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As proponents continue to make the case that virtual education can expand student choices and improve the efficiency of public education, full-time virtual schools have attracted a great deal of attention. Advocates contend that this potential for individualization allows virtual schools to promote greater student achievement than can be realized in traditional brick-and-mortar schools. NEPC researchers found, however, that the research evidence does not support this claim. This three-part brief provides disinterested scholarly analyses of the characteristics and performance of full-time, publicly funded K-12 virtual schools; reviews the relevant available research related to virtual school practices; provides an overview of recent state legislative efforts to craft virtual schools policy; and offers policy recommendations based on the available evidence.

In the five years since the first National Education Policy Center (NEPC) "Annual Report on Virtual Education" was released in 2013, virtual education has continued to be a focal point for policymakers. Proponents argue that virtual education can expand student choices and improve the efficiency of public education. In particular, full-time virtual schools (also sometimes referred to as virtual charter schools, virtual academies, online schools or cyber schools) have attracted a great deal of attention. Many believe that online curriculum can be tailored to individual students more effectively than curriculum in traditional classrooms, giving it the potential to promote greater student achievement than can be realized in traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Further, the promise of lower costs--primarily for instructional personnel and facilities--makes virtual schools financially appealing to both policymakers and for-profit providers. The assumption that virtual schools are cost effective and educationally sound, coupled with policies expanding school choice and providing market incentives attractive to for-profit companies, continue to help fuel virtual school growth in the U.S. There is, however, little high-quality systematic evidence that the rapid expansion of the past several years is wise. Indeed, evidence presented in the NEPC annual reports argues for caution. Nevertheless, the movement toward virtual schools continues to gather steam, often supported by weak or even dishonest data. For example, as a part of the confirmation hearings for the current Secretary of Education, National Public Radio reported that Secretary Betsy DeVos responded to a written question from Senator Patty Murray using performance data provided by a for-profit corporation that inflated the four-year graduation rates of virtual schools--in some cases by as much as 300%.1 The 2017 NEPC Annual Report contributes to the existing evidence related to virtual education, and so to debates surrounding it. It provides objective analysis of the characteristics and performance of full-time, publicly funded K-12 virtual schools; available research on virtual school practices and policy; and an overview of recent state efforts to craft new policy. In Section I--"Full-Time Virtual and Blended Schools: Enrollment, Student Characteristics, and Performance," Gary Miron, Charisse Gulosino, Christopher Shank, and Caryn Davidson focus on two specific types of K-12 online and blended learning: full-time virtual schools and blended schools. The authors assigned schools in their study a unique identification code that allowed them to gather complete data about each school from a variety of sources (the National Center for Educational Statistics, individual Departments of Education, and so on). The authors use the terms "full-time virtual school" and "full-term blended school" because they want to link these school types to data sets on school characteristics, student demographics, and school outcomes. In Section II--"Still No Evidence, Increased Call for Regulation: Research to Guide Virtual School Policy," Michael Barbour focuses on all forms of K-12 virtual and blended learning. Barbour distinguishes among the different forms of virtual schooling--both supplemental and full-time--and describes the limited reliable research on blended learning programs and blended learning schools. In Section III--"Key Policy Issues in Virtual Schools: Finance and Governance, Instructional Quality, and Teacher Quality," Luis Huerta, Sheryl Rankin Shafer, Jennifer King Rice, and David Nitkin use the general term "virtual school" as an umbrella term including all forms of K-12 online learning. When the National Education Policy Center first began this annual examination in 2013, the distinctions among K-12 online learning, virtual schooling and cyber schooling were not as prominent within the academic literature. Additionally, many of the K-12 online learning programs sponsored or supported by State Departments of Education were referred to as virtual schools. Similarly, much of the legislation and policy language used the term virtual (for example, virtual charter school). For these reasons, this annual report was and will continue to use the term Virtual Schools in its title. Therefore, unless they are quoting specific language from a given piece of legislation or policy, the authors of this third section will continue to use the term "virtual schools." (Each section contains a list of notes and references.) [For "Virtual Schools Report 2016: Directory and Performance Review," see ED574701.]

More than 150 years ago Horace Mann persuasively reasoned that education is the "balance wheel" of the social structure. He argued that education should be free and universal. While much progress has been made in establishing a universal education system since Mann spoke those words, substantial disparities in educational resources, opportunities, and outcomes continue to undermine his vision--and ultimately our society. This brief revisits Mann's vision of education as the balance wheel of society. The purpose is to identify resources and supporting policies that would be required if we fully committed our schools to the goal of equal opportunity. The brief recognizes that the opportunity gap is grounded in a range of social and economic factors well beyond the control of schools and that serious efforts to promote equal opportunity must include a broader set of services. However, in the absence of policies to address those factors, it seems reasonable to consider what an education system fully committed to equal opportunity might look like. The brief describes resources and services that are within the traditional education sphere as well as provisions and necessary resources that would expand the role of education to address student needs in ways that, in many cases, are already expected of schools. The paper concludes by discussing the challenges of pursuing equal opportunity in the current policy context that promotes high stakes accountability, resegregation, and privatization. Recommendations for an education system that aims to realize Mann's vision of the balance wheel are included. A list of notes and references is included.

This report is the second of a series of annual reports by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) on virtual education in the U.S. The NEPC reports contribute to the existing evidence and discourse on virtual education by providing an objective analysis of the evolution and performance of full-time, publicly funded K-12 virtual schools. This report is organized in three major sections. Section I examines the policy and political landscape associated with virtual schooling and describes the current state of affairs related to finance and governance, instructional program quality, and teacher quality. The authors analyze to what extent, if any, policy in the past year has moved toward or away from the 2013 recommendations. Section II reviews the research relevant to virtual schools. It finds that despite considerable enthusiasm for virtual education in some quarters, there is little credible research to support virtual schools' practices or to justify ongoing calls for ever-greater expansion. Section III provides a descriptive overview of full-time virtual schools and their expansion based on data gathered from state, corporate, and organizational sources. Details on enrollment include the student characteristics of race/ethnicity, sex, free and reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education designation, ELL status, and grade level. Other information includes student-teacher ratios. In addition, details on student achievement include Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) ratings, state ratings, and graduation rates. The following appendices are available for download: (1) Summaries of Legislation Pertaining to Virtual Schools, 2012 and 2013; (2) Numbers of Full-time Virtual Schools and the Students They Serve by State; and (3) Measures of School Performance: State Performance Ratings, Adequate Yearly Progress Status, and Graduation Rates. http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/virtual-schools-annual-2014 (Each section contains a list of notes and references.) [For the 2013 report, "Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2013: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence," see ED558723.]

This national study, which comprehensively reviews 311 virtual schools operating in the United States, finds serious and systemic problems with the nation's full-time cyber schools. Despite virtual schools' track record of students falling behind their peers academically or dropping-out at higher rates, states and districts continue to expand virtual schools and online offerings to students, at high cost to taxpayers. The advocates of full-time virtual schools are several years ahead of policymakers and researchers, and new opportunities are being developed and promoted largely by for-profit entities accountable to stockholders rather than to any public constituency. The report's authors conclude that continued rapid expansion of full-time cyber schools is unwise. More research is needed; and to enable such research, state oversight agencies need to require more, and better refined, data. Financial controls and funding unique to cyber schools need to be established. The following appendices are available for download: (1) Summaries of Enacted State Legislation Pertaining to Virtual Schools; (2) Numbers of Full-time Virtual Schools and the Students They Serve by State; (3) Demographic Characteristics of Students Enrolled in Full-Time Virtual Schools; and (4) State Performance Ratings, Adequate Yearly Progress Status, and Reasons for Not Meeting AYP. http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/virtual-schools-annual-2013 (Each section contains a list of notes and references.)

Schools and school systems throughout the nation are increasingly experimenting with using various instructional technologies to improve productivity and decrease costs, but evidence on both the effectiveness and the costs of education technology is limited. A recent report published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute sets out to describe "the size and range of the critical cost drivers for online schools in comparison to traditional brick-and-mortar schools" (p. 2). The study divides online learning into two broad categories--virtual schools and blended-learning schools--and, based on data from 50 experts, reports that "the average overall per-pupil costs of both models are significantly lower than the $10,000 national average for traditional brick-and-mortar schools" (p. 1). These findings, however, are undermined by a general lack of clarity about the models being studied and problematic data and methods. While the report addresses an important topic, the utility of its cost estimates are limited. Of more value are the qualitative findings about how various cost drivers affect the overall costs of online learning. The study would be more useful if it provided a rigorous analysis of a set of well-defined promising models of online learning as the basis for its cost estimates. (Contains 7 notes.) [This paper reviews the following document: "The Costs of Online Learning. Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning: A Working Paper Series from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute" (ED528948).]

In education, teacher experience is probably "the" key factor in personnel policies that affect current employees: it is a cornerstone of traditional single-salary schedules; it drives teacher transfer policies that prioritize seniority; and it is commonly considered a major source of inequity across schools and, therefore, a target for redistribution. The underlying assumption is that experience promotes effectiveness. Is this really the case? Do students attain higher levels of achievement when taught by more experienced teachers? What is the relationship between teacher experience and teacher productivity? Over 40 years of teacher productivity research suggests that the simple assumption that "more is better" requires greater nuance; experience effects are complex and depend on a number of factors. Recent evidence from CALDER (National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research) studies using rich state datasets provides new insight into the effects of teacher experience. Several key findings emerge, some confirming previous understandings and others raising new questions. These findings have important policy implications. This paper offers three recommendations: (1) Frontload experience-based compensation; (2) Implement evaluation, professional development, compensation, and dismissal policies that encourage ongoing effectiveness among veteran teachers; and (3) Look beyond policies to distribute inexperienced teachers evenly across high- and low-poverty schools, and identify retention strategies to increase returns to teacher experience in high-poverty schools. (Contains 10 notes and 4 figures.)

While the importance of principals has long been recognized by educators and researchers, empirical studies on the effectiveness and distribution of principals have been undermined by the lack of data to study principals, their complex work, and their impact on school outcomes. In fact, "little systematic evidence exists about the quantitative importance of principals, making it difficult to sort through alternative policy proposals". Recent work by CALDER (National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research) researchers has advanced the knowledge base on school leadership, and specifically principal effectiveness, by drawing on longitudinal state data to estimate the effects of principals for different kinds of schools and students. Taken together, this work sheds some light on important issues related to school leadership and principal effectiveness. This paper presents a list of key findings on principal effectiveness studies. [This research policy brief describes the work presented at the national conference of the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), "Principal Effectiveness and Leadership in an Era of Accountability: What Research Says", in Washington, D.C., on December 11, 2009.]

In 2000, the Finance Project received a planning grant to launch a new initiative on financing professional development in education. This report contributes to the understanding of resources required to successfully implement, replicate, or scale up professional development initiatives. The first section examines what preservice and inservice teacher preparation and professional development look like. The second section focuses on understanding the costs of preservice and inservice professional development, including personnel costs; facilities, materials, and equipment; travel and transportation; and research, development, and dissemination. It also looks at distribution of the cost burden. The third section presents directions for future work, including: expanding the cost framework to other educators, making the cost framework more seamless, applying the cost framework, exploring economic trade-offs, and comparing professional development investments with other fields. (Contains 25 references.) (SM)

As students progress through the educational system they make frequent transitions, such as from grade to grade or middle to high school. The purpose of this study is to explore how institutional discontinuities between schools affect student achievement in mathematics and science and for which types of students. This paper seeks to identify specific discontinuities that aggravate the transitional experience, and to discover support structures that buffer the effect of the transition from middle to high school on the mathematics and science progress of students. Findings indicate that students from more stable and supportive home environments show less academic difficulty as they progress through the transition. Decreases in safety and the quality of the learning environment had significantly negative effects on achievement across the transition for both mathematics and science. A decrease in the degree to which teachers push students to achieve had a positive effect on student progress, and an increase in the level of autonomy granted to students and their parents to choose courses had a negative effect on student performance. There would appear to be a need for supplemental programming during the transition between middle and high school levels. Several policy interventions are suggested for consideration. Contains 48 references. (PVD)

This book presents a rationale for developing new approaches to conceptualizing the costs associated with the implementation and operation of models supporting comprehensive, community-based support systems (CCBSS) for children. CCBSS are broad-based approaches that have no single model or specification for reform; the configuration of the model is dependent on the needs, values, and perspectives of the community in which it is developed and implemented. Sections of this paper discuss various models in terms of conducting a flexible community-based cost analysis, identifying the resources needed to support the model, adjusting for marginal cost, and the distribution of cost. A cost template is presented to guide local policymakers through a systematic consideration of the total and marginal costs of the resources necessary to operate CCBSS models in their own communities. The template is intended to be a useful tool for policymakers in early planning stages--as well as those interested in monitoring the costs of initiatives already in operation--to gain a better sense of the types, amounts, and distribution of costs associated with various models of CCBSS. The template is applied to a sample model of a CCBSS. A final section draws conclusions from the previous sections and suggests next steps that should be taken in field-testing and expanding the template. (ET)

This research synthesis provides an overview of the issues central to adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs since researchers and policymakers have shown interest in exploring new possibilities for the ESL component. The following topics are discussed of the Adult Education Act (AEA). The following topics are discussed in the report: (1) the demand and need for services, with special attention to who, how many, and where members of the limited-Englist-proficiency target and (ESL) participant populations are: (2) administration, funding, and staffing issues; (3) curricular and instructional practices; (4) assessment, evaluation, and accountability structures; and (5) effectiveness of adult ESL programs. The information presented in the report was collected from a variety of sources. Four major conclusions were drawn from this examination. First, ESL is different from adult basic education and adult secondary education components of the AEA, which reinforces the importance of examining ESL individually in a study such as this. Next, ESL is a concern specific to a subset of states and urban areas as the ESL population is highly concentrated in individual cities and states and demands associated with this population tend to fall on the shoulders of the areas affected. Third, diversity exists among adult ESL programs in terms of population characteristics, administration and funding, and curricular and instructional approaches. Last, while this report provides background on ESL programs and services, in many cases there is limited knowledge about program approaches and practices on which to base future policy. (JL) (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literary Education)