Conclusiones financieras y evaluación de viabilidad

Operations

Year started Spring semester 1996

Program type Supplemental and full-time, courses are self-paced, with the end date one year from the original enrollment date.

Grade level 4-12 Number of course registrations/

students 2,000 course registrations from Summer 2005 to Spring 2006

Funding

Funding sources The program generates 90 percent of its revenue through course fees and site licenses. Additional funding comes from the state general fund. Course fees $110 per semester course for state residents, $119 for nonresidents

Site licenses range from $800 for sites with 11–30 users, to $2,850 for sites with 151–300 users; schools provide the teacher for these users.

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Courses and teachers

Number of courses, % licensed/ homegrown

91 high school courses and 8 middle school courses are online All homegrown

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Number of teachers 24 teachers; 14 full-time, 8 half-time; this includes both print and online Are teachers highly qualified

under NCLB? All Are teaching online skills provided in PD?

Teachers attend in-services regarding online instruction at least twice per year. Other in-services regarding technology and/or online applications are provided as necessary. Currently, all are provided face-to-face. Formal teacher evaluation? All teachers are evaluated by the Principal.

Teacher communication

requirements? Teachers must reply to student work within three days of receipt.

Accountability

Measuring student outcomes Completion rate Measures that are common with

face-to-face programs None

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Governance The Division of Independent Study is an agency of state government. Governed by a state board, the K–12 Educational Technology Council.

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Accreditation/Evaluation Accreditation by North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, and Commission on International and Trans- Regional Accreditation (CITA)

Equity and access

Types of students No particular student populations are focused on in practice or policy. Any equity initiatives No formal initiatives

Support for at-risk students No formal policies

7 .10 Ohio

Category

Yes/No Comments

State-led program No

Other major programs or cyberschools Yes 41 eCommunity Schools

State-level online education policy Yes Legislation in 2005 put a moratorium on new eCommunity schools.

As of August 2006, Ohio has 41 eCommunity (charter) schools that served 20,750 students in FY 2006.39 _{These include seven statewide schools. A community school is similar to}

charter schools in other states. An eCommunity school is an Internet- or computer-based community school in which the enrolled students work primarily from their residences. eCommunity schools first opened for the 2000–2001 school year. Legislation adopted in April 2003 provided additional guidance for their operation. Legislation enacted in 2005 imposed a moratorium on new eCommunity schools until the general assembly adopts standards for the schools, due to a number of concerns including:

Fast growth of some of the eCommunity schools coupled with a lack of additional standards (beyond those captured in the 2003 legislation and the general charter law) Low state assessment participation rates and aggregate test scores by some

eCommunity schools (In the year since passage of the 2005 legislation, most of the eCommunity schools moved up one level on Ohio’s school report card system.) Enrollment of students in eCommunity schools has contributed to decreased enrollment in many public school districts.

Funding issues; because state funding follows the student, districts lose most of the state foundation funding (but none of the local funding) associated with students who go to the eCommunity schools.

As of August 2006 the eCommunity School standards had not yet been proposed. Other aspects of the legislation are covered in the following table.

39 _{Information in this section is based on the 2004-2005 Annual Report on Ohio Community Schools, interviews}

with staff at the Ohio Department of Education, and legislation passed in 2005, House Bill 66.; retrieved August 8, 2006, from http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/BillText126/126_HB_66_EN1_N.html

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Ohio has conducted two of the most comprehensive analyses of the cost of online education, looking specifically at the eCommunity schools. The study, by the former Legislative Committee on Education Oversight, found that eCommunity schools spent $5,382 per student, compared to $7,452 per student for other community schools, and $8,437 per student for school districts. The study also concluded that these costs were “reasonable.”40

State policies

Funding

Community schools, including eCommunity schools, receive state funds directly from the state; these funds have been transferred from school district allocations.h

eCommunity schools no longer are eligible to receive poverty-based funding. Beginning in FY 2007, each eCommunity school shall spend a designated amount for pupil instruction or face a possible fine of up to 5% of state payments to the school.

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Teaching and curriculum

Each eCommunity school must have an “affiliation” with at least one “teacher of record” licensed by the State Board of Education. The “teacher of record is responsible for the overall academic development and achievement of a student and not merely the student’s instruction in a single subject.”

No teacher of record can be responsible for more than 125 students.

Each eCommunity school must provide a minimum of 920 hours of “learning opportunities” to students per school year. Only 10 hours in any 24-hour period can count toward this total. eCommunity schools can count student learning in terms of days instead of hours; in this case, a “day” must consist of at least five hours.

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Accountability for student achievement

eCommunity schools must administer the state-developed achievement tests and diagnostic assessments in the same manner as school districts, and must provide students a location within 50 miles of the student’s residence for the assessments.

Whenever an eCommunity school student fails to participate in the spring administration of a grade-level achievement test for two consecutive school years, the school must withdraw that student from enrollment unless the parent pays tuition equal to the state funds the school otherwise would receive for that student. eCommunity schools must report these students to the state, the state must maintain a list of these students, and no eCommunity school will receive funds for students appearing on this list.

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Equity and access

Each eCommunity school “must submit to its sponsor a plan for providing special education and related services to disabled students enrolled in the school.”

Each child enrolled in an eCommunity school is entitled to a computer supplied by the school. If there is more than one child per household, the parent can request fewer computers than children enrolled in the school.

eCommunity schools may not provide a stipend in lieu of a computer; they must provide an actual computer

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40 _{Legislative Committee on Education Oversight, The Operating Costs of Ohio’s eCommunity Schools; retrieved August 11, 2006,}

from http://www.loeo.state.oh.us/reports/PreEleSecPDF/eSchools2_Web.pdf

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