by Bruce Friend
A recent policy brief by the National Educational Policy Center entitled, “Online K-12 Schooling in the U.S. – Uncertain Private Ventures in Need of Public Regulation” suggests that private organizations who have entered the space of online learning have benefited from, if not promoted, an unregulated and unaccountable system of educating students.
Those of us who are in our third decade of building and implementing high-quality online learning programs do not shy away from accountability. Indeed, online programs should be held to a standard of providing a high quality education while being fiscally responsible with public dollars; and so too should traditional public schools.
To spare readers from reading what I would confirm and dispute in the 24 pages of the report, let me address one of the final recommendations that the authors present and make a few comments based upon nearly 15 years of working in the online K-12 industry, with experience from the public and private perspective.
Authentication of the Source of Students’ Work. This is a challenge for all teachers, be they online or in a traditional classroom. In my years of teaching online and as an administrator of online programs, I have found it to be easier to identify students whose work that was not authentic compared my days in a traditional classroom. Solid online course design with randomized assessment and varying types of student projects, along with the wealth of data that can be traced to when, where, and how long a student accessed their online coursework provides educators with information that can help confirm the authenticity of student work. Even with the quality course design and available technologies, nothing is a replacement for the person relationship (aka “getting to know your students individually”) that should be build with students, whether they are online or face-to-face.
The report suggests that online programs have higher student-teacher ratio than traditional schools, which in turn increases the likelihood that students will trick the system into false achievement measures. Again, I go by my own experiences as a online educator and administrator when I say that my teacher-student ratios were the same, if not lower, in online classes compared to my traditional school classes. I found it much easier to know my online students personally and to give them more individualized instruction. While I won’t proclaim that all online programs are equal in this regard, to suggest that all online programs suffer from a lack of relationship building between students, teachers, and parents is both inaccurate and would seem to imply that traditional schools don’t have a similar challenge.
As for the other recommendations, there is little dispute in the online learning community that having highly qualified and capable teachers, accreditation of programs, and auditing for both fiscal and academic accountability should be an expectation. Perhaps it is a bit ironic that this report, which seems to suggest that private online companies are suffering from a lack of regulation, fails to highlight in great detail the fact that the public virtual charter schools that these companies often run are held to the same testing measures that states have for traditional schools and that state after state, it has been shown that their results are equal to, if not better, than many of the traditional schools; often with students who were not successful in the traditional school environment.
If you have questions about digital content and the use of online learning and what options may be available to you, e-mail me at: bruce.friend@sas.com
Bruce Friend is the Director of SAS® Curriculum Pathways®, an award-winning education resource that provides online lessons, engaging tools and activities at no cost to U.S. educators. Bruce has spent the past decade working in the field of online learning. He is a national pioneer in helping to establish the country’s first statewide online program and has been the chief administrator of two state virtual schools. He has been honored with the “Most Outstanding Achievement in Distance Education” award by the US Distance Learning Association and is a two-time recipient of the Florida Principal Achievement Award. Prior to joining SAS, Bruce was the Vice President of the International Association for K12 Online Learning; a non-profit organization that provides support to students, parents, and online learning programs.
A recent policy brief by the National Educational Policy Center entitled, “Online K-12 Schooling in the U.S. – Uncertain Private Ventures in Need of Public Regulation” suggests that private organizations who have entered the space of online learning have benefited from, if not promoted, an unregulated and unaccountable system of educating students.
Those of us who are in our third decade of building and implementing high-quality online learning programs do not shy away from accountability. Indeed, online programs should be held to a standard of providing a high quality education while being fiscally responsible with public dollars; and so too should traditional public schools.
To spare readers from reading what I would confirm and dispute in the 24 pages of the report, let me address one of the final recommendations that the authors present and make a few comments based upon nearly 15 years of working in the online K-12 industry, with experience from the public and private perspective.
Authentication of the Source of Students’ Work. This is a challenge for all teachers, be they online or in a traditional classroom. In my years of teaching online and as an administrator of online programs, I have found it to be easier to identify students whose work that was not authentic compared my days in a traditional classroom. Solid online course design with randomized assessment and varying types of student projects, along with the wealth of data that can be traced to when, where, and how long a student accessed their online coursework provides educators with information that can help confirm the authenticity of student work. Even with the quality course design and available technologies, nothing is a replacement for the person relationship (aka “getting to know your students individually”) that should be build with students, whether they are online or face-to-face.
The report suggests that online programs have higher student-teacher ratio than traditional schools, which in turn increases the likelihood that students will trick the system into false achievement measures. Again, I go by my own experiences as a online educator and administrator when I say that my teacher-student ratios were the same, if not lower, in online classes compared to my traditional school classes. I found it much easier to know my online students personally and to give them more individualized instruction. While I won’t proclaim that all online programs are equal in this regard, to suggest that all online programs suffer from a lack of relationship building between students, teachers, and parents is both inaccurate and would seem to imply that traditional schools don’t have a similar challenge.
As for the other recommendations, there is little dispute in the online learning community that having highly qualified and capable teachers, accreditation of programs, and auditing for both fiscal and academic accountability should be an expectation. Perhaps it is a bit ironic that this report, which seems to suggest that private online companies are suffering from a lack of regulation, fails to highlight in great detail the fact that the public virtual charter schools that these companies often run are held to the same testing measures that states have for traditional schools and that state after state, it has been shown that their results are equal to, if not better, than many of the traditional schools; often with students who were not successful in the traditional school environment.
If you have questions about digital content and the use of online learning and what options may be available to you, e-mail me at: bruce.friend@sas.com
Bruce Friend is the Director of SAS® Curriculum Pathways®, an award-winning education resource that provides online lessons, engaging tools and activities at no cost to U.S. educators. Bruce has spent the past decade working in the field of online learning. He is a national pioneer in helping to establish the country’s first statewide online program and has been the chief administrator of two state virtual schools. He has been honored with the “Most Outstanding Achievement in Distance Education” award by the US Distance Learning Association and is a two-time recipient of the Florida Principal Achievement Award. Prior to joining SAS, Bruce was the Vice President of the International Association for K12 Online Learning; a non-profit organization that provides support to students, parents, and online learning programs.
