With a vast array of information just clicks away, the Internet is quickly becoming the go-to resource for K-12 students. More than 1 million students now are taking online classes, according to a new Sloan Consortium study, and researchers expect that number to increase in the next few years. Here's a summary of the survey.
NEEDHAM, MASS. -- The Sloan Consortium reports significant growth in online learning among the nation's elementary and secondary school students. It is estimated that more than 1 million students are now taking classes online -- a 47 percent increase from the Sloan Consortium's original K-12 study done two years earlier. "K-12 Online Learning: A 2008 Follow-up of the Survey of U.S. School District Administrators" finds the vast majority of American school districts are providing some form of online learning and even more plan to do so within the next three years. The complete survey is available at www.sloanconsortium.org.
"Survey results indicate that online learning is meeting a wide range of student needs from remedial to accelerated instruction," said Anthony G. Picciano, professor, School of Education, Hunter College and Graduate Center of the City University of New York. "In particular, it provides the ability to offer coursework that is otherwise unavailable at a child's school, which we find to be especially significant in rural districts."
Four out of five school districts use more than one provider of online classes, including postsecondary institutions, virtual schools within a district's home state, independent vendors and education service agencies. Among the barriers and issues perceived as most significant for school districts are concerns about course quality and costs related to course development. These concerns are similar to those seen in the original study.
"We are seeing online learning grow in relevance and acceptance throughout education," said Frank Mayadas, program director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and president, Sloan Consortium. "Two out of three school districts expected further growth in their enrollments for online course while 61 percent expect growth in their enrollments for blended courses."
The Sloan Consortium's K-12 online study -- conceived and developed by Anthony G. Picciano, Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and Jeff Seaman, Babson College; and funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation -- consists of responses from 867 public school district chief administrators representing every region and all 50 states in the country.
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