What Do We Actually Know? Examining the Research Into Virtual Schools for Useful Models

• In Event: Virtual Schools in the United States 2014: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence

Abstract

The purpose of this systematic review of the literature is to identify trends in the research regarding K-12 online learning related to the delivery of virtual schooling.
While the use of K-12 online learning at the K-12 level has been practiced for approximately two decades, the availability of published research to inform that practice has not kept pace. Barbour (2011) reviewed 262 articles from the main distance education from 2005 to 2009, only 24 articles related to K-12 distance education. Further, Cavanaugh et al. (2009) stated that the literature was “based upon the personal experiences of those involved in the practice of virtual schooling” (p. 5). Finally, Rice (2006) lamented that “a paucity of research exists when examining high school students enrolled in virtual schools, and the research base is smaller still when the population of students is further narrowed to the elementary grades” (p. 430).
There is general agreement about the themes that have been dominant in the limited amount of research conducted on K-12 online learning to date. Rice (2006) described the research into K-12 online learning as either being comparisons of student performance between those enrolled in online and face-to-face environments or examinations of the qualities and characteristics of the online learning experience. An examination of the findings related to comparison of student performance in K-12 online learning environments and the traditional classroom has been mixed (Cavanaugh et al., 2004; Means et al., 2009). Further, Cavanaugh et al. (2005) speculated virtual school students took their assessment were more academically motivated and naturally higher achieving students.
There is no shortage of issues within the realm of K-12 online learning that need to be examined. For example, Cavanaugh et al. (2009) recommended researchers establish best practices for online teaching, improve the identification and remediation of factors related to success for online learners, investigate the nature of support provided to online learners by how school-based teachers. However, Barbour and Reeves (2009) went even further on how future research should be conducted, recommending a design-based research approach.
To date, the only exception to this pattern is the Virtual High School (VHS). SRI International, based upon seven goals identified in conjunction with their VHS partners, conducted several annual evaluations, content-specific investigations in focus areas where VHS was not meeting their initial goals, and a final evaluation. VHS were full participants in this research process: assisting in the identification of issues to be examined, the design of the research, the implementation of the recommendations, and then beginning the process again to ensure that recommendations actually addressed the original problem. This cyclical research process that the VHS and SRI International engaged in was able to resolve many of the initial issues in the implementation of what was then a new model of educational delivery. The findings from this design research approach should form the starting point for additional research into similar K-12 online learning settings.

Author

• Michael Kristopher Barbour, Sacred Heart University