Funding is also a factor. Patrick says sometimes the funding is the same as what a traditional school or charter school would receive, and other times it may be as low as 60 percent of a traditional school’s.
“If they don’t get the full funding, they have a hard time offering the support,” Patrick says.
Some have also criticized the quality of online schools run through charter management organizations. Recently, an investigation by The Plain Dealer in Ohio revealed the state was not including the performance of its online charter schools – even those that were failing – in its calculations of school ratings. That’s a problem because online charter schools in Ohio are among the lowest-performing in the sector, The Plain Dealer reports.
Still, there has been some research showing how online programs can be successful when implemented well. A 2009 study from iNACOL found that students who took all or some of their courses online, on average performed better than those taking the same course in a brick-and-mortar setting.The Department of Education also funded a three-year study to examine the effectiveness of West Virginia’s Virtual School Spanish program for middle school students, and found students in the online program performed as well as those in face-to-face Spanish classes.
“We’re really trying to push for ensuring that all of the online schools offered around the country are high-quality,” Patrick says. “The new online high school pilot is going to be really important for lots of students across Virginia.”
Article Appeared @http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/06/19/virginia-online-high-school-pilot-is-ahead-of-the-curve?int=a14709&int=a21a09&int=a2ab09