On Wednesday, Governor Chris Christie announced that New Jersey’s first virtual school will be opening this fall. The New Jersey Vitrual Charter School will serve grades K-10 in its first year and hopes to expand to 11th and 12th grades in 2013 and 2014. Headquartered in Newark, students from all over the state will be able to attend this school.
Although identified as a virtual school, attendees will have access to blended learning in addition to online classes. Students will also be responsible to taking all state-required tests.
The idea sounds cute, at best. I am all for integrating technology into the classroom, but I am worried that schools like this one eliminate one of the key aspects of school: social learning. How do we expect children to appropriately interact with one another when at least seven hours of the day are spent in front of a computer screen. I wonder if a computer can properly nurture the development of kindergarten-aged children. Lastly, I am curious to see this school’s budget. I just don’t (and probably won’t ever) understand why resources are spent constructing virtual charter schools when Newark’s functioning public schools lack technology and other valuable resources…like books!
Yes, technology needs to be integrated into our schools, but how much is too much?
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While I agree that there is no guarantee that a virtual charter will be a better use of money than books or facilities for existing schools, I think the idea holds merit for reformers for some additional factors not mentioned.
First, one reason people propose virtual schools is that the cost per pupil can be less than a traditional brick and mortar school (notice I said CAN be. It varies significantly among schools. For cost estimates see The Costs of Online Learning http://www.edexcellence.net/publications/the-costs-of-online-learning.html).
Also, online schools have the ability to provide more schooling options to students who wouldn't otherwise have any, such as students in rural areas. Improving textbooks at a school in Newark does nothing for students in another part of the state, while a virtual school might reach multiple areas. Additionally, we spend a lot of time talking about how to personalize education and online learning is one way to do that and may be a good fit for some students (but not necessarily others!).
Finally, I frequently hear the worry about social learning brought up as if the only place it can be learned is in a classroom. I agree it is an important factor, but unlike Spanish or Chemistry which are a lot harder to learn outside of school, social learning is something that can be learned in many different places other than school. So while I think there are a lot of potential dangers of virtual schools, lack of social learning does not seem like the most important concern.
Believe it or not blended and virtual schools are kicking but. Check out Insite and Florida Virtual schools. Here's the deal, In most cases virtual schools have the same student to teacher ratio as a public school. A student also has about the same number of teachers as they would in public school. The difference is that the student has access to support 24hrs a day 7 days a week. These schools are set up to be ultra flexible and highly efficient. The short fall comes in their learning management platforms. Some schools don't invest in dynamic systems. Kids are more interested in learning from these systems than they are from you. Trust me if you saw how serious the real virtual programs are you would not understand why everyone is using it. As far as cost a full year and full course load for a student could cost as little as $700 but usually closer to $1100. These schools are financially sound and almost 3 times as efficient as a brick and mortar school.
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