Virtual School Leadership

Depending on the reference, the practice of K-12 online learning began sometime between 1991 and 1996. Yet almost three decades later, there is still little research to describe the K-12 online learning student experience, which has resulted in a lack of understanding of the actual instructional model, nature of the curriculum, and type and amount of support employed by K-12 online learning programs. Further, much of the available research is atheoretical, methodologically questionable, contextually limited, and overgeneralized. All these factors make the K-12 online learning research that does exist of little value in guiding practice. This manuscript examines the maturity of research in the field of K-12 online learning, with the goal of providing researchers with meaningful impact on future practice.

Dependiendo de la referencia, la práctica del aprendizaje en línea de K-12 comenzó en algún momento entre 1991 y 1996. Sin embargo, casi tres décadas después, todavía hay poca investigación para describir la experiencia de los estudiantes de aprendizaje en línea de K-12, que ha resultado en una falta de comprensión del modelo de instrucción real, la naturaleza del plan de estudios y el tipo y la cantidad de apoyo empleado por los programas de aprendizaje en línea K-12. Además, gran parte de la investigación disponible es teórica, metodológicamente cuestionable, contextualmente limitada y sobregeneralizada. Todos estos factores hacen que la investigación de aprendizaje en línea K-12 que existe sea de poco valor para guiar la práctica. Este manuscrito examina la madurez de la investigación en el campo del aprendizaje en línea en K-12, con el objetivo de proporcionar a los investigadores un impacto significativo en la práctica futura

Over the last five years, the National Education Policy Center has published a Virtual Schools in the U.S.: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence report. As an extension of the data collected for the Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2017 report (Molnar et al. 2017), the lead authors produced case studies for five states (i.e., Ohio, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington, and Michigan). The goal of these case studies was to describe the enrollment, characteristics, and performance of virtual and blended schools in that state over the previous year; discuss the research related to the virtual and blended school characteristics and outcomes, as well as the legislative activities; and examine the legislation and policies that have been introduced (and enacted) over the past two years.

These five case studies reveal a great degree of consistency between the different states. For example, most of the full-time virtual schools in each of the five states were independent (i.e., not run by EMOs). However, the vast majority of students attend a virtual school that is operated by an EMO. Virtual schools also had far more students for each teacher compared to traditional public schools. Further, virtual school students underperformed compared to their traditional public school counterparts. In addition to the similarities across the cases, when it came to student enrollment, student characteristics, and student performance, with the exception of Michigan there was a general lack of empirical research related to full-time virtual schools (and almost no research related to blended schools). Finally, with the exception of Idaho, there was also a general lack of legislative activity over the two years reviewed for this report.

Given that each of these five case studies was generated using data from the latest Virtual Schools in the U.S.: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence report, it is important to examine the recommendations made by Molnar et al. (2017) based on the national data. However, based on the data from these five individual states, we recommend the following.

- Policymakers need to slow or stop the growth in the number of virtual schools and the size of their enrollments until the reasons for their relatively poor performance have been identified and addressed. They should prioritize understanding why virtual schools perform poorly under a college- and career-ready accountability system and how their performance can be improved prior to expansion.

- Policymakers need to create long-term programs to support independent research on and evaluation of virtual and blended schooling.

- Policymakers need to develop new funding formulas based on the actual costs of operating virtual schools and new accountability structures for virtual schools, including guidelines and governance mechanisms to ensure that virtual schools do not prioritize profit over student performance. Further policymakers need to assess the contributions of various providers to student achievement, and close virtual schools and programs that do not contribute to student growth.

- Policymakers need to define certification training and relevant teacher licensure requirements specific to teaching responsibilities in virtual schools, require research-based professional development to promote effective online teaching models, and work with emerging research to develop valid and comprehensive teacher evaluation rubrics that are specific to online teaching.

While the use of distance and online learning at the K-12 level of growing exponentially, the availability of empirical evidence to help guide this growth is severely lacking. The author of this chapter provides an overview of the nature of K-12 distance and online learning today and a critical examination of the literature and – lack of research – supporting its use. The author further describes some of the methodological issues surround the limited among of existing research, and calls for researchers in this field to adopt practices that have been employed by their colleagues investigating adult populations over the past decades.

Only weeks before the 2019 annual meeting of the American Education Research Association (AERA) was held in Toronto, Ontario, the provincial government announced a major reform of education for that province entitled Education that Works for You – Modernizing Classrooms. From an e-learning perspective the proposal called for a centralization of e-learning, a graduation requirement of four e-learning courses, and increase the class size limit for e-learning courses to 35 students. The AERA call for submissions for the 2020 meeting issued a challenge for scholars to ‘connect with organizational leaders to examine collaboratively continuing educational problems... [and] programmatically engaging with educational organizations.’  This article accepts that challenge and describes a collaboration between scholars and a pan-Canadian organization to examine the research behind each of these proposed e-learning changes.

This issue of the State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report marks its 10th year, and the fifth year of the Canadian eLearning Network’s (CANeLearn) support of this research. The report continues to be Canada’s own benchmark for the expanding use of technology-supported blended and online learning in Canada. The anniversary report continues the traditional incisive analysis of the state of K-12 e-learning in Canada as well as an expanded collection of research briefs and a description of several vignettes providing considerable insight about innovation and new approaches emerging in online and blended practices in K-12 programs across Canada. Full results of the research and work undertaken in this study, including all annual reports and associated papers, are published on the State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada project website (http://k12sotn.ca/). This document provides a synopsis and overview of the published work on the comprehensive website.

Canada provides an interesting exemplar for the rest of the world, given its widely varying population and geography fostering comparisons with other countries/regions of similar population. With two official languages and a growing immigrant population combined with a rich indigenous population, Canadian schools offer online and blended learning programs in English, French, and in some cases Aboriginal languages, leading to comparisons with other English and French-speaking countries and those with significant indigenous populations.

The ‘Brief Issue Papers’ and ‘Vignettes’ published on the website capture some of this diversity of program and populations served. They make for particularly topical reading about the challenges and innovations underway in many places across the country, featuring some of the personalities of the online educators who are blending practice, creating learning programs and environments with a varied mix of classroom and online learning methodologies that increase flexibility and access to learning for students.

The State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report, and its accompanying publications on its project website, provides critical information and insight into how Canadian educational authorities and governments are integrating technology-supported approaches to prepare students for today’s economy and a future society in which the use of technology will be ubiquitous. This anniversary report and website provide a benchmark for educators and offers background, guidance, and ideas for the improvement of policy and practice in online and blended learning.

n the five years since the first 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 edu-cation. 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 respond-ed  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 edu-cation, 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, Instruction-al 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 ex-amination 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.

“Teacher unions in Canada have had concerns about developments in online learning, but have generally been supportive if they have felt conditions were appropriate,” according to the Director of Research and Technology at the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF). This sentiment has been echoed by the researchers involved in the annual State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada. These researchers have also underscored the fact that teacher unions have also been active in conducting research to investigate how teaching in the distance education and online learning environment is different than teaching in the classroom, and what impact that has on the nature of work and quality of work life for its members. The present study is an example of this exploration.

This report describes a study conducted to explore written provisions for the working conditions of K-12 distributed learning teachers in Canada (i.e., distance education and online learning are generally referred to as distributed learning throughout the report). At present, there is one provincial jurisdiction that includes language in their collective agreement with teachers related to distributed learning. There are also two provinces where there is language in one or more local contracts focused on distributed learning. Finally, there was one province where the provincial teacher union had a significant policy related to distributed learning.

Within these documents, there were consistent themes around 1) defining distributed learning; 2) clauses focused on teacher working conditions in the distributed learning environment; 3) responsibilities for the schools and/or school boards that choose to operate distributed learning programs; and 4) mechanisms to allow for consultations between those operating the distributed learning program and the union. In all of these themes, there are actually few regulations that go beyond what would be expected for traditional brick-and-mortar education. The main areas where distributed learning teachers were treated differently than face-to-face teachers were for legal reasons, as well as the provision for consultations between distributed learning operators and their respective unions. These unique aspects are reflective of stakeholders’ efforts to examine what constitutes the equivalent experiences for teaching in the distributed learning environment relative to traditional classroom teaching.

This issue of the State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report marks its 11th year, and the sixth year of the Canadian eLearning Network’s (CANeLearn) support of this research. This report follows the relatively extensive tenth anniversary edition and the annual report has undergone significant changes. This 11th issue describes changes that have occurred in relation to the governance and e-learning activity over the past year in the provinces and territories. The full jurisdictional profiles can be found on the report website at https://k12sotn.ca/data/. Additionally, any brief issue papers and vignettes received are simply introduced or referred to in this report, but are presented in full on the
website. The online version of the State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada will continue to be a more comprehensive resource for e-learning in each jurisdiction.

While there have been no major changes in the nature of regulation governing K-12 distance and online learning activity in distance or online learning remains relatively stable. The 263,686 students or 5.1% proportion of students engaged in K-12 distance and online learning across the country was a slight decrease in the overall participation level from the previous two school years yet represents only approximately a half a percent proportion difference and, from a proportional standpoint, the number of K-12 students engaged in distance and online learning has remained relatively steady over the past six years. Yet at the same time estimates of blended learning activity have shown a sharp increase. However, estimates of blended learning continue to be a best effort attempt at trying to quantify this type of e-learning activity.

The State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada report, and its accompanying publications on its project website, provides critical information and insight into how Canadian educational authorities and governments are integrating technology-supported approaches to prepare students for today’s economy and a future society in which the use of technology will be ubiquitous. This report and website provide a benchmark for educators and offers background, guidance, and ideas for the improvement of policy and practice in online and blended learning. The Canadian eLearning Network is a proud supporter and partner of this research, its publication, and the dissemination of its findings and supporting research publications.

The 12th issue of the State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada report is also the seventh year of the Canadian eLearning Network’s (CANeLearn) support of this research. This report and its accompanying research briefs and vignettes grow in importance given the increasing interest and attention e-learning is taking in K-12 education. New policy changes in several provinces have sparked public debate about the effectiveness and application of e-learning. Now, more than ever, research specific to e-learning in K-12 education in Canada is necessary to inform policy changes and the conversations generated.

This report provides a foundation for expanding research that reflects the diversity of needs and solutions that digital technologies and e-learning are addressing in our educational practices. This issue, unlike those in the past, describes only changes that have occurred in relation to the governance and e-learning activity with full jurisdictional profiles available on the project research website at https://k12sotn.ca/data/. Additionally, any brief issue papers and vignettes received are simply introduced or referred to in this report, but are presented in full on the website.

While there have been no major changes in the nature of regulation governing K-12 distance and online learning activity and distance or online learning enrolment remains relatively stable, there were several initiatives launched or concluding in the 2018-19 school year likely to impact activity in two provinces as well as in First Nations programs nationally. Ontario announced that starting in the 2020-21 school year e-learning would be centralized and two e-learning course credits would be required of the 30 credits to achieve an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. In British Columbia a review of funding for K-12 in the province will result in a change in policy as well as funding for the province’s distributed learning (e-learning) programs.

The State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada report, and its accompanying publications on its project website, provides critical information and insight into how Canadian educational authorities and governments are integrating technology-supported approaches to prepare students for today’s economy and a future society in which the use of technology will be ubiquitous. The report and website provide a benchmark for educators and offers background, guidance, and ideas for the improvement of policy and practice in online and blended learning. The online version of the State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada will continue to be the comprehensive resource for e-learning in each jurisdiction, and additional research is noted on the site.

In March 2019, the Government of Ontario unveiled its vision for education through a policy entitled Education that Works for You – Modernizing Classrooms. From an e-learning perspective, the proposed policy called for a centralization of e-learning courses and a graduation requirement that students take a minimum of four e-learning courses beginning with the 2020-21 school year. Either as a part of, in conjunction with, or simply at the same time, the Government also engaged in a public consultation around class sizes that would increase the class size limit for face-to-face courses to 28 students and increase the limit for e-learning courses to 35 students. The goal of this report is to examine the literature related to e-learning class size in Canada and internationally.

However, before any examination of the literature related to class size, it is important to understand the different roles that educators play – and the different types of educators involved – in the e-learning environment. While in the traditional classroom environment a single teacher may select or design the materials used, deliver the actual instruction in a variety of ways, and support the student as they engage the lesson; in the e-learning environment the research clearly indicates that these roles are performed by multiple educators in different settings. Based on the model of e-learning utilized in Ontario, the two most defined roles are those of the e-learning teacher and the local school based facilitator or mentor. The e-learning teacher being responsible for determining the best pedagogical strategies, methods of assessment, and way to meaningful communicate with their students; while the local facilitator or mentor is responsible for supervisory and administrative duties, technical troubleshooting, and – in some cases – content-based assistance.

The available literature related to e-learning class size demonstrates there has been a historical expectation in Ontario that the class size limit for e-learning courses was the same as the class size limit for face-to-face courses. The literature further demonstrates that across several provinces the class size limit for e-learning courses has ranged from a low of 22 students to a high of 30 students per course. In both Canadian and American jurisdictions where there has been a significant increase in the e-learning class size, student outcomes have also decreased significantly – particularly in full-time e-learning environments. Finally, the literature demonstrates the local facilitator/mentor role must be included in any conversation around class size because that teacher has a significant impact on class size and, more importantly, student success.

The present e-learning model in Ontario clearly describes the importance of the supporting roles of teachers in school settings where students are taking e-learning courses. If teachers at the school level provide substantial levels of support in a wide range of areas, an e-learning class size could be higher than a traditional brick-and-mortar class in that context because there would be two educators that have instructional responsibility for those students. The larger question looming for the implementation of a drastic increase in e-learning in secondary schools in Ontario is how the present supports, which the research indicates are essential for e-learning success, will be scaled for the unprecedented increase of e-learning courses in the province.

This report is third of three reports designed to chronicle how each province and territory in Canada managed their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first report, Documenting Triage: Detailing the Response of Provinces and Territories to Emergency Remote Teaching report (Nagle, Barbour, & LaBonte, 2020), described how each jurisdiction managed their emergency remote teaching during Spring 2020. The second report, A Fall Like No Other: Between Basics and Preparing or an Extended Transition During Turmoil (Nagle, LaBonte, & Barbour, 2020), outlined how each jurisdiction attempted to manage what should have been a transition to remote teaching during Fall 2020. The goal of this third report, Stories from the Field: Voices of K-12 Stakeholders During Pandemic, was to provide vignettes authored by education stakeholders sharing their stories about what actually transpired in their homes, schools, communities, and districts.

Sponsored by the Canadian eLearning Network (CANeLearn), a leading voice in Canada for learner success in K-12 online and blended learning, this report highlights the announcements, supports, and policy changes each Canadian jurisdiction made to continue to promote learning throughout the pandemic. Information was gathered for each province and territory through government websites, educational organizations, and current news releases. This information highlighted each jurisdiction’s strategies to provide supports, resources, and technologies appropriate for the continuation of teaching and learning. A website was created to host this report series along with an archive of online workshop presentations based on each report.

In this report you will find the voices of key stakeholders within the K-12 online and blended learning community across Canada as they provide descriptions of what actually happened on the ground. Students, parents, teachers, school leaders, school trustees, and teacher-education leaders from the post-secondary offer a glimpse of the impact of what the Ministries and Departments of Education planned and announced in the Spring and Fall of 2020 for the safe return of students to schools. For students, the lack of social interaction was a noted loss, for parents their children’s physical, emotional, and mental health and their own, were worrisome at best. Many describe the education offerings lacking and some sought their own solution.

Teachers, district and school leaders, even trustees, found the changing dynamic of the education landscape overwhelming. Health protocols, physical distancing, masking, the number and flow of people in the school building(s), and the social and emotional impact on staff and students was almost impossible to manage. The range of stories from school leaders offers glimpses of success in the development of new programs and the expansion of others. The stories of teachers reflect a focus on physical, social, and emotional wellbeing first, curriculum second. As new models and approaches emerge, post-secondary teacher education researchers are shining a light on what effective practices provide options today and for the future beyond pandemic.