Internet Savvy Schools

Is virtual education the future? Is this the kind of school choice that will be embraced by suburban and exurban parents? NY Times below the fold front page story today, "Online Schooling Grows, Setting Off a Debate"--dateline Milwaukee, WI, where a legal and legislative battle is being waged.

The debate will continue for some time, beyond the fact that the entrenched teachers' union, the dinosaur core of the Democrat party, opposes any kind of useful reform that puts kids first. But the article raises several persuasive points (maybe enough little darlings of the elite are tired of fighting tooth and nail for a few slots at prestigious and pricy private schools).

Illinois allows high school students to take classes online:

Two models of online schooling predominate. In Florida, Illinois and half a dozen other states, growth has been driven by a state-led, state-financed virtual school that does not give a diploma but offers courses that supplement regular work at a traditional school. Generally, these schools enroll only middle and high school students. [snip]

The other model is a full-time online charter school like the Wisconsin Virtual Academy. About 90,000 children get their education from one of 185 such schools nationwide. They are publicly financed, mostly elementary and middle schools. Many parents attracted to online charters have previously home-schooled their children...

Districts in fast-growing areas like virtual schools:

School authorities in Traverse City, Mich., hope to use online courses provided by the Michigan Virtual School next fall to educate several hundred students in their homes, alleviating a classroom shortage.

Virtual schools should cost less. Teachers unions argue children may be too young, but parents are enthusiastic and involved in online learning. The other major objection of course is that it siphons off money from the brick and morter schools, but online schools cost less and can be reimbursed at a lower cost per pupil, thereby freeing up extra funds for special needs students for example.

Virtual schools can also offer more choice in the curriculum:

Rural Americans have been attracted to online schooling because it allows students even on remote ranches to enroll in arcane courses like Chinese.

In Colorado, school districts have lost thousands of students to virtual schools...

Virtual schools can offer more challenge to some students:

The Wisconsin Virtual Academy has 20 certified, unionized teachers, and 800 students who communicate with one another over the Internet.

The school has consistently met federal testing requirements, and many parents, including Mrs. Weldie, expressed satisfaction with the K12 curriculum, which allows her children to move through lessons at their own pace, unlike traditional schools, where teachers often pause to take account of slower students.

Isabel Weldie, 5, is in kindergarten, “But in math I’m in first grade,” she said during a break in her school day recently.

Virtual schools empower parents, who are paying taxes already, or for private tutors, or can't afford or find the private or parochial schools they would like for their children.

The next generation of internet-savvy parents may press for sweeping changes in how education is delivered. They are educated consumers used to asserting themselves and probably won't put up with poor teaching and a limited curriculum (especially if they've suffered with it themselves). They may work from home and live where they like.

Rather than faith-based home-schoolers or parochial school parents strapped by paying for schooling twice, this move for school choice may come from upwardly-mobile parents.

Note to the dinosaur NEA--adapt or die.

UPDATE: Steve Huntley, Sun Times, "Voucher foes hurt poor kids"

Related post: Those Pernicious Ed Schools