Corrected: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Utah has an online learning high school graduation requirement.
Lawmakers in Utah recently mandated that school districts allow high school students to take online courses from state-approved providers. In Florida, large districts must give students online-course options from at least three different providers. Recent legislation in Georgia altered the funding structure for students who take virtual courses; the action provides an incentive for districts to encourage students to try online classes.
In recent years, several states have enacted laws that require more choices for students who want to try taking courses online, outside the offerings of brick-and-mortar school districts. In some cases, such legislation鈥攁s in Florida鈥攊s a companion to requirements that students take at least one online course before graduating from high school.
The new reality of such requirements, however, means that districts are often facing a significant change in the way they provide options to students. In some places, the legislation has even introduced a level of competition among providers鈥攚hich sometimes are the districts themselves鈥攊n an effort to boost the quality of offerings. At times, the measures have spawned new methods of cooperation and collaboration.
鈥淪tates are starting to recognize there are a variety of ways that online courses can be provided, and there鈥檚 a desire to make sure students can access those,鈥� said Matthew Wicks, the chief operating officer for the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, or iNACOL, in Vienna, Va. 鈥淭here鈥檚 now a very strong motivation to provide choice options, which is certainly very different from the dominant way things are currently set up.鈥�
Utah state lawmakers adopted legislation in 2011 mandating that high school students be permitted to take individual online courses from any local education agency in the state, said Sean Thomas, an audit and finance specialist for the state office of education. But it鈥檚 up to students and their parents to seek out the options and request a course.
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Some states are now mandating that districts provide students with a variety of choices for how they use online learning opportunities. States and districts are also working on how to use a range of technology tools to access online courses. Join two experts who can help educators make the right choices for what to offer students.
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鈥淭his bill really put the control in the hands of the parents and the students to go to their district or charter school and say, 鈥業 want to take courses in this online program,鈥� 鈥� Mr. Thomas said.
The state pays a fee, which varies based on the type of course, to the provider; the average one-credit course is $549, said Cory Kanth, a statewide online education program specialist for the Utah education department. The fee spurred many districts to seek out ways to keep their students in-house, Ms. Kanth said, and since the law鈥檚 enactment, some districts have formed consortia in an effort to attract students seeking online courses.
鈥淎 really positive outcome of this law is that, as a result, districts are developing their own programs, giving students a lot more options,鈥� she said.
Full-Time Online Charter School Enrollments:
SOURCE: Center for Education Reform Data
Full-Time Online Charter Schools:
SOURCE: Center for Education Reform Data
Number of States With Statewide Online Learning Options:
SOURCE: Evergreen Education Group
That鈥檚 what happened in the 66,000-student Davis school district in Farmington, Utah. The district formed a coalition with seven other districts to provide online education to students, said Sue Winkler, the district鈥檚 online schools administrator, who also oversees the Utah Students Connect consortium.
鈥淲hen the law came through, there was a group [of districts] that got together to figure out how to use what we already had,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e realized we already had great teachers and great curricula here.鈥�
Through the consortium, each district contributes teachers, time, and curricula, and no money changes hands for services. The contributions are based on a percentage of students from each district using the consortium鈥檚 resources. The consortium has only been around for one school year, but so far has worked well, according to Ms. Winkler, who pointed out that it has had an added benefit: the collaboration with educators from other districts.
During the 2011-12 school year, 1,300 students took courses through the consortium. Only eight students went outside the consortium to seek out other online-course providers. 鈥淪o really, [the consortium] is doing what was intended,鈥� Ms. Winkler said.
Florida鈥檚 Growing Options
Florida in the past few years has passed numerous laws boosting online learning, including a requirement that students take at least one online course before graduation; over time, state lawmakers have made it easier to do just that.
In addition to opening the door for the state鈥檚 largest virtual school, the Florida Virtual School, to provide online courses to students in elementary through high school, the state has forbidden districts to deny a student access to a FLVS class鈥攅ven if the district offers the same one鈥攁nd a district may not limit the number of classes a student can take through FLVS.
But students鈥� choices aren鈥檛 restricted to FLVS, the largest state-sponsored virtual school in the country, which had nearly 260,000 half-credit enrollments during the 2011-12 school year. Florida鈥檚 larger districts must give students at least three options for providers of online courses, said Patricia Levesque, the executive director of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a Tallahassee-based organization founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
One of those options is often the districts themselves, FLVS, or one of a handful of other providers approved by the state, said Sally Roberts, an educational policy consultant for the Florida education department. The goal was to give students more online educational options, but the enactment of the requirements in 2011 didn鈥檛 prompt a huge surge in online enrollments, Ms. Roberts said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 like the top blew off a volcano,鈥� she said, though online enrollments have continued to rise.
At first, Ms. Roberts said, districts were concerned about meeting the requirements. However, 鈥渁s districts gain experience, they鈥檝e embraced this,鈥� she said.
Melissa Carr, the coordinator of online learning for the 60,000-student Volusia County, Fla. schools, said that in the past her district did offer limited online options, which have expanded since the passage of the new online-choice laws. The district has contracted with the online-course provider Compass Learning, based in Austin, Texas, to build the district鈥檚 own courses for a future option, but currently offers online courses through FLVS, for-profit course provider K-12 Inc., and the Pasco eSchool, a virtual school operated by the 67,000-student Pasco County district, based in Land O鈥橪akes, Fla.
The Volusia County district is also trying to satisfy students who want some online learning by creating a new pilot program for high school focused on blended learning, which mixes online learning and face-to-face instruction. In the 2012-13 school year, the district will be trying to extend the reach of outstanding teachers through technology in an effort have them work with a greater number of students, Ms. Carr said.
The law 鈥渉as given us a little catalyst to have perhaps some more freedom and some more ambitious goals,鈥� she said.
Recruiting Virtual Students
Online-choice legislation may have another consequence as well, one that is just starting to percolate in Florida districts, said Ms. Levesque of the Foundation for Excellence in Education.
The e-learning advocacy group Digital Learning Now! has created a report card for each state, rating digital-friendly policies and practices from coast to coast. Each report card provides numerical ratings in 10 different categories or 鈥渆lements of high-quality digital learning.鈥� Each element is scored based on a number of metrics鈥�72 over all the categories.
The map featured here highlights each state鈥檚 rating for offering quality choices for digital learning. The number given to each state reflects how many of the 13 total metrics have been achieved in this category. The quality-choices category evaluates states on measures such as whether state law authorizes digital providers; whether a state offers public options for digital learning; whether funding is equitable for any form of virtual school (public, charter, or forprofit); and whether a state has a website to provide the public with information about digital learning opportunities.
See the Digital Learning Now! interactive report card map.
SOURCE: Digital Learning Now!
Part of the law says that districts can鈥檛 bar their students from seeking out online courses from other districts.
鈥淜ids can take virtual courses across district lines,鈥� Ms. Levesque said. 鈥淪ome districts are just starting to understand they can now recruit students to their district by offering innovative courses online.鈥�
Adam Emerson, a school choice analyst for the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Institute, said online-choice legislation over the past few years has had a direct impact on offerings for students, particularly in Florida.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen a lot more efforts to customize education and to think of virtual school as less of a unitary thing, or just one option,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e seeing a greater menu of options opening up for students in Florida to get an online education.鈥�
But, of course, in most cases, wherever the student goes, the money follows. So in Georgia, when lawmakers wanted the option of online courses to be seen as positive鈥攁nd not a penalty鈥攆or school districts, they passed new legislation. The law, which takes effect for the 2012-13 school year, means districts lose significantly less money when students take courses through virtual schools.
Typically, districts are paid between $360 and $800 per student, per course, said Bob Swiggum, the chief information officer for the Georgia education department, but the Georgia Virtual School needs only about $250 to teach each course. The new legislation allows districts to keep the difference when a student takes an online class, Mr. Swiggum said.
The state-run Georgia Virtual School is not designed to be a full-time option, and districts are allowed to deny a student access to a virtual course if the district offers a competing class.
鈥淚t was a way to make the state virtual school more attractive,鈥� Mr. Swiggum said. 鈥淭he hope is that more people will utilize virtual courses when they鈥檙e not available through brick-and-mortar schools.鈥�
