Some applicable data

Considering my previous post, I sought out a facts-based study of a virtual school program. In short I was looking for some data to go with my anecdotal reports of conversations with students who had taken classes online.
I happened across a study of a Texas Virtual School Pilot conducted in 2001.
Here's a brief introduction of the study and its impetus (available at: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/publications/ecavlp.htm#eb):

"In 2001, the Texas Legislature directed the Texas Commissioner of Education to gather needed information on the quickly expanding world of electronic courses and virtual learning. In order to gather data to support recommendations that enable high-quality online learning and potential state funding for these courses, the Legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 975 in 2001. This legislation called for the commissioner to establish a program to examine the state policies, requirements and restrictions that impact districts and charter schools offering electronic courses to local students who are not physically present for all or part of these courses.

To implement SB 975, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) established and administered the Virtual School Pilot (VSP) during the 2001-02 school year. Twenty-four charter schools and school districts participated in this first year pilot. The pilot is continuing during the 2002-03 school year with 23 participants. The same legislation also mandated the commissioner to prepare a report about the program. A study of the VSP was conducted between August 2001 and November 2002 to gather data and prepare this report."

I won't bore you with all of the rationale and details of the methodology, but what I found to be most worthwhile, and met my purposes, were the statistics regarding characteristics of successful and unsuccessful students (those who completed the courses and those who failed).

This was the data from the study:

Exhibit 11
Characteristics of Successful and Unsuccessful Students

Characteristics	# of Responses	Percentage of Total Survey Respondents*
Students Likely to Succeed in Virtual Courses
Self-directed and disciplined	10	71.4%
Organized	7	50.0%
Other (independent learners, overachievers, exceptional communication skills)	6	42.9%
Technologically sophisticated	5	35.7%
Students Likely to Fail Virtual Courses
Not self-directed, lack discipline	14	100.0%
Disorganized	10	71.4%
Limited technology skills	4	28.6%
Need social interaction	2	14.3%
Source: 2001-02 TEA Study of Electronic Courses and Virtual Learning Programs surveys * Note: Percentages will not add to 100 because there were multiple responses to the question.

Notice that being self-directed and disciplined was tops among the characteristics that students thought were most likely to contribute to success in virtual school classes. Next, was organization, followed by "other," which included multiple responses, and technology skills bringing up the rear. What was striking to me is that 100 percent of respondents stated that lacking self-discipline and direction contributed to failure. Notably, last were students who responded that failure was often caused by a need for social interaction. The aspect of social interaction in virtual schooling is something I would like to explore more in the future.

At any rate, while this study did provide me with some considerations as it pertains to student success in virtual schooling, the breadth of the study was relatively small, which I am stating because of the low number of respondents (see the table for more information).

But I was glad to see that the authors of the studied realized their data was not enough to make a sufficient determination on the efficacy of their virtual school pilot and why students might succeed or fail and the overall educational benefit of this type of instructional delivery.

From the conclusion, note the following:

"1. Are electronic courses and virtual learning educationally beneficial?

The Study Team was unable to determine the unique educational benefits of electronic courses due to the lack of adequate information regarding course completion and course performance.

According to reports and studies in other states, the potential of online courses to benefit students educationally and to improve student performance is promising. VSP pilot participants, regardless of their school size or location, believe that students will have access to a wider number of courses through electronic and online delivery. Small and rural school districts may gain access to highly qualified teachers who are not available locally through electronic courses. VSP programs may provide an additional opportunity for at-risk students who have not been successful in traditional settings."

The latter paragraph above seems to be consistent with what I've found so far, that many education stakeholders have high hopes for the potential of virtual schooling because of all the benefits it might have for servicing ALL students. Establishing equality the public education system has always been a challenge, for multiple reasons (cultural, geographical, etc.), but maybe virtual school is a powerful contributor to overcoming this issue. However, there is the digital divide. And what of that and its effect on access to virtual schooling, especially on a full-time basis?

References:
Surles, S., Gibson, G., Redden, K., Scarbrough, D., Speer, B., Clark, C. & Fletcher, G. (2001). A study of the Texas virtual school pilot. Retrieved March 15, 2008. Available from: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/publications/ecavlp.htm#eb