shut to envision the correct answer to a math problem at home in Irving with her mother, Jenifer McClure. Victoria attends school online, but workbooks are still in the equation.
The Irving 8-year-old is one of hundreds of students across North Texas who have enrolled at the Texas Virtual Academy at Southwest, an online public school that opened to area students for the first time in 2007.
The students work at home and study a curriculum created by a contracted company, but they can earn the same credits as students who attend any other public school in the state.
For Victoria, online learning means studying some advanced fourth-grade courses and, perhaps more important, not slacking off.
Also Online
Link: Southwest Schools
Link: K12
Link: TEA electronic course pilot description
"She kind of just decided to zone out at school," said Jenifer McClure, Victoria's mother. "If she's at home, we know she won't be zoning out because she doesn't have that option."
The growing program puts Texas in the middle of a booming national experiment with online education.
Companies across the country have signed lucrative deals with state and local education agencies to offer curriculum and technology services in exchange for part of the money that typically goes to local school districts.
Advocates and scholars of online education say the technology lets students work at their own speeds, but monitoring student attendance and performance can be challenging when students don't see their teachers every day.
The Texas Education Agency has long allowed school districts to offer some online courses, but this program marks a major shift because the state is now paying a public charter school to educate students who never attend the school building.
The program looks a lot like home-schooling, but it carries far more requirements: Professional teachers monitor students' attendance and academic progress every day. The students must also pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests.
Kate Loughrey, TEA's distance-learning director, said TEA is closely monitoring the school's test scores and other factors to see what works. The results could shape virtual education across the state for years to come.
"We knew as a state that [online learning] is something that can offer terrific opportunities to kids in different situations," Ms. Loughrey said. "We're conducting the program so we can learn what we need to learn as a state in order to support and enable quality online learning."
Computer provided
Victoria starts her day around 8 a.m.
A precocious middle child, she plops in front of a computer squeezed next to a television in her family's Irving apartment. The school sent the computer and boxes of supplies at no cost when she enrolled last month.
First up is answering her teacher's question of the day – today, it's in history – designed to prepare her for the upcoming state TAKS tests that all virtual students must take.
Victoria pinpoints the location of the original 13 colonies. By sending her answer, she confirms to her virtual teacher that she is present for the day.
Her dad and at-home teacher, Joe Esqueda, lets her pick her next subject. The school lays out her schedule for the day, but she gets to choose the order.
Her pick, as usual, is math.
She has already studied the introduction to dividing large numbers online, so she moves over to one of several workbooks scattered across a coffee table. Much of her time is spent offline, reading books or doing experiments, for example.
Victoria was a third-grader at Gilbert Elementary, but her placement test for virtual school showed she was ready for fourth grade in some subjects, including math.
Her dad helps with a tough question.
When they both need help, they e-mail her virtual teacher. Or Ms. McClure fills in when she gets home from work.
"If she is stuck on it, we can go over it 300 times," Ms. McClure says.
Victoria must earn at least an 80 percent on this lesson's assessment to move to the next one. She asks her mom for help, but her parents won't assist when it comes to grades.
"It's a test; I can't touch it," Ms. McClure tells her daughter.
Victoria will soon get a break for lunch. By the end of the day, she'll have spent about six hours working on her lessons, even literature, which she could do without.
Most days, she'll also have run around a track for exercise and attended Girl Scout meetings or outings with other virtual school students to hang out with kids.
"It's fun," Victoria says of virtual school.
That's a big step for a girl who was so bored at school a few months ago that she didn't turn in completed assignments. Her dad found them under the couch.
Still, her parents aren't sure whether it would work for their other two children – Megan, 6, and Alex, 11 – who both do well at Gilbert Elementary.
Victoria "wants to be the center of attention at all times," Mr. Esqueda says with a laugh as he turns to his daughter. "Now finish your assessment, baby girl. Now."
One size 'doesn't fit all'
Victoria is one of about 550 students who have enrolled in the virtual academy as part of the state's electronic course program.
Many students want the chance to work at an advanced or slower pace. Some are home-schooled. Others suffer from medical problems that make school attendance difficult.
"I've been in the public school classroom to know that one size really doesn't fit all," said Feyi Obamehinti, Victoria's teacher who has taught in Irving and Dallas. "Students here are looked at individually, not across a grade level."
The state granted Southwest Schools, a Houston-based charter school, permission to launch the virtual school a few years ago for students in the Houston area. It received approval to expand in the Dallas and Fort Worth regions in September. It's capped statewide at 750 students.
The school signed an agreement with K12, a Virginia-based company that provides content for 39,500 students in 17 state-run virtual schools and other programs across the country.
The deal calls for K12 to provide computers, curriculum and support in exchange for a portion of the state funding. The final cost will depend on how many students enroll. K12's revenues have soared from work in other states. The company went public Dec. 13.
Mary Gifford, a K12 vice president who covers the Texas region, said K12 adjusted its curriculum to match the requirements in Texas. For example, the company created a Texas history course for seventh-graders.
"This has been a gigantic investment on K12's part into the state of Texas," Ms. Gifford said.
Reviewing TAKS data
The state leaves it up to Southwest to run the program.
"Just like with bricks-and-mortar schools, we presume that teachers are doing their jobs and teaching what needs to be taught," Ms. Loughrey said. "We don't send people in the classroom to observe them."
Leaders of K12 and Southwest say they rely on parents, technology and their staff of teachers to monitor attendance and progress. A student who wants to sit on the couch all day will not last, they say.
"It's not the classroom for all students; it's the classroom for some students," said Janelle James, chief academic and operating officer for Southwest Schools. "The student who might not benefit from this program is someone who needs that interaction on an everyday basis."
Virtual academy officials say results from 2007 show that average TAKS scores for students in the Houston program exceeded state requirements, but Ms. Loughrey said the agency is still reviewing the data.
"We're taking it one year at a time," she said. "They don't have unlimited approval."
Nationally, online education for kids in elementary through high school has grown by about 30 percent a year since 1997 to 92,000 full-time students and thousands of part-time students taking roughly 1 million courses, according to the North American Council for Online Learning.
"We haven't even scratched the surface of offering online courses that students and parents want to see," said Susan Patrick, the group's president.
Still, John Hoyle, a professor of educational administration at Texas A&M University, said there is no research to show learning with technology is any better than learning in a traditional classroom.
"We have no solid evidence," he said. "We haven't come up with sophisticated enough techniques to see if technology really improves learning over a traditional classroom."
Dr. Hoyle said online programs can be hard to hold accountable, but they can be a good option for some students not served well by a traditional school.
K12's success will depend on reaching parents of those students. The company has held several information sessions in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since fall. More are scheduled this month.
After a recent session in Fort Worth, Tanya Kirkland, a home-schooling mom, said she decided to enroll her daughter, a sixth-grader.
"My concern is meeting my individual child's needs," said Ms. Kirkland of Waxahachie. "I don't want to see her stifled."
HOW DOES ONLINE SCHOOL WORK?
How does the Texas Virtual Academy at Southwest work?
Who is eligible?
Students in grades three to eight who live in three of the Texas Education Agency's geographic regions: Region IV (Houston/Galveston), Region X (Dallas) or Region XI (Fort Worth). The program is limited to a total of 750 students.
How much does it cost families?
Nothing. Students work at home on computers. The school does not charge tuition, lends a computer to students and provides all instructional materials. Families can be reimbursed for their Internet connections.
Who runs the school?
Southwest Schools, a Houston-based charter school, partnered with a company called K12 to provide curriculum and management services. K12 is a national for-profit company that runs virtual schools across the country.
Who created the curriculum?
K12 uses teachers and other experts to create the online curriculum. It was adapted to meet requirements in Texas.
What courses are offered?
Language arts, math, science, history, music and art are the core courses. There will also be other courses in the appropriate grade levels, such as physical education.
Does the school have teachers?
Yes. Teachers monitor students' academic progress and attendance. They conduct virtual lessons and answer questions from students and parents. Each teacher works with roughly 50 students.
How does the school monitor attendance?
Students must respond to daily questions issued by their virtual teachers. Teachers also monitor students' progress on completing required lessons. Students who don't meet attendance rules can be held responsible under truancy laws.
How does the state measure accountability?
All students must take the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
How is the program funded?
The state pays Southwest Schools roughly the same per-pupil funds other public schools receive. Southwest pays the teachers, receives a 2 percent oversight fee, and receives some additional fees for academy-related expenses. K12 retains the remaining funds. Total funds for this year will depend on final enrollment.
06:11 AM CST on Monday, January 7, 2008
By KAREN AYRES SMITH / The Dallas Morning News
kayres@dallasnews.com
Going to school now means going online for Victoria McClure-Esqueda.
JIM MAHONEY/DMN
Victoria McClure-Esqueda, 8, squeezes her eyes shut to envision the correct answer to a math problem at home in Irving with her mother, Jenifer McClure. Victoria attends school online, but workbooks are still in the equation.
The Irving 8-year-old is one of hundreds of students across North Texas who have enrolled at the Texas Virtual Academy at Southwest, an online public school that opened to area students for the first time in 2007.
The students work at home and study a curriculum created by a contracted company, but they can earn the same credits as students who attend any other public school in the state.
For Victoria, online learning means studying some advanced fourth-grade courses and, perhaps more important, not slacking off.
Also Online
Link: Southwest Schools
Link: K12
Link: TEA electronic course pilot description
"She kind of just decided to zone out at school," said Jenifer McClure, Victoria's mother. "If she's at home, we know she won't be zoning out because she doesn't have that option."
The growing program puts Texas in the middle of a booming national experiment with online education.
Companies across the country have signed lucrative deals with state and local education agencies to offer curriculum and technology services in exchange for part of the money that typically goes to local school districts.
Advocates and scholars of online education say the technology lets students work at their own speeds, but monitoring student attendance and performance can be challenging when students don't see their teachers every day.
The Texas Education Agency has long allowed school districts to offer some online courses, but this program marks a major shift because the state is now paying a public charter school to educate students who never attend the school building.
The program looks a lot like home-schooling, but it carries far more requirements: Professional teachers monitor students' attendance and academic progress every day. The students must also pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests.
Kate Loughrey, TEA's distance-learning director, said TEA is closely monitoring the school's test scores and other factors to see what works. The results could shape virtual education across the state for years to come.
"We knew as a state that [online learning] is something that can offer terrific opportunities to kids in different situations," Ms. Loughrey said. "We're conducting the program so we can learn what we need to learn as a state in order to support and enable quality online learning."
Computer provided
Victoria starts her day around 8 a.m.
A precocious middle child, she plops in front of a computer squeezed next to a television in her family's Irving apartment. The school sent the computer and boxes of supplies at no cost when she enrolled last month.
First up is answering her teacher's question of the day – today, it's in history – designed to prepare her for the upcoming state TAKS tests that all virtual students must take.
Victoria pinpoints the location of the original 13 colonies. By sending her answer, she confirms to her virtual teacher that she is present for the day.
Her dad and at-home teacher, Joe Esqueda, lets her pick her next subject. The school lays out her schedule for the day, but she gets to choose the order.
Her pick, as usual, is math.
She has already studied the introduction to dividing large numbers online, so she moves over to one of several workbooks scattered across a coffee table. Much of her time is spent offline, reading books or doing experiments, for example.
Victoria was a third-grader at Gilbert Elementary, but her placement test for virtual school showed she was ready for fourth grade in some subjects, including math.
Her dad helps with a tough question.
When they both need help, they e-mail her virtual teacher. Or Ms. McClure fills in when she gets home from work.
"If she is stuck on it, we can go over it 300 times," Ms. McClure says.
Victoria must earn at least an 80 percent on this lesson's assessment to move to the next one. She asks her mom for help, but her parents won't assist when it comes to grades.
"It's a test; I can't touch it," Ms. McClure tells her daughter.
Victoria will soon get a break for lunch. By the end of the day, she'll have spent about six hours working on her lessons, even literature, which she could do without.
Most days, she'll also have run around a track for exercise and attended Girl Scout meetings or outings with other virtual school students to hang out with kids.
"It's fun," Victoria says of virtual school.
That's a big step for a girl who was so bored at school a few months ago that she didn't turn in completed assignments. Her dad found them under the couch.
Still, her parents aren't sure whether it would work for their other two children – Megan, 6, and Alex, 11 – who both do well at Gilbert Elementary.
Victoria "wants to be the center of attention at all times," Mr. Esqueda says with a laugh as he turns to his daughter. "Now finish your assessment, baby girl. Now."
One size 'doesn't fit all'
Victoria is one of about 550 students who have enrolled in the virtual academy as part of the state's electronic course program.
Many students want the chance to work at an advanced or slower pace. Some are home-schooled. Others suffer from medical problems that make school attendance difficult.
"I've been in the public school classroom to know that one size really doesn't fit all," said Feyi Obamehinti, Victoria's teacher who has taught in Irving and Dallas. "Students here are looked at individually, not across a grade level."
The state granted Southwest Schools, a Houston-based charter school, permission to launch the virtual school a few years ago for students in the Houston area. It received approval to expand in the Dallas and Fort Worth regions in September. It's capped statewide at 750 students.
The school signed an agreement with K12, a Virginia-based company that provides content for 39,500 students in 17 state-run virtual schools and other programs across the country.
The deal calls for K12 to provide computers, curriculum and support in exchange for a portion of the state funding. The final cost will depend on how many students enroll. K12's revenues have soared from work in other states. The company went public Dec. 13.
Mary Gifford, a K12 vice president who covers the Texas region, said K12 adjusted its curriculum to match the requirements in Texas. For example, the company created a Texas history course for seventh-graders.
"This has been a gigantic investment on K12's part into the state of Texas," Ms. Gifford said.
Reviewing TAKS data
The state leaves it up to Southwest to run the program.
"Just like with bricks-and-mortar schools, we presume that teachers are doing their jobs and teaching what needs to be taught," Ms. Loughrey said. "We don't send people in the classroom to observe them."
Leaders of K12 and Southwest say they rely on parents, technology and their staff of teachers to monitor attendance and progress. A student who wants to sit on the couch all day will not last, they say.
"It's not the classroom for all students; it's the classroom for some students," said Janelle James, chief academic and operating officer for Southwest Schools. "The student who might not benefit from this program is someone who needs that interaction on an everyday basis."
Virtual academy officials say results from 2007 show that average TAKS scores for students in the Houston program exceeded state requirements, but Ms. Loughrey said the agency is still reviewing the data.
"We're taking it one year at a time," she said. "They don't have unlimited approval."
Nationally, online education for kids in elementary through high school has grown by about 30 percent a year since 1997 to 92,000 full-time students and thousands of part-time students taking roughly 1 million courses, according to the North American Council for Online Learning.
"We haven't even scratched the surface of offering online courses that students and parents want to see," said Susan Patrick, the group's president.
Still, John Hoyle, a professor of educational administration at Texas A&M University, said there is no research to show learning with technology is any better than learning in a traditional classroom.
"We have no solid evidence," he said. "We haven't come up with sophisticated enough techniques to see if technology really improves learning over a traditional classroom."
Dr. Hoyle said online programs can be hard to hold accountable, but they can be a good option for some students not served well by a traditional school.
K12's success will depend on reaching parents of those students. The company has held several information sessions in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since fall. More are scheduled this month.
After a recent session in Fort Worth, Tanya Kirkland, a home-schooling mom, said she decided to enroll her daughter, a sixth-grader.
"My concern is meeting my individual child's needs," said Ms. Kirkland of Waxahachie. "I don't want to see her stifled."
HOW DOES ONLINE SCHOOL WORK?
How does the Texas Virtual Academy at Southwest work?
Who is eligible?
Students in grades three to eight who live in three of the Texas Education Agency's geographic regions: Region IV (Houston/Galveston), Region X (Dallas) or Region XI (Fort Worth). The program is limited to a total of 750 students.
How much does it cost families?
Nothing. Students work at home on computers. The school does not charge tuition, lends a computer to students and provides all instructional materials. Families can be reimbursed for their Internet connections.
Who runs the school?
Southwest Schools, a Houston-based charter school, partnered with a company called K12 to provide curriculum and management services. K12 is a national for-profit company that runs virtual schools across the country.
Who created the curriculum?
K12 uses teachers and other experts to create the online curriculum. It was adapted to meet requirements in Texas.
What courses are offered?
Language arts, math, science, history, music and art are the core courses. There will also be other courses in the appropriate grade levels, such as physical education.
Does the school have teachers?
Yes. Teachers monitor students' academic progress and attendance. They conduct virtual lessons and answer questions from students and parents. Each teacher works with roughly 50 students.
How does the school monitor attendance?
Students must respond to daily questions issued by their virtual teachers. Teachers also monitor students' progress on completing required lessons. Students who don't meet attendance rules can be held responsible under truancy laws.
How does the state measure accountability?
All students must take the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
How is the program funded?
The state pays Southwest Schools roughly the same per-pupil funds other public schools receive. Southwest pays the teachers, receives a 2 percent oversight fee, and receives some additional fees for academy-related expenses. K12 retains the remaining funds. Total funds for this year will depend on final enrollment.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
States Revamping Policies on Virtual Schools
States Revamping Policies on Virtual Schools
By Erik W. Robelen
Published in Print: June 13, 2007
It has been an active spring when it comes to state policymaking targeting online schools.
In the wake of a Colorado audit finding insufficient oversight of the state’s online schools, for example, Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. has signed a legislative compromise that would tighten the reins with new demands and a newly created state division of online schools.
In South Carolina, Republican Gov. Mark Sanford signed a measure expanding a state-sponsored virtual pilot program into a full-fledged state online school, even as plans in Indiana to launch two new virtual schools have been shelved amid legislative wrangling over funding.
In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, a bill to change how the state’s 11 cyber charters are funded has sparked considerable debate.
And in Kansas, state officials are responding to a state report in April that found that despite rigorous policies for overseeing the state’s cyber schools, the state department of education’s actual oversight of them has been “weak.”
“A lot of states are wrestling with these issues,” noted John F. Watson, a national expert on virtual schooling and the founder of Evergreen Consulting Associates in Evergreen, Colo.
‘Cooler Heads’ in Colorado
The Colorado measure creates a new division of online learning within the state department of education to oversee virtual education. The division will certify the authorizers of online programs that serve students across district lines, with an eye towards ensuring quality.
Also, authorizers of online programs will now have to give the state annual reports on each program they oversee, with details on how the programs have met quality standards, data on students and teachers, and other information.
“We actually think Senate Bill 215 is a very good compromise,” said Jane Urschel, the associate executive director of the Colorado Association of School Boards. “We now have a law that will keep online schools out of the headlines.”
Mr. Watson added that the new law “puts Colorado right at the forefront of thoughtful responses to the challenges of developing appropriate online education policy.”
In December, a state auditor’s report in Colorado drew wide attention with its conclusion that state and local districts had given virtual schools lax oversight. ("Colo. Online Charters Need More Oversight, Auditor Says", Dec. 20, 2006.)
Afterward, some virtual school advocates said they worried that the state might seek to overregulate virtual learning and discourage its expansion. But they suggested that in the end, state lawmakers’ reaction was measured.
“Cooler heads prevailed in the state,” said Mickey Revenaugh, the vice president for state relations at Connections Academy in Baltimore, a company that provides virtual school curriculum, technology, and school management services, including for Denver Connections Academy.
She said the new law helps to ensure “you have good oversight without micromanaging. … There was a moment where it looked like it was going to be overly prescriptive.”
South Carolina’s expanded virtual school will start with high school-age students and eventually expand to cover the full K-12 spectrum.
“This bill will not only open up choices that wouldn’t normally be available to students, but it also provides an important opportunity for more students to interact via the Internet,” said Gov. Sanford.
The legislation sparked a heated debate among lawmakers on the question of access to online course offerings by students in private schools and home-schooled students, with some members seeking to charge them fees and to give enrollment priority to public school students.
Indiana 'Heartbreak'
In the end, no such restrictions were included in the law. However, the measure instructs the state board of education to develop guidelines and regulations on how to prioritize student eligibility and to examine the appropriateness of charging tuition and fees.
At the same time, the legislation makes explicit that virtual charter schools are permissable in South Carolina and sets parameters for how they should operate. The state has no such schools now.
In Indiana, Ball State University was getting ready to launch two new virtual charter schools next school year, which would have been the first in the state. In final wrangling by lawmakers, however, the funding was stripped from the state budget bill and Ball State officials say plans to open the schools have been scrapped for now.
Critics of the virtual schools, including the Indiana State Teachers Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association, argued that the money was needed to pay for other education priorities, such as funding for full-day kindergarten.
But virtual school advocates sharply criticized the move.
“That was a heartbreak, it really was,” said Ms. Revenaugh of Connections Academy, which was to operate one of the two new virtual charters. “Parents were on fire, they wanted this so badly.”
Funding Fight in Pa.
In Pennsylvania, state Rep. Karen Beyer, a Republican, introduced a measure earlier this year that would require the state to directly pay for cyber charters, rather than taking the per-pupil funding from district coffers.
The legislation also would set what backers of the schools consider unreasonably low limits on how much money they may receive. The schools would get between $3,000 and $5,000 per student, depending on their enrollment.
The state teachers’ union and school boards association have rallied behind the measure, arguing that the cyber schools cost less to run than brick-and-mortar schools. But cyber charter advocates say the measure as drafted would put the schools out of business.
Committee hearings on the bill in the Pennsylvania House were expected to occur this summer.
In Kansas, this spring’s report by a state legislative audit committee says the state education department often hasn’t carried out the policies it has established .
For instance, the report found that the state agency had lost track of which virtual schools were registered, had failed to conduct required on-site visits for some of the schools, and lacked reliable data to monitor the schools.
The report also raised concerns about potential risks with online schooling that it said were not being adequately addressed, such as the manipulation of enrollment data for financial gain.
The committee noted that virtual schooling is growing rapidly in the state, with the number of virtual schools and students doubling over the past two years, to 28 schools serving more than 2,000 students.
Karla S. Denny, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Education, said her agency does not dispute the report’s core findings.
“A corrective action plan has been developed and will be fully implemented before school begins in August,” she said.
Vol. 26, Issue 41, Pages 18,22
By Erik W. Robelen
Published in Print: June 13, 2007
It has been an active spring when it comes to state policymaking targeting online schools.
In the wake of a Colorado audit finding insufficient oversight of the state’s online schools, for example, Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. has signed a legislative compromise that would tighten the reins with new demands and a newly created state division of online schools.
In South Carolina, Republican Gov. Mark Sanford signed a measure expanding a state-sponsored virtual pilot program into a full-fledged state online school, even as plans in Indiana to launch two new virtual schools have been shelved amid legislative wrangling over funding.
In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, a bill to change how the state’s 11 cyber charters are funded has sparked considerable debate.
And in Kansas, state officials are responding to a state report in April that found that despite rigorous policies for overseeing the state’s cyber schools, the state department of education’s actual oversight of them has been “weak.”
“A lot of states are wrestling with these issues,” noted John F. Watson, a national expert on virtual schooling and the founder of Evergreen Consulting Associates in Evergreen, Colo.
‘Cooler Heads’ in Colorado
The Colorado measure creates a new division of online learning within the state department of education to oversee virtual education. The division will certify the authorizers of online programs that serve students across district lines, with an eye towards ensuring quality.
Also, authorizers of online programs will now have to give the state annual reports on each program they oversee, with details on how the programs have met quality standards, data on students and teachers, and other information.
“We actually think Senate Bill 215 is a very good compromise,” said Jane Urschel, the associate executive director of the Colorado Association of School Boards. “We now have a law that will keep online schools out of the headlines.”
Mr. Watson added that the new law “puts Colorado right at the forefront of thoughtful responses to the challenges of developing appropriate online education policy.”
In December, a state auditor’s report in Colorado drew wide attention with its conclusion that state and local districts had given virtual schools lax oversight. ("Colo. Online Charters Need More Oversight, Auditor Says", Dec. 20, 2006.)
Afterward, some virtual school advocates said they worried that the state might seek to overregulate virtual learning and discourage its expansion. But they suggested that in the end, state lawmakers’ reaction was measured.
“Cooler heads prevailed in the state,” said Mickey Revenaugh, the vice president for state relations at Connections Academy in Baltimore, a company that provides virtual school curriculum, technology, and school management services, including for Denver Connections Academy.
She said the new law helps to ensure “you have good oversight without micromanaging. … There was a moment where it looked like it was going to be overly prescriptive.”
South Carolina’s expanded virtual school will start with high school-age students and eventually expand to cover the full K-12 spectrum.
“This bill will not only open up choices that wouldn’t normally be available to students, but it also provides an important opportunity for more students to interact via the Internet,” said Gov. Sanford.
The legislation sparked a heated debate among lawmakers on the question of access to online course offerings by students in private schools and home-schooled students, with some members seeking to charge them fees and to give enrollment priority to public school students.
Indiana 'Heartbreak'
In the end, no such restrictions were included in the law. However, the measure instructs the state board of education to develop guidelines and regulations on how to prioritize student eligibility and to examine the appropriateness of charging tuition and fees.
At the same time, the legislation makes explicit that virtual charter schools are permissable in South Carolina and sets parameters for how they should operate. The state has no such schools now.
In Indiana, Ball State University was getting ready to launch two new virtual charter schools next school year, which would have been the first in the state. In final wrangling by lawmakers, however, the funding was stripped from the state budget bill and Ball State officials say plans to open the schools have been scrapped for now.
Critics of the virtual schools, including the Indiana State Teachers Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association, argued that the money was needed to pay for other education priorities, such as funding for full-day kindergarten.
But virtual school advocates sharply criticized the move.
“That was a heartbreak, it really was,” said Ms. Revenaugh of Connections Academy, which was to operate one of the two new virtual charters. “Parents were on fire, they wanted this so badly.”
Funding Fight in Pa.
In Pennsylvania, state Rep. Karen Beyer, a Republican, introduced a measure earlier this year that would require the state to directly pay for cyber charters, rather than taking the per-pupil funding from district coffers.
The legislation also would set what backers of the schools consider unreasonably low limits on how much money they may receive. The schools would get between $3,000 and $5,000 per student, depending on their enrollment.
The state teachers’ union and school boards association have rallied behind the measure, arguing that the cyber schools cost less to run than brick-and-mortar schools. But cyber charter advocates say the measure as drafted would put the schools out of business.
Committee hearings on the bill in the Pennsylvania House were expected to occur this summer.
In Kansas, this spring’s report by a state legislative audit committee says the state education department often hasn’t carried out the policies it has established .
For instance, the report found that the state agency had lost track of which virtual schools were registered, had failed to conduct required on-site visits for some of the schools, and lacked reliable data to monitor the schools.
The report also raised concerns about potential risks with online schooling that it said were not being adequately addressed, such as the manipulation of enrollment data for financial gain.
The committee noted that virtual schooling is growing rapidly in the state, with the number of virtual schools and students doubling over the past two years, to 28 schools serving more than 2,000 students.
Karla S. Denny, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Education, said her agency does not dispute the report’s core findings.
“A corrective action plan has been developed and will be fully implemented before school begins in August,” she said.
Vol. 26, Issue 41, Pages 18,22
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