Virtual schools raising real questions
MILWAUKEE – Dante Hutchinson, 13, has severe anxiety and always struggled with the social dynamics of traditional schools.
His mother tried putting him in a charter school in their hometown of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, in 2015, but it closed two years later. With no other alternatives in Wisconsin’s rural north woods, Brooke Hutchinson enrolled her son last fall in the state’s largest virtual charter school, headquartered 200 miles south in a district near the state capital.
Dante started studying from home
on the computer, but he quickly became isolated and overwhelmed. He fell behind, especially in math. In February, the virtual school kicked him out for failing to participate – which landed him back in his home district, even further behind.
“It was traumatizing to me and all of us,” said Brooke Hutchinson, who works full time while raising four kids with her husband. “It’s not that we ignore him, but he needs extra help.” Dante’s story is not unique. From 2016 to 2017, more than 2,500 students in Wisconsin’s virtual schools withdrew, got kicked out or dropped out – roughly 40 percent of the total enrollment, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis found.
Worse, the students who switched between a virtual and traditional school in that period posted significantly lower math scores the year after the switch. The drop was much bigger for the students who switched into online schools.
An attractive option
Across the country, virtual schools are an increasingly popular option for students who are struggling in traditional schools, or who want a more independent education. The public schools without a physical facility allow students to learn from home, on the internet, through a set curriculum overseen by certified teachers.
But many virtual schools have low test scores and graduation rates, and some have been investigated for financial mismanagement. Others have been outright scandals. A large virtual school in Ohio that received millions of state dollars for children who never logged in became an issue in the midterm elections. (Republicans, who initially supported the online school but then backed away, maintained control of the state’s government.)
Less explored is how virtual schools contribute to enrollment churn. Students, many of whom are already struggling academically, quit and head back to brick-and-mortar schools, only to find themselves even further behind. Sometimes, they quit online schools and drop out altogether.
The sheer level of turnover raises questions about whether the thousands of students who switch to virtual schools are getting the high-quality education they were promised – and who should be held accountable if they’re not.
Across the country, about 300,000 students attend more than 400 fulltime virtual schools, according to the most recent annual count from the National Education Policy Center, which has studied online schools for years.
Full-time virtual schools are charter schools authorized to operate by traditional districts or other state-approved entities, and they’re managed by either district staff or private vendors such as K12 Inc., the country’s largest private operator of public schools.
Because many full-time virtual schools can enroll children living anywhere, they can help the finances of the district overseeing the school – or the profits of whoever is actually running the school – by boosting the money they get from the state for each enrolled pupil.
Some of that money is spent on the child’s education. But the rest goes to the district or to a private company running the school. Or both. And the operators often have lots of freedom over
what to do with that money.
In Wisconsin, the Journal Sentinel used state enrollment and test score data to track the movement of virtual school students from 2016 to 2017.
In that time frame, 2,542 students – or 38 percent – switched out of the online schools.
Where did they go?
Half switched to a brick-and-mortar school. They landed in 266 different districts.
Another 40 percent disappeared, likely because they dropped out, switched to a private school, pursued home-schooling or moved out of state.
About 10 percent switched to a different virtual school.
Adjustment can be tough
Mike Ford, an assistant professor of public administration at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, studied the same data as the Journal Sentinel. Ford found that from 2016 to 2017, the average student who switched into a virtual school saw a 30-point drop in math scores on the state exam, compared with a 10-point drop for those who left virtual schools.
“The data show children transferring into virtual schools are struggling to adjust in their new learning environment,” Ford said. “We need to understand exactly why, to ensure those students are getting the supports they need to be successful.”
Turnover is not necessarily bad. And for virtual schools, sometimes it’s inevitable.
Many students enroll in virtual schools only after they’ve exhausted their options in traditional schools, resulting in a midyear transfer.
“That’s not my problem that they were having a poor experience (in a previous school) to the point that they felt they had to pursue another option,” said Rick Nettesheim, principal of eAchieve Academy in the Waukesha School District, 30 minutes west of Milwaukee.
Virtual charter schools are legally required to enroll students, even if they have weak academic histories. But they don’t have to keep everyone. Wisconsin’s online schools can drop students who don’t do anything – the virtual version of not attending school.
More than 460 Wisconsin students were kicked out of virtual schools for failing to participate in 2016-17, according to state data. Another 300 students dropped out.
Many of them landed back in their home districts.
“It’s a lot of stress on the teachers,” said Kim Schroeder, former president of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association union. “Some students will never catch up.”
Plenty of success stories
For thousands of other students, online schools are a great fit. Facebook parent groups are filled with success stories, especially for students with anxiety or mental health struggles, or for those who are highly motivated and need to move at a faster pace.
Maggie Papka, a former virtual school student, is now a senior at Cal Poly in San Luis Opispo, California. She’ll graduate next year with a degree in biomedical engineering with a concentration in mechanical design.
Papka switched to eAchieve Academy between her sophomore and junior years of high school. The flexibility allowed her to ride horses during the day and travel the country competing on the hunter-jumper circuit.
“I thoroughly enjoyed having the independence from the traditional schedule because it let me work on one subject at a time if I wanted to,” Papka said. “I was able to focus on truly understanding what I was doing in one class before moving on to the next.”
Patrick Thomas, a former Marquette student and now a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, contributed to this story.