K-12 Online Learning

Transcription

1 New Learning Models: Providing a Customized Education for All Students Matthew Wicks inacol, Chief Operating Officer

2 International Association for K-12 Online Learning (inacol) inacol is the leading, international, non-profit association in K-12 online learning. Based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area (Vienna, VA) members in K-12 districts, states, universities, researchers & online learning providers Provides leadership, advocacy, research, training and networking with experts in K-12 online learning. Ensure every student has access to the best education available regardless of geography, income or background. Conference - Virtual School Symposium (VSS) in Orlando (October 27-30, 2013)

3 Providing Opportunities to All Students Accelerated Students Traditional Public/Private Credit Recovery Need to work and/or support family Medically Fragile Rural Students Home Schoolers Special Education and ELL Aspiring athletes and performers

4 What Does Opportunity Look Like? Students who need or want supplemental online courses have access to them without barriers of cost, scheduling, transferability of credit, etc. Students who need or want a full-time online program have access to one or more without restrictions based on prior school setting, district permissions, caps, etc. Schools implement blended learning Opportunities will be of high quality

5 Definitions Online learning is teacher-led education that takes place over the Internet, with the teacher and student separated geographically, using a web-based educational delivery system that includes software to provide a structured learning environment. It may be synchronous (communication in which participants interact in real-time, such as online video) or asynchronous (communication separated by time, such as or online discussion forums). It may be accessed from multiple-settings (in school and/or out of school buildings). Blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace, and at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar located away from home.

6 Definitions Supplemental online programs provide a small number of courses to students who are enrolled in a school separate from the online program. Fully online schools also called cyberschools, work with students who are enrolled primarily (often only) in the online school. Cyberschools typically are responsible for their students scores on state assessments. In some states, most full-time online schools are charter schools. These definitions come from 2012 Keeping Pace in K-12 Online and Blended Learning, Evergreen Education Group and Classifying K-12 Blended Learning, Clayton Christensen Institute (formerly Innosight Institute). A more complete set of definitions are contacted in inacol s, The Online Learning Definitions Project.

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8 Total Online/Blended Students The total number of students taking part in all of these programs is unknown, but is likely several million, or slightly more than 5% of the total K-12 student population across the United States. We stress, however, that we estimate this by triangulating from close to a dozen sources. No single source is comprehensive Keeping Pace

9 Numbers: state virtual schools 620,000 course enrollments in state virtual schools 16% annual increase (19% last year) FLVS is (still) about 50% of the SVS enrollments across the country

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11 Numbers: fully online schools Available in 31 states and Washington DC Estimated 275,000 full-time online students States with established online schools growing at ~15% annually (with outliers)

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13 Competency-Based Education

14 Competency-Based Pathways Design Principles 1. Students Advance Upon Mastery 2. Explicit and Measurable Learning Objectives That Empower Students 3. Assessment is Meaningful and a Positive Learning Experience for Students

15 National Standards for Quality Online Programs, Online Teaching & Online Courses

16 We view inacol s role as doing what it takes to ensure that the field reaches its full potential Where we seek to be All students have access to online and blended models The models are effective in developing their college- and career-readiness Where we are today Where we could well arrive Some students have access to online and blended models The effectiveness of these models in developing college- and careerreadiness is largely unknown and likely varies widely All students have access to online and blended models But many or most of these models are no more effective than traditional classroom instruction

17 Achieving the destination we seek is likely to be a multi-stage process, with progress made one step at a time Where we seek to be Quality 2.0 All students have access to online and blended models Where we are today Some students have access to online and blended models Models may meet programmatic, input guidelines (e.g., teacherstudent ratios) Quality 1.0 A growing number of students have access to online and blended models Models meet programmatic guidelines, output standards (e.g., completion), and/or outcome standards based on current generation state assessments The majority of students have access to online and blended models Models are effective in developing college-ready knowledge and skills Models are aligned to the Common Core or other college- and career-ready standards and develop student competency, as demonstrated by proficiency on benchmark assessments Models enable them to become college-ready, including students who require significant competency gain in order to progress Models are aligned to the Common Core or other collegeand career-ready standards and support significant gains in competency, as demonstrated by growth on benchmark assessments

18 Quality: Moving Beyond Inputs inacol released a publication in October, 2012, funded by Gates Foundation, Measuring Quality from Inputs to Outcomes: Creating Student Learning Performance Metrics and Quality Assurance for Online Schools Proficiency Individual Student Growth Graduation Rate College and Career Readiness Closing the Achievement Gap -quality-standards/

19 Performance Based Funding Having accepted outcomes based quality measures will facilitate performance based funding Performance Based Funding already exists in limited cases, primarily with a focus on completion as opposed to more sophisticated performance measures Individual course choice will help drive performance based funding

20 Funding of Online Learning How much does/should online learning cost? Funding should follow the student. This is much more likely to happen for full-time online learning, although this doesn t necessarily mean funding of online learning is handled the same as for brick-and-mortar schools. Some states divide FTE funding to the course level which is helpful for funding following the student for supplemental programs.

21 Questions Matthew Wicks