Guest Commentary: Jaime Littlefield on '10 Myths About Online High Schools'

Blended learning teacher Jamie Littlefield writes a popular weekly column on distance learning for About.com. Recently, she tried to dispel some of the myths that surround online programs for high school students.
"Don’t believe everything you hear about online high schools," she wrote, adding that "by finding out the truth" it is easier to make decisions on what works best for individual students.
Click here to read the full story.

Michael B. Horn: Bright Spots Shine in Blended, Online Learning (Video)

A month has passed since the first-ever national Digital Learning Day. Given the excitement generated from teachers and others tuning in to the National Town Hall meeting and given today’s National Leadership Summit on Online Learning up on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. that iNACOL sponsored, I thought it was worth noting some great examples that weren’t highlighted during the day’s festivities.
To our friends in the field, these examples are familiar, but they remind us that what is so exciting about technology is the power that it holds to move our education system toward a student-centric model of learning where students can move at their own path and pace to boost student outcomes.
Click here to watch some videos of exceptional online learning programs

Tom Vander Ark: An Arizona Online Success Story

Last week I visited Arizona’s largest school, Primavera Online.  Headquartered in Chandler, Primavera serves primarily upper division students seeking an alternative pathway to graduation.  Half are juniors and seniors.  A quarter who have left school are classified as ‘grade 13’, what my friends in New York would call over-aged and under-credited
Primavera is powered by American Virtual Academy curriculum and learning platform (more on AVA in a later post).
In a few months, more than 500 graduates will gather (most physically, some virtually) at Grand Canyon University for a graduation ceremony.  Primavera has been helping Arizona students graduate for a decade.  It’s a homegrown academic success story. Click here to read more about my visit.

John Chubb: Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning

John Chubb co-authored with Terry M. Moe "Liberating Learning," the milestone book on the intersection of education and technology and the impact "edtech" would have on American education.
There are few people as qualified as Chubb to write the final paper in the Fordham Institutes series "Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning."
In "Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning," Chubb reports that Online learning and our current system of local education governance are at odds with one another.
Chubb examines how local school district control retards the widespread use of instructional technologies. He argues that the surest way to break down the system’s inherent resistance to technology is to shift control from the local district—and thus the school board—and put it in the hands of states.
He then provides 10 education reform steps that would make the environment more conducive to expanding online learning programs.
Click here for a pdf of "Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning."
Click here for the complete Fordham series.

Tom Vander Ark: Why States Should Require Online Learning

Question: What do algebra and online learning have in common?
Answer: Most kids would not experience either if not required.
Graduation requirements translate society's expectations to the young. It's our collective best guess at the knowledge and skills they will need to participate in the society they will inherit. If we did not require algebra, not many students would take it. Low-income, minority, and struggling students would be steered away from advanced math. Setting minimum education requirements promotes equity and participation.
All high school students should take at least one course online while in high school, according to Digital Learning Now!, the state policy project co-chaired by former governors Jeb Bush and Bob Wise. This recommendation, and all 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning, resulted from the vigorous discourse of 100 experts.
The recommendation is based on the fact that nearly all young people will learn online after high school, whether it's in college, corporate, or military training. Online and blended learning is rapidly becoming the dominant mode of formal and informal post-secondary learning. High school is a great place to discover learning online.
Click here to read more on why I believe this is a necessary graduation requirement in the 21st century.

Guest Commentary: Inspecting the Inspectprate--Why Not Start with Online Schools

In his "The Quick & The Ed" blog, Education Sector Managing Editor Bill Tucker launched a debate about reviving the traditional of physical visits to school campuses as a part of an accountability program.
It's done in England, Tucker says, but he wonders, would in work in the United States?
Needless to say, this concept has stirred up some dust.
"The problem with big new ideas is often the very thing that makes them appealing: they are disruptive towards the status quo, making them extremely difficult to either imagine or implement. And, in the context of state accountability systems, school inspection is a big idea," Tucker wrote.
"Nowhere are our current oversight and school accountability systems more lacking than when it comes to assessing the performance of online and other alternative schools. While test score data and measures such as adequate yearly progress (AYP) have limitations for all schools — particularly those serving disadvantaged students — they are even more problematic for virtual schools operating on competency-based and other alternative educational models," he continued.
Tucker understands that it is impossible to physically visit an online school, but he does have some ideas on how to "balance accountability with innovation. Click here to find out more.

Michael B. Horn: Colorado's Crummy Policies Lead to Crummy Virtual Schools

An investigation of Colorado’s full-time virtual schools has revealed some dubious results and practices, which led the state’s Senate President to call for an emergency audit of all of Colorado’s virtual schools.
But the state shouldn’t be shocked by the report. As the truism goes, you get what you pay for.
Colorado’s policy environment incentivizes exactly what it’s getting from its full-time virtual schools—and arguably not just its virtual schools, but all of its schools statewide.
The biggest problem is this: It pays a school all of its funds on a “count day” on October 1 based on the number of students enrolled on that day. If students leave afterward, the original school keeps the funds. If students enroll elsewhere, the new school receives no funds.
This incentivizes providers to enroll students, but there are few incentives in place to focus on what happens after that. As a result, a significant number of online providers seem to have followed these incentives and done exactly what Colorado paid them to do. The end result isn’t pretty for students, as a great number of them allegedly leave soon after the count day and enroll back in district schools if they enroll elsewhere at all.
Some are using this to bash all online learning, as well as for-profit providers that are seizing this revenue-making opportunity (as many such providers did in higher education), but in so doing, these critics are missing the point.
As I’ve written numerous times, studying whether online learning is more or less effective than traditional learning is invariably asking the wrong question. Online and blended learning have the potential to dramatically transform our education system by being able to individualize for each student’s distinct learning needs, but whether it does so will have a lot to do with policy—whether we change the incentives and focus not on merely serving students and micro-managing the inputs, but instead focusing on the student outcomes and leaving behind an antiquated factory-model system for a student-centric one.
Click here to read my complete post on this. And you know what the biggest shame in all of this? By focusing on the wrong part of the story, it may set back our opportunity to leverage the rise of digital learning to transform our system into the student-centric one that each student deserves

Guest Commentary: Denver Post Op-Ed Describes Balance Needed Between Innovation, Accountability and Cyber Schools

Pam Benigno has served on the board of a cyber charter school and directs the Education Policy Center of the  Independence Institute, a Colorado-based, free market think tank.
In the wake of a controversial series on the quality of online education in Colorado, Benigno wrote an opinion piece for the Denver Post.
"Technological advances are continually creating new opportunities to effectively educate Colorado's K-12 students through online learning. Colorado needs to look forward in protecting an environment for innovation, while balancing needed accountability for cyber school operators," say writes.
"Two decades of open public school enrollment have given Colorado families a gift that continues to be unwrapped. Today, Colorado school districts offer numerous charter schools and other options, including full-time online programs. Twenty-two unique online schools serve students anywhere in the state, while 23 programs serve only district residents.
"Some of the dismal reports about Colorado's full-time online education programs reinforce what many of us already knew. On average, these schools have shown disappointing results in educating and retaining students. The Colorado Department of Education plans to conduct a comprehensive review of the standards and accountability for online schools. Senate President Brandon Shaffer has requested an emergency audit of online schools," she continues.
"However, technology is being developed so quickly we don't know what future programs will look like or what the challenges might be," Benigno adds.
Click here to read her complete essay and why she warns readers not to "turn back the clock on expanded educational opportunities."

Guest Commentary: Colorado Springs Gazette Wants State to Take K12 Inc.'s Advice and Let Money Follow the Student

The Colorado Springs Gazette took a bold stand. It said that the money the states allocates for each public school student should follow that student, no matter what school the students attends.
"School choice, the modern wave of education, is always under attack by the establishment. New schools threaten the old union-controlled, one-size-fits-all government education monopoly," the editorial board wrote.
"Those who liked the old way simply don’t like anything about the new way
A three-part investigative series that began running in last Sunday’s Gazette pointed out concerns about online government schools that deserve serious attention from politicians and the general public. An at-home, online education is exactly what a small percentage of students need. But it’s not for everyone, and it is probably not for most.
"When a student abandons an online school, the online school often keeps the state tuition cash. Colorado bases school funding on a single enrollment count. Once the count has been taken, the money is allocated and belongs to the school even if students soon thereafter," the editorial continued.
"That means another school ends up with former online students, but not the tuition.
"The administration of Colorado’s largest online public school, Colorado Virtual Academy, agrees that online schools should not keep the money.
" 'Colorado should move away form a school-funding model based on a single-count date to a better model, such as an average daily membership,'  said Jeff Kwitowski in a statement to The Gazette’s editorial board. He’s the vice president for public affairs for K12, the curriculum provider for Colorado Virtual Academy."
Click here to read the complete editorial.

Guest Commentary: Education Sector Looks at Reports on Online Learning

A hat tip to Bill Tucker and his "The Quick & the Ed" blog for taking a step back to put four recent reports on online learning into perspective.
Tucker launched what appears to be a multi-part series by looking at reports from Minnesota and Colorado. He also made mention of reports from Pennsylvania and Ohio. All the studies raised some concerns about the quality of online learning in those states. In Colorado, for example, a state senator has called for an audit of online learning schools.
Tucker's "Quick & Ed" post notes that the Minnesota shows that will the number of part-time students in online school nearly doubles and the number of full-time students more than tripled, since the 2006-2007 school year, "full-time online students have become less like to finish the courses the start; when compare with students statewide."
The Colorado study, Tucker reports, shows that the state expects to spend $100 million for about 18,000 students to attend online schools. What's more, "of the 10,500 students in the largest online programs in fall 2008, more than half--or 5,600--left their virtual schools by the fall of 2009. They were more than replaced by 7,400 new recruits by that fall."
The Colorado series is the result of a 10-month investigation by EdNews Colorado.
Click here to read Tucker's complete post and to find links to the reports.
Click here to see a video about the impact of online learning on one school and one student's perspective.
Tucker plans to update his report on Ohio online learning this week. We'll be reading and updating.

Guest Commentary: A Teacher's View of Online Learning

Tami Caldwell's classroom is a loft that looks out through a bank of windows onto the calm waters of a lake in the state of Washington.
Her days are flexible enough that she can take her daughter to school in the morning, meet a student for a midday coffee or answer the regular buzz of students' text messages, though she tries to maintain a regular schedule.
Usually between 10 a.m. and noon each day, she sits in front of her computer for "lab" time, when students can dial in to a sort of virtual chat room and ask questions. And once a week, she and her students get together online for class.
Caldwell is one of the high school teachers at Insight School of Washington, which offers full-time online schooling.
Click here to read more about her school days and why she believes online teaching beats being in the classroom.

Guest Commentary: Online Eduction Vital to Improvement

An op-ed article written by Darrel Deide, chairman of Idahoans for Choice in Education, has been getting a lot of traction in that state.
Little wonder.  Idaho has been the scene of one of the most hotly-contested and debated edtech-center reform plan in the nation. And there's no doubt the debate will continue through 2012. A referendum that would repeal most of the education reforms won earlier this year, is on the ballot.
That may be why Deidre's article hit a nerve.
"According to the leaders of the Idaho Education Association, Idaho’s education labor union, online education is wrong for Idaho students. If you have followed the testimony offered at the public hearings recently held around the state, you might have come away with the same belief," he wrote.
"In reality, the union’s objection to digital learning has nothing to do with the quality of education. It has everything to do with the union’s desire to maintain its monopoly," he continued.
"Why should the education union block our kids’ access to technology that they will need to use to be competent, successful and well-rounded for post-secondary education or a career? It simply makes no sense," he added.
Click here to read the complete article.

Guest Commentary: Jeb Bush on Disrupting the Educational Status Quo

What's tops Jeb Bush's educational reform list?
"Applying digital learning as a transformative tool to disrupt the public education system, to make it more child-centered, more customized, more robust, more diverse, and more exciting," says the former Florida governor and co-founder of Digital Learning Now, a national advocacy group focused on advancing policies to create quality digital learning environments.
Bush sat down with a reporter from Reason magazine and talked about the virtual education movement, the obstacles to widespread acceptance of online classes, and his role in evangelizing for digital education.
Click here for a sneak peek of the May 2011 issue of Reason, which features the Bush interview.

Guest Commentary: Planting the Seeds of Online Learning in California

Brian Bridges is director of the California Learning Resource Network (CLRN), a group that helps the state's educators identify electronic learning resources. He is also a member of the Computer-Using Educators (CUE) board of directors.
In a recent post on his blog, Bridges spotlights several bills in the California legislature that would help increase the number of online education opportunities for the state's students.
AB 802 would allow school districts to "capture" state money for students who take online courses sponsored by that district.
Bridges also writes about SB 613, which would encourage school districts to use open source textbooks.
Finally, SB 532 would mandate that all high schools students have access Advanced Placement courses. The logical way to meet this mandate would be through online courses.
While Bridges likes parts of SB 532, he has suggestions on how to improve the legislation to make it more virtual education friendly.
Click here to read his complete post.

Guest Commentary: A Kid's View of Online School

Adora Svitak has written two books and both have been published. She has taught at more than 400 schools and her public service efforts have been recognized by national and international organizations.
Not bad for a 13-year-old.
In a recent column for the Huffington Post, Svitak wrote about her experiences with online classes and her hopes for the future of digital education.
"Every school district should have an online learning framework, so that 'blended learning' (partially online, partially in-person) can be an option for students," she wrote. "Students could read more of the fact-based lesson material online, so that when they came to class in-person, time could be used on higher-order thinking skills like experiments, projects, and the like. A lot of excellent learning takes place when students are face-to-face with each other and a teacher, yet there are situations where students may not always be able to make it to class. Should students not be able to continue doing any of their work simply because of a school flu epidemic, school staff on strike, snow days, or absences? "
"By shifting more content online," Svitak continued, "we could cut some of the spending that would go toward giant reams of paper and industrial-size printers and copiers."
Click here to read more of her essay.

Michael B. Horn: Disrupting Class, Education 2011

In 2011, the weak economy that has bogged down the United States for the past two years will continue to propel online learning innovations in K-12 education.
The Economist asked me to write about the six virtual education trends to watch for in 2011.

Here is a link to my list.

Lisa Keegan: The Future of Education is Already Here

What if all the desperate problems in American education had already been solved?
Let's imagine that there were a burgeoning,truly, bipartisan movement of parents, teachers, school leaders, political leaders, and regular, run-of-the-mill citizens who have had it with American failure in education and want the nation to know there is a whole sector of success out there, getting the job done for kid, and it's tired of being treated as though it doesn't exist.
Imagine no more ... welcome to the Education Breakthrough, and the reality of emerging school choice in America.
The next few years may well be the most exciting time in the history of American education, becuase emerging in the shadows of its moribund and desperately underperforming big sister comes a baby the nation can be proud of.
This is the world of school choice, where parents choose schools that work for their own children and take an active role in their children's education. These are the nation's private schools, public charter schools, home schools, online schools, special needs schools--these are the schools that re tailored for the students they serve. This is the fastest growing, most efficient and undeniably the most effective sector of American education. This is a sector where being the best truly matters.
Click here to read more on why I believe the future of education is here.

Tom Vander Ark: What Do Virtual Schools Cost?

That's a good question. Education policymakers from Georgia to Oregon and many points in-between are trying to find an equitable answer.
The Digital Learning Council will issue its 10 recommendations for state policy makers this week. The process has kicked off a school finance discussion that includes these questions:

• What do virtual schools cost?
• What is the best way to use school funding to promote achievement, completion, and innovation?

Click here to read my complete post which includes some thoughtful ideas from an online school operator

Guest Commentary: Georgia Public Policy Foundation: U.S. Education has a Choice--Innovate or Become Irrlevant

Imagine that two little boys were playing ball in the field when the one with freckles said, "When I grow up, I'm going to be just like my Dad! He works in the factory putting zippers into blue jeans."
The other little boy, without any freckles, smiled as only little boys can smile and said, "When I grow up, I'm going to be just like my Dad! I don't know what he does but he wears a suit. I'm going to wear a suit, too!"
Odds are very long that neither little boy would grow up to be just like Dad. Zipper jobs at the blue jeans factory left the country, and whatever job the other little boy's dad had was probably reinvented and might also be extinct.
The message here is both little boys must be educated for a work world that will continue to evolve, not the one that allowed their Dads to earn steady incomes.
There is widespread recognition this will require new approaches. Learning without borders is the idea public education must embrace technology and new ways to make material available to students.
That is the message former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise brought to a recent conference hosted in Atlanta by the Public Policy Foundation and the Conservative Leadership Policy Institute. Wise and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush launched the Digital Learning Council this year to focus on new strategies for digital change in education. How to integrate learning without borders into traditional settings that might resist new ideas is the challenge being addressed by the Digital Learning Council and like-minded groups.
Click here to read more of Georgia Public Policy Foundation editor Mike Klein's take on the virtual education movement and why he believes U.S. education must innovate or become irrelevant.

Michael B. Horn: A Letter to the Georgia Education Community

The state of Georgia is no stranger to online learning. According to the Keeping Pace with Online Learning K-12 report, 13,000-15,000 Georgia students took online course in 2008-2009. The Georgia Virtual School, a state-run entity under the auspices of the state Department of Education, boasted 9,793 enrollments in 2008-2009 school year. Georgia has full-time online charter as well, including the Georgia Virtual Academy, a K-8 school operated by the online learning company K12 Inc.that served 4,400 full-time students in 2008-2009.
Even with this growth of online learning in Georgia, many continue to see it as merely a small part of education that adds choices that may better fit a student's needs. That is certainly true, but online learning is much more than that. It is a disruptive innovation that has the potential to help transform the present-day monolithic, factory-model education system into a student-centric and far more affordable fit for the 21st century.
As a result, there are still significant opportunities for Georgia to do much more with online learning. If the state plays its cards right, it has the potential to provide many more students and families with quality choices for their education and transform public education in the process.
Click here to read my complete message to Georgians on how online learning is an opportunity to transform public education in their state.