For some students, online schooling is best option

Recent studies have publicized the issue of lack of student investment in online education and resulting lack of engagement, particularly in virtual charter schools. The simple fact is many students who start an online school don’t persevere and don’t log into classes regularly, leading some to conclude that “online education doesn’t work.” That’s a short-sighted way to view the situation, and it’s not true for all students.

No single instructional method works for all students, and online learning is no different. Virtual education brings substantial challenges not faced in the brick-and-mortar environment, both for students and those who would educate them. In the world of high school, which is the world I inhabit, it also attracts a substantial percentage, sometimes a majority, of the most challenging students. Graduation Achievement Charter High School is a blended-learning institution, and about 80 percent of our student population exhibit factors putting them at high risk of failure and dropping out of school, with about a third of them coming to us already having dropped out at least once.

It would be easy for non-practitioners in the policy world to paint the picture with the broadest of brushes and conclude, “Online education doesn’t work for all high school students, so we need to stop doing it.” However, this tactic ignores two critical policy questions.

In any given year, there are as many as 60,000 Georgians ages 16-24 not enrolled in school or working. What do we do with these students who are the hardest to educate, may have made poor personal choices, may, through no fault of their own, be forced to become caregivers to family members and have to go to work to support their families, and face other difficult situations?

Georgia law allows school districts, including state charter schools (which operate as districts) to exclude from enrollment any student who’s been expelled or long-term suspended from a public school. Most of those students can’t afford private school. Homeschooling is not feasible given their family circumstances (or lack thereof ) in many cases, and they literally have no choice if they want a high school diploma. Graduation Achievement Charter is the only public school district in the state that will accept expelled and long-term suspended students, as well as those who have been adjudicated for criminal activity and released from the Department of Juvenile Justice school system but can’t get accepted by a traditional public school district.

A second critical policy question is whether families who have selected online public schooling for their children ought to be denied that choice. More than 15,000 children have been enrolled in Georgia online public charter schools following a statewide referendum indicating that a clear majority of voters favor this option. If virtual education is removed from the state’s charter authorization portfolio, these families will have lost an option in which they’ve invested years of their children’s lives.

The simple truth is this: Families select schools for their children for reasons that in many, many cases have nothing to do with the school’s performance rating. They want a particular school for a specific reason, and it all centers around their own child’s needs and experiences. This is called “choice for the sake of choice.” Its time has come in Georgia.