In just three years the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School has gone from 700 to 9,000 students.

Throughout the nation the number of students taking online courses is on the rise. The Sloan Foundation, which tracks online education statistics, estimates that there are now over one million K-12 students involved in some form of online education. In New Hampshire the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS) is offering online opportunities funded by the state.

“Credit recovery” — to make up for failing grades — is the number one reason students in New Hampshire and elsewhere enroll in virtual classes but there are other reasons as well, including:

• Schedule conflicts;

• An illness that keeps a student away from school for a prolonged period;

• A learning style that is more compatible with an online class;

• The desire to earn college credit or take more advanced classes than are offered in school.

Steve Kossakoski, CEO of VLACS, talks about the benefits of virtual learning: “One of the things that happens is there’s no back row in a virtual classroom. It’s almost all the front row because you always have to interact with your instructor. You can’t just be the quiet person in the back who doesn’t contribute to the class.”

Clearly, virtual learning does not work well for all learners. Some educators interviewed by New Hampshire Public Radio talked about the lack of social contact and face-to-face supervision being a problem. But the vast majority of the students enrolled in VLACS are doing it as a supplement to their traditional education; only 5% are taking online courses full-time.

And what of the costs? The state is finding that virtual learning can save a considerable amount of money. For example, if students can make up courses they missed through the virtual academy, they don’t have to take an expensive fifth year in high school. As Roberta Tenney of the New Hampshire Department of Education explains, “VLACS charges per course, so the state only pays when the course is completed and the student has an outcome that’s competency-based, so they’ve proven they know the materials.”

Source: Virtual Learning Grows in New Hampshire, New Hampshire Public Radio