ONLINE CHARTER SCHOOLS: Evolution and Concerns

Record: Lisa H. Waters, Michael K. Barbour, and Michael P. Menchaca, “The Nature of Online Charter Schools: Evolution and Emerging Concerns” in Educational Technology & Society 17, no. 4 (2014): 379-389. [Full Article]

Summary: Waters is a Technology Integration Specialist at Flint Hill School in Oakton, Virginia. Barbour is the Director of Doctoral Studies for the Isabelle Farrington College of Education and an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Menchaca an Associate Professor with theDepartment of Learning Design and Technology at the University of Hawaii. Their goals for this literature review are to:

1. Provide a definition for online charter schools.
2. Describe how online charter schools have evolved.
3. Explain how they operate.
4. Discuss emerging concerns such as governance, funding and effectiveness.

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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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