Arizona Parents Waffling on Online Schools

As the perceptions of online K-12 schools continue to develop, many parents and educators in Arizona are approaching online schools with skepticism.

Many parents across the state of Arizona are dubious about online schools. They question how a computer could possibly replace the passion, debate and experience of working with a teacher and in a classroom, write Anne Ryman and Pat Kossan at the AZ Central.

Research into online schooling is sparse at best, so while online schooling may be able to provide quality, comparative education, parents don’t believe there’s enough evidence to reassure them that this is the case.

Advocates of online education often cite a 2009 analysis by the U.S. Department of Education that closely examined online schooling from 1996 to 2008. The report concluded that, generally, students learning online overall “performed modestly better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”

In the report, “blended learning”, whereby online learning is combined with face-to-face instruction, performed better than those in online-only or face-to-face classes. However, online-only instruction appeared to be just as effective as traditional instruction, researchers said.

While many proponents of online schools take heed by this report, many researchers point to the fact that more than 90 percent of the studies over the 12 years dealt with courses at universities, community colleges or adults receiving professional training.

“Caution is required in generalizing to the K-12 population,” the report said.

Only five of the 45 studies reviewed involved K-12 students and not one of them was compared to face-to-face classes. Out of five K-12 studies yielded seven findings: Five findings favored blended learning over face to face, and two favored face to face over blended.

And it is because of this that many educators are more cautious than exponents about recommending that online learning is better for K-12 students.

Gene Glass, an education professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder, said that the lack of research “raises cautions that should favor pilot programs and careful evaluations rather than large-scale expansion of the sector.”

Many educators account for the difficulty for researchers to assess student achievement because of the high student turnover in the sector.

“We can be confident in saying (online education) may not be any better, but it isn’t any worse than (the regular classroom),” said Leanna Archambault, an education professor at ASU.

“We need to get away from asking the comparison question and find out what works in an online environment and what population does it work for and who benefits? We’re just starting to get into those questions,” she said.

Two online charter schools, iSchool2020 and Arizona Virtual Academy, have both launched blended models in Arizona.

Last year, Arizona Virtual Academy set up 17 hybrid centers, overseen by an adult who isn’t a certified teacher, though a couple of sites, such as the Mesa YMCA, have a few teachers on hand to help students.

“There are a finite number of families and kids who can truly support and be successful online,” said Mary Gifford, Arizona Virtual Academy’s founder.

“Hybrid is probably the wave of the future. Probably anyone can find some success there.”

Comments

Linda Brees

December 21, 2011 at 6:43 pm

I am not surprised by the skepticism. Online learning has a large self-direction component, and I am not sure students, especially younger ones, have quite the discipline to pull it off without a lot of supervision. High school, maybe, but elementary and middle school just seems too early.

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Kevin

December 21, 2011 at 6:47 pm

EdNews is determined to make me feel nostalgic today, I think. Reading about online schools reminds me of how I used to fantasize about learning from home, especially on early winter mornings right after my alarm went off. As a youngin’ I think I would have preferred the online-only approach, but from the article it seems that the blended model is probably an ideal compromise.

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wintertime

December 25, 2011 at 4:48 am

Why aren’t all courses in every grade available through the Internet? Hm? How hard would that be? Video a typical classroom teacher doing his or her thing for a particular day in a specific course and put it on-line! Not only that, but this information should be **free**. The taxpayer paid for it. There is no reason to keep it hidden.

To me, it seems like government schools are some sort of secret rite temple. Only those with the secret handshake are allowed to access the hidden knowledge and wisdom.

One more thing, the textbooks and teacher’s manuals for all curriculum taught in the government schools should be available in all community public libraries.

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wintertime

December 25, 2011 at 4:54 am

It does seem when it comes to anything that might reduce the number of government teachers, “educators” get ( Oh so!) cautious with warnings about more research being needed. But….When the newest, nutty, and trendy reading, math, or sex education is birthed from the mind of a university faculty member it is forced on the parents and children despite howls of objection from the community.

Well…I guess down on the Animal Farm those educational ideas from the anointed education priesthood live in the Farmer’s House. Anything smacking of freedom sleeps in the barn. OINK!

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ShaRae

January 19, 2012 at 10:24 am

The skepticism towards online learning does not come as a surprise. We’re dealing with a different type of culture than 20 years ago. Students are less focused and easily distracted. Online learning takes extreme discipline and self-motivation. Middle school students and some high school students may not be ready to take on this type of endeavor.

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