VIRTUAL SCHOOLS IN THE U.S.: Directory and Performance Review (2016 Update)

Record: Gary Miron and Charisse Gulosino, Virtual Schools Report 2016: Directory and Performance Review. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center, (2016). [Available Here]

Introduction: This report is the fourth in an annual series published by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC). The first report in 2013 was followed by the 2014 report (reviewed here) and the 2015 report (reviewed here). I recommend reading the previous reviews first since this post will only cover the information that is new for 2016.

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VIRTUAL SCHOOLS IN THE U.S.: A Comprehensive Analysis, part 3

Record: Alex Molnar, ed., Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2014: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence (Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center, 2014).  Available here.

Summary: Part one of this report summarized recent legislative activity relative to virtual public schooling.  Part two surveyed the academic research on virtual schools.  Part three, which I review in this post, provides raw data on the number of online schools in operation, the providers that run them, and the students who attend them. 

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VIRTUAL SCHOOLS IN THE U.S.: A Comprehensive Analysis, part 2

Record: Alex Molnar, ed., Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2014: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence (Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center, 2014).  Available here.

Summary: This post summarizes the second of three sections of this report.  For a summary of section one, which surveys recent legislative activity concerning virtual schooling, click here.  For a summary of section three, which provides data about the number of online schools and the type of students attending them, click here.

Section two surveys the research literature on virtual schools.  It was written by Michael K. Barbour of Sacred Heart University.

Barbour begins with the general statement that despite the fact that we’ve had 20 years now of virtual schooling, the research base for this form of education remains very weak. 

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