Guest Commentary: Competing for the Virtual Student

Competition. That's what's all about. And it seems to be working.
According to Hall Davidson, director of global learning initiatives at Discovery Education, by pioneering online learning and proving its effectiveness, K-12 districts have unwittingly broadened the market for for-profit schools.
"It's very clear that online learning has found its time and place," Davidson says, "and it lies at the heart of some serious competition between traditional brick-and-mortar schools and entrepreneurial proprietary schools that are taking advantage of the charter movement. It's just so easy in many states now for an online entity to come in and take enrollment. Here in California, I can enroll my daughter in an online program through a charter school in another county with a few mouse clicks. Some districts realize how heavy the competition is--that there's competition now for attendance dollars that were safer in the past--and some don't. I think the educational community in general needs a Paul Revere to sound the alarm."
Click here to read more about this new competitive education environment.