The article I chose was published in 2013 by the National Education Association. It focused on some of the negative aspects of for-profit virtual classrooms, most notably the tendency for these programs to focus more on profit margins than student performance/success.
Virtual schools are rapidly expanding, with over 275,000 students taking online classes during the 2011-2012 school year. Yet while these online programs are gaining popularity, studies are proving that this school model is not as effective as traditional school models. Only 23.6% of virtual schools made Adequate Yearly Progress during the 2010-2011 school year, while traditional/charter schools had 52% AYP. However, virtual schools gained traction so quickly, before any significant research could be done on them, and now almost 40 states allow students the option to enroll in these types of programs. Further, these virtual schools are being treated as public institutions and are receiving funds from the state. A recent report indicated that some of the largest cyberschools spent upwards of 100 million dollars on advertising alone, meaning that tax-payer money is being spent on promoting a for-profit business.
At this point in time, I am not a proponent of virtual schools. On the one hand, I would rather students complete a virtual program than drop out of school, but on the other hand I feel like virtual schools cannot replace traditional schools. Students need to have face-to-face interactions with their teachers and peers in order to develop adequate social skills, and this component is left out of the virtual model. And when you consider that many of these programs seem more concerned about profits than student success, it feels like they are robbing funds that should be going to traditional public schools.
http://neatoday.org/2013/05/17/virtual-schools-profits-far-exceeding-performance/
Laura, I have similar feelings to you about virtual schools. I think that they have some benefits, like for students who maybe cannot attend the traditional school setting, but I have concerns especially for younger elementary aged students. Social skills and face to face interactions can make a significant difference for students.
ReplyDeleteTraditional public schools must pay cyber charters for every child who leaves their school for a cyber charter (in PA alone, the amount was $1 billion taken out of their underfunded public schools!) It was very interesting that you pointed out that only 23.6% of virtual schools made AYP. The article I read pointed out that they have insufficient monitoring of their testing. Wonder if that statistic would be even lower if they had the same strict procedures as we do during TCAP. I agree that many of these programs are more concerned with profits than school success. They are robbing funds from public schools.
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