Virtual Classrooms

A study by the Pennsylvania Charter Performance Center found enrollment in online charter schools surged 59 percent in the 2020-21 school year. Boyertown School District estimated this exodus added $5.4 million to its costs.

A pivot to online tools over the past two years helped an Irving, Calif.-based company that allows entrepreneurs to build and sell educational content to increase its annual revenue by 250 percent.

The New York City Department of Education's "A School Without Walls" program includes a hybrid option which blends in-person and remote learning, and a virtual option with daily synchronous lessons in STEM or humanities.

Given the possibility of a looming enrollment "cliff," along with state funding declines, workforce needs and student expectations, the Iowa Board of Regents last week issued a report suggesting more online options.

Several metrics of student well-being failed to improve over the 2020-21 school year, from chronic absenteeism to graduation rate to behavioral incidents, feelings of safety and relationships with teachers.

Research by Human Rights Watch found that many ed-tech platforms have built-in mechanisms to track children’s online behavior for the benefit of advertisers or others, and legal oversight is very limited.

A report by the Center for Democracy & Technology says disabled students, who may need longer bathroom breaks, screen readers or dictation software, are more often flagged as suspicious by remote proctoring AI systems.

The editorial board of the Dallas Morning News cites a recent study from Harvard's Center for Education Policy Research that found that Black, Hispanic and high-poverty students fared worst during remote learning.

Special education professionals say the increasing use of technology in schools has, in some cases, helped by making families more involved and giving students a digital environment in which they feel comfortable.

The department thinks the schools could be labs of innovation to inform virtual learning practices throughout the district, but details on a start date, and who will teach and attend, are not yet public.

Carlisle Area School District is seeking state approval for a districtwide flexible instructional day program starting this fall that would give them options for dealing with snow days or other building closures.

In talking to students at The Dalton Academy, administrators found many liked the idea of four in-person learning days and one virtual day per week, but the idea of holding classes later in the day was less popular.

The Connecticut institution's Digital Innovation Hub for Educational Excellence will be virtual with an in-person component, offering students a chance to reskill in fields such as cybersecurity or behavioral health.

After a survey showed a clear preference among graduate students of the education program to have their classes online, the Maryland institution has decided to keep that program virtual on a permanent basis.

While most students are back in classrooms, virtual instruction is here to stay as a facet of education nationwide, and teachers from around the country have professional advice for making the most of it.

Universities are looking to expand courses hosting asynchronous and synchronous lectures both online and in person to meet student demands for flexible schedules in a post-pandemic landscape.

Teachers had little to no training when schools across the state made the emergency switch to remote instruction during COVID-19, and what followed was learning loss and problems with student behavior and mental health.

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office says virtual schools pose an "increased risk" to federal money that funds them, because they're far less monitored and publicly accountable than public schools.