Florida poised to make big splash in online education

Supporters say expanding the Virtual School prepares children for college and work, eases teacher shortages in critical areas and helps kids learn at their pace.

It's been 14 years since Florida started teaching children online, and the state now is a national leader with the largest virtual K-12 school in the country.

And that might just be for starters.

Lawmakers are considering requiring every student in public school to take at least one online course before graduating, a move that would dramatically expand virtual education in Florida.

Members of the state House of Representatives K-12 Education Innovation Subcommittee are preparing legislation aimed at addressing a number of ideas; that bill could include the online expansion, as well as potentially allowing for the creation of virtual charter schools. The bill would line up with Gov. Rick Scott's stated goal of expanding virtual education.

Over in the Senate, Education Committee Chairman Stephen Wise on Friday filed a bill that would require school districts to set up digital curriculums for students in grades 5 through 12, mandating the instruction of the computer competency courses, but not requiring passing the courses to graduate from high school.

Wise's bill would also make the state Department of Education create an annual competition among school districts to recognize innovative Web design and use of Internet technologies to improve communication and commerce

Advocates for virtual education in K-12 say it's about more than just saving money; it's about preparing children for college and the workplace, addressing teacher shortages in some critical areas and helping kids learn at their own pace.

At the same time, even the most ardent advocates of online learning say expanding the number of virtual classes is not a panacea. Online learning must be done smartly and is best when blended with traditional learning rather than supplanting it.

While some courses can be designed to suit most children, advocates say, there are some kids who are highly social and need interaction with other students to learn best.

The idea to mandate online education for everyone, said House Education Innovation Subcommittee chairwoman Rep. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, came from officials in higher education concerned that students were arriving in college unprepared for the fact a number of their classes are taught online.

That was echoed by Julie E. Young, president of Florida Virtual School, who said, "The idea that in today's world we would graduate a student from high school without exposure to learning online is, I think, a little irresponsible."

On the other side of the coin, Stargel said, schools need to catch up with children, who often are more comfortable with technology than adults.

"I think we're moving in the direction of encouraging it," she said. "The students are there. They're ready to learn. They're totally comfortable in front of a computer ... We just need to make sure the system is in place so they don't have to feel like they're stepping back in time when they step into the classroom."

Florida Virtual School, with more than 213,000 course enrollments, is by far the largest state-operated online school in the United States. Available free to all Florida students, the school is considered a public school district with an annual budget of $110 million and 22,500 full-time enrollments, with each enrollment equivalent to six courses, Young said.

Last year, 125,000 students completed courses with the school, a number projected to grow by 25 percent this year. Additionally, about 20,000 students statewide take classes through Florida Virtual School franchises set up for local school districts.

The school has made efforts to close the so-called digital divide - the difficulty of lower income students to afford the equipment and online access. Partnering with Everest University, Florida Virtual recently opened its 29th virtual learning center at the Central City YMCA on East Palm Avenue in Tampa. The center is equipped with 10 netbooks and is one of two in the state that has a full-time teacher to help kids with their online classes.

Richard Newton, 16, one of the YMCA's "teen achievers," said he plans to take a geometry class online over the summer so he has more free time in the fall to play football.

The vast majority of Florida Virtual School Students are enrolled in one to three courses, obtaining most of their schooling in traditional public schools or at home.

Florida Virtual School has grown at a rate of about 35 percent to 40 percent a year for the last six years, Young said, and is planning to grow another 10 percent to 15 percent next year. If the state mandates participation for all students, the school could double in two or three years.

Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the state teachers union, said he has a lot of questions about how such a large expansion would work.

"There's nothing inherently wrong with virtual school, but we do believe that it can't be a replacement in total for the school experience," he said. "You learn more than course work in school," including how to interact with people who are different than you, dealing with authority figures and participating in discussions.

"There are definite positives in it," Pudlow said, "but we have a tendency in Florida to jump into something just because somebody thinks it's a good idea, and we don't always look at the research."

Experts say more research needs to be done on the best ways to implement online learning for K-12 students, but the research that is out there shows it to be as effective or slightly more effective than traditional school.

"There's tremendous promise in lots of ways, but there's also still a lot of questions," said Raegen Miller, associate director for education research at the Center for American Progress, a think tank that promotes progressive values. "When you have fairly substantial public funds in this difficult-to-pin-down service delivery, you start to have basic questions about fiscal prudence."

In 2007, Florida Tax Watch released a study concluding that Florida Virtual School costs less than traditional school, and its students outperformed other students in grades and FCAT and Advanced Placement scores.

The state spends about $6,800 per student in traditional public schools, with another $836 per student spent on capital costs, while the Florida Virtual School receives about $5,180 per full-time enrollment - the cost for six courses - with no capital expenditures.

Young said the school saves money because it doesn't have the capital expenses of traditional schools and doesn't have to spend on things like cafeterias and student transportation. But it does have to pay more for technology, and school employees have higher travel expenses.

While per-student funding decreased by $229 statewide since 2007, it dropped by $1,282 in the same period for Florida Virtual School, largely because the virtual school lost funds aimed at reducing class sizes.

The class-size law does not apply to Florida Virtual School, according to Young, who said the school maintains a ratio of about 23 students to one teacher for each class. Teachers are available to talk to students on the telephone 12 hours a day, 365 days a year, she said.

But one expert cautioned that virtual schooling is not an answer to state budget problems.

Bill Tucker, managing director of Education Sector, which describes itself as an independent think tank, said programs have to be thoughtfully implemented. "Florida, I think, is roundly acknowledged across the country as having the best state virtual school both in terms of numbers and in terms of qualities and inventiveness, just how inventive it is," Tucker said.

"There can be some real efficiencies," he added. "It can be very cost-effective and it's been proven that way. But if legislators are looking to do this on the cheap, then it's not going to work."

Tucker and another expert, Michael Horn, said that while the quality of Florida Virtual School is widely acknowledged, that's not always true with other online programs in the state.

Every school district is required by law to set up its own virtual learning program, and experts say those smaller programs are not as well regarded as Florida Virtual School, even though 42 districts make use of franchises of the state online school.

While Horn noted that Florida Virtual School receives funding only for students who successfully complete courses, the law is set up to give local school districts incentives to operate low-cost online instruction. That leads to uneven quality in those programs, said Tucker and Horn, executive director of education at Innosight Institute, a San Francisco-based research organization.

Young said the funding cuts have been a challenge, as is the continuing expansion of the school.

"I think that growth is a blessing and a curse," she said. "Anytime that you grow quickly, you have to make sure that every day, with every component of your organization, that you are planning that growth to maintain that quality."

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