Two years ago, Tennessee鈥檚 Putnam County school system adopted an online-learning graduation requirement for its high school students. But district officials realized that not all students had high-speed Internet access at home, or even computers, so they came up with a variety of options to allow students to fulfill the requirement.
The state of Tennessee already mandated that all students take a class on personal finance, so Putnam County put its version online, complete with the district鈥檚 own online teachers. Students can complete the course independently before they enter 9th grade; do it at school, in a computer lab with the support of an in-house coordinator, during their four high school years; or take the course in a computer lab that includes both an in-class teacher and an online instructor. Students can also fulfill the requirement with online Advanced Placement courses or online credit-recovery classes, says Kathleen Airhart, the director of the 11,000-student , based in Cookeville, Tenn.
The goal is to make sure students get an online-learning experience in a low-risk, supportive environment, Airhart says. 鈥淭he reality is, when a student leaves us, whether they鈥檙e going to a four-year college, a technical college, or going into the world of work, they鈥檙e going to have to do an online course,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his helps prepare the students.鈥�
More districts and a handful of states are starting to agree with this notion. They鈥檙e requiring students to get some form of online learning on their r茅sum茅s before leaving high school.
But concerns remain about issues of student equity, particularly in rural areas, where high-speed Internet access may be uncommon or difficult. Some cash-strapped school districts may also view such a state policy as an unfunded mandate.
鈥淒istricts have fixed costs and structures, 鈥� and equity can be a major issue,鈥� says Bruce Umpstead, the state director of educational technology and data coordination for the state department of education in Michigan, the first state to make online learning a requirement for graduation. 鈥淏ut for us, [the requirement] was a signal to schools that online learning is a legitimate way of delivering instruction, and students are going to have to know how to use online learning to get ahead.鈥�
State Measures
In 2002, Michigan began instituting its requirement that students complete 20 hours of online-learning experience to graduate. Students can start collecting hours in 6th grade, and most are satisfying the requirement through an online career-planning tool used to devise an Educational Development Plan, called for by state education policy, Umpstead says.
Initially, the intent was to have the online experience be a credit-bearing course. But concerns that such a requirement could be interpreted as an unfunded mandate by local governments鈥攕omething prohibited by state law鈥攔esulted in a scaling-back, Umpstead says.
Other states have followed Michigan鈥檚 model. Alabama makes an online-learning 鈥渆xperience鈥� one of the criteria for high school graduation. New Mexico has a similar requirement, but it provides students with the option of meeting the criteria through an alternative method.
Idaho is weighing a more beefed-up requirement. The state board of education passed a in September to require each student to complete two credits of online learning before graduation. To address equity issues, the proposal includes a plan for the state to buy some form of mobile-computing device for all high school students, but the expenditure would be offset by cuts to funding for teachers.
Now, lawmakers are seeking public comment, and it will go back before the board and then before the legislature in January 2012. However, the proposal is also slated to appear on the November 2012 ballot as part of a package of education changes for Idaho voters to weigh in on. That vote could ultimately derail the controversial plan.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there would be nearly the pushback we鈥檙e having if families and kids could make the choice, and if it wasn鈥檛 pulling dollars away from the teachers,鈥� says Dick Cvitanich, the superintendent of the 3,800-student . Students in his district are spread over 52 mountainous miles near the Canadian border, and often, he says, it鈥檚 hard to get Internet access in some of those areas.
鈥淲e have kids that live in the valleys with a lot of snow and obstructions to getting service,鈥� he says. 鈥淪ome are on dial-up, some have no service, and some have [satellite] dishes. At school, we can create a level playing field in terms of access to technology, but when kids go home, that level playing field will, by and large, not exist.鈥�
Online Options
While Cvitanich says he believes the concept is a good one, and would give students important experience with online learning, he argues it should be optional and shouldn鈥檛 force a choice between online courses and fewer face-to-face teachers.
Districts and schools are struggling to deal with the fairness of some of the requirements, says Matthew J. Wicks, the vice president of strategy and organizational development for the , or iNACOL, based in Vienna, Va.
鈥淭he issue of equity exists,鈥� he says. Working with community organizations and local libraries, as well as having school computer labs open before and after school hours can help, Wicks says.
鈥淒oes it make it an equal playground?鈥� he says of such arrangements. 鈥淎bsolutely not, but clearly there are things that can be done to provide sufficient access to be able to complete your course online.鈥�
For example, in Putnam County, not only does the district offer a variety of options for meeting the online requirement, but it also provides a limited number of laptops that can be checked out by students on an as-needed basis, says Airhart, the district director.
She points out that schools must continue to adapt to such needs even if they don鈥檛 have an online-learning requirement. 鈥淭he reality is, education is changing and we, as educators, need to change with it,鈥� she says. Other opportunities are also on the way, says Wicks. For example, the cable-TV provider Comcast Corp. pledged to boost broadband access in their service areas nationwide as part of its deal earlier this year to take over NBC Universal. The company is now touting its , which offers Internet access for $9.95 a month to families with students who qualify for free lunches under the National School Lunch Program.
The company is also offering the families enrolled a 鈥渘etbook-style laptop鈥� for $150, access to free digital-literacy training, and free Internet-security software. However, the program would only aid students who qualify and who are in the Comcast service area.
In Florida, which is kicking off its own statewide requirement for an online-learning credit with this year鈥檚 freshman class, there鈥檚 no shortage of online options, says Mary Jane Tappen, the deputy chancellor for K-12 curriculum, instruction, and student services for the Florida Department of Education. The state boasts the nation鈥檚 largest online school, the , which served 122,000 students during the 2010-11 school year, and individual districts in the state often offer their own virtual courses as well. n
