Our study has raised more questions than we initially sought to answer. A list of questions for future research is included in below.
Do K12 and other providers of full-time virtual schools admit students after the autumn head count? If so, what are the policies and practices concerning how these providers fill places?
Why are Hispanics and students classified as English language learners so much less likely to enroll in full-time virtual schools?
How does K12 serve students with disabilities in a virtual environment? If K12 is not spending on special education teacher salaries, how is it spending the revenues it receives for children with disabilities?
Among the students with special needs who enroll in K12 and other providers of full-time virtual schooling, what is the breakdown in terms of special education categories and intensity of needs?
What are the actual or true per pupil costs for educating students in a full-time virtual school environment? How do the costs change from the initial start-up year of a new virtual school compared to the costs for an established full-time virtual school?
What are the per pupil costs for the proprietary curriculum, and what are the per pupil cost for access to learning platforms?
K12 spends more on administration than comparison groups although most of the administration expenses are unspecified, and only a small portion of the
administration spending is devoted to salaries and benefits for administrators. How does K12 spend its resources for administration?
What is the overall demand for places in full-time virtual schools? Is it likely that K12 and other providers may have to work harder to retain these students in the future or can these providers continue to rely on replacement to maintain their enrollment levels?
How are brick-and-mortar district or charter schools impacted by full-time virtual schools?81
Does enrollment in K12 and other providers of full-time virtual schooling fit well with the possible enrollees? Which students are best served by these schools, and are they the ones who are enrolling? What are the characteristics of students and their families, that enroll in full-time virtual schools and that perform well or poorly in those schools?
In addition to this study, several other audits and evaluations found that students in full-time virtual schools were behind in math and reading, although students were further behind in math and this gap widened over the grades. Why do students in full-time virtual schools lose more ground in math than in reading relative to comparison groups? Is this because math instruction is more difficult in an on-line environment, is it because this model relies more heavily on parents as instructors, and as math becomes more complex and difficult, parents are less able to guide and support their children, or is it for some other reason?
How do providers of full-time virtual schools staff their schools? What are the background characteristics and qualifications of teachers in full-time virtual schools? How are teachers prepared to work in an online environment?
Is the curriculum used by K12 Inc. adequate and properly aligned with state standards? Does K12 modify the curriculum for various states? Are the especially weak results in math due to the K12 curriculum, to instruction-related problems, or to something else?
What are the working conditions of teachers, including numbers of students they work with and the amount of time they devote to group instruction and to one-on- one instruction? How do teachers work with parents who oversee or lead
instruction?
What is the actual attrition rate at K12 and other providers of full-time virtual schooling, and what is the breakdown of reasons for this attrition?
How do K12 and other providers of full-time virtual schooling address the attrition – and the resulting lower numbers of students as the school year progresses – in terms of staffing? Is the teacher-student ratio much higher in the fall than in the spring, do they lay off teachers, or is it handled in some other way?
In addition to these questions, we have included in Appendix F a list of research questions highlighted by a May 2012 review of literature related to online schooling conducted by the Center for Public Education.82
Conclusion
With the rapid expansion of full-time virtual schools, and with the outsized political involvement of key companies that aim to extend market share, the world of online learning is becoming increasingly controversial. Aside from proclamations of politicians and advocates, claims that full-time virtual school are working are not substantiated by empirical evidence. This report reviewed an array of publicly available performance indicators for schools operated by K12 Inc. and all of these indicators indicate weak performance.
While we share the excitement of new technologies and the potential these have to improve communication, teacher effectiveness, and learning, we remain convinced that
policymakers should embrace these schools only after piloting and thoroughly vetting this new model for schooling.
Although this report is modest in scope, we hope that the findings will encourage
policymakers to act more cautiously in the political arena, where companies such as K12 Inc. apparently exert considerable influence. Also, we hope this study will cause
researchers, educators, and others to look more closely at full-time virtual schools. To truly understand productivity, one needs sound evidence of outcomes and an accurate understanding of inputs such as characteristics of students entering the school, and public monies received and spent by the school.83 Though this report focuses only on a single
provider of virtual schools, it is our hope that its description of evidence from diverse public sources on inputs and outcomes has helped to further our understanding of the potential and limits of full-time virtual schools. We also hope this report can inform policies that will improve this new model of schooling and help to ensure that full-time virtual schools better serve students and the public school system as a whole.
Appendices
Six appendices containing detailed data are available as a separate document: Appendix A. Demographic Characteristics of Students Enrolled in K12 Schools
Appendix B. Details on Publicly Reported Revenues and Expenditures for K12 Schools Appendix C. State Performance Ratings, Adequate Yearly Progress Status, and Reasons for
Not Meeting AYP
Appendix D. Performance of K12 Schools n State Reading Assessments Appendix E. Performance of K12 School on State Math Assessments
Appendix F. Questions about Online Learning for Policymakers and School Leaders from the Center for Public Education Study