rob darrow, ed.d . virtual school symposium, nov. 2010

A Comparative Study Between

Online Charter High Schools and Traditional High Schools

in California

Rob Darrow, Ed.D.

Virtual School Symposium, Nov. 2010

Dissertation Topic (California State University, Fresno)

Rob’s Wiki: http://robdarrow.wikispaces.com

http://robdarrow.wikispaces.com/

Virtual School Symposium 2010 Research Presentation. Rob Darrow @ cusd.com. http://robdarrow.wikispaces.com. Nov. 2010.

Background – National Trends

** Online Schools ** Enrollment increases 10% - 30% per year

** Charter Schools ** Enrollment increases 11% - 20% per year

Two educational trends challenging traditional education:

• Allen and Consoletti, 2010. Washington, D.C.: Center for Education Reform.

• Allen & Seaman, 2010.



One Other National Trend:Static Dropout Rates



A little (parallel) history about charter and online schools

1991-1992 – First states pass charter school laws (Minnesota and California)

1994 – 1997 - First K-12 online schools. Utah Electronic School, VHS, Inc., Florida Virtual School

2007 – Number of online charter schools: 173 in 18 states 92,235 students (Center for Ed Reform, 2008)

2009 – More than a million K-12 online school students (Picciano and Seaman, 2009)

2009 – 5,042 charter schools serve over 1.5 million students in 40 states



Research Focus: California, because…

In California 13% of the total U.S. K-12 public school

student enrollment 20% of the U.S. public charter school

enrollment Top rated state regarding charter school

law and policy

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (2010)



Research Focus Full Time Online Charter

School Students Full Time Traditional High

School Students At-Risk Students In California Measured By:

Achievement Test Scores Dropout Rates



Two silos from which information was collected:

Full time students in traditional high

schools, Grades 9-12, in California

Full time students in online charter high schools, Grades 9-12, in California



Research Questions

1. Are there more at-risk students attending online charter high schools than traditional high schools in California?

2. Are at-risk students more successful in online charter high schools than in traditional high schools in California?



Defining Terms Online High School

Attending courses online where 80% instruction is online Charter School

independently operated public schools of choice (allowed by law in 40 states)

At-Risk any student not making progress towards graduation

Success proficient on California Standards Test/English-Language

Arts (CST ELA) lower number of student dropouts



Online Course DefinitionsAllen & Seaman, 2007



How are students who are at-risk / dropouts counted?

One student counts as a dropout if either:

A. Leaves a school and does NOT register at another school

OR B. Leaves a school and does NOT have a

high school diploma

Standards set by US Department of Education (reported by states)

Counted in Grades 7-12 in California



How are online school students counted? Part-time Online Students

Take one or two online courses in addition to attending traditional school

One student in one course per semester counts one

Not officially counted (researcher surveys) Full Time Online Students

One student attending the school counts one

Officially counted



Research and Dropouts

“Lack of school success is probably the greatest single cause which impels pupils to

drop out of school.” Ayres (1909). Laggards in our schools.



High school graduation rates

Graduation rates have stayed the same…75% for the past 40 years

Wehlage et al. (1989)



Comparison Study

Online charter high school students 14 existed in California – 2006-2009

Traditional high school students Comparisons in:

Growth Rates Achievement Rates Dropout Rates



Results: California Standards Test /

English-Language Arts (CST ELA)

2007-08 and 2008-09

Taken yearly in grades 9, 10 and 11 Selected Online Charter Schools Selected Traditional Schools



Year: 2007-2008 CST ELA Comparisons

Percent Proficient and Above

Online Charters Traditional Schools

9th 10th 11th

55%

46%

40%

63%

57%55%



9th 10th 11th

56%

48%46%

64%60%

57%


Year: 2008-2009CST ELA Comparisons

Percent Proficient and Above



Results: Dropout Rates2006-07 and 2007-08

Reported yearly in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 Selected Online Charter Schools Selected Traditional Schools



Year: 2006-2007 Dropout Percentages by Grade

Note: 2006-07 Online Charter School Enrollment in Grades 11 and 12 was less than 100 students per grade

9th 10th

2%

6%

0.60%0.90%




Year: 2007-2008 Dropout Percentages by Grade

9th 10th 11th 12th

22%

29%32%

59%

0.70% 0.50% 0.70%4.00%




Statistics: In California…

Enrollment in online charter schools has increased each year for the past three years: 80% from 2006-07 to 2008-09

Percent of students in charter high schools: 6% of total 9-12 enrollment

Percent of students in online charter high schools: .16% of total 9-12 enrollment



Results: Achievement and Dropouts Student Achievement (CST ELA)

Somewhat greater in traditional high schools than in online charter schools

Percentage difference ranged from 8% to 11%

Dropout Rates Much greater in online charter schools than

in traditional schools Percentage difference ranged

from 22% to 55%



Implications for Practitioners

Full time online programs and charter schools attract more “at-risk” students because they have already left a traditional school

How to engage “at-risk” students in online or charter schools is the same as traditional schools: need caring adults to build relationships with students



Final Reflection Based on My Research

Future students will attend schools that do have online options

Education at all levels (K-12, community college, university) should be designing and offering fully online courses now

Online learning will grow with or without the involvement of traditional schools



Questions?

Rob’s Wiki: http://robdarrow.wikispaces.com




Selected ReferencesCharter School StatisticsAllen, J., & Consoletti, A. (2010). Annual survey of America's charter schools. Washington, D.C.: Center for Education Reform. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from http://www.edreform.com/Press_Box/Press_Releases/?Annual_Survey_of_Americas_Charter_Schools_2010.

Tice, P., Chapman, C., Princiotta, D., & Bielick, S. (2006). Trends in the use of school choice 1993-2003. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 10, 2009, from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007045.

Online School StatisticsAllen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2010). Learning on demand: Online education in the United States, 2009. Newburyport, MA: The Sloan Consortium. Retrieved March 1, 2010, from http://www.aln.org/publications/survey/learning_on_demand_sr2010.

Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2007). Online nation: Five years of growth in online learning. Newburyport, MA: The Sloan Consortium. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/online_nation.

Watson, J., Gemin, B., Ryan, J., & Wicks, M. (2009). Keeping pace with K-12 online learning. Denver, CO: Evergreen Education Group. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from http://www.kpk12.com/download.html.

At-Risk StudentsWehlage, G. G., Rutter, R. A., Smith, G. A., Lesko, N., & Fernandez, R. R. (1989). Reducing the risk: Schools as communities of support. New York: Falmer Press.

Cataldi, E. F., Laird, J., KewalRamani, A., & Chapman, C. (2009). High school dropout and completion rates in the United States: 2007. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved July 10, 2009, from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009064.

• California Dropout Research Project. http://www.cdrp.ucsb.edu/. • National Dropout Prevention Center. http://www.dropoutprevention.org/ • Alliance for Education Excellence. http://www.all4ed.org/


http://www.edreform.com/Press_Box/Press_Releases/?Annual_Survey_of_Americas_Charter_Schools_2010

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007045

http://www.aln.org/publications/survey/learning_on_demand_sr2010

http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/online_nation

http://www.kpk12.com/download.html

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009064

http://www.cdrp.ucsb.edu/

http://www.dropoutprevention.org/

http://www.all4ed.org/

rob darrow, ed.d . virtual school symposium, nov. 2010

Documents

online schools

online charter high

public charter schools

research presentation

charter school laws

public schools of choice

utah electronic school

research questions1