The documents summarize two research studies about K-12 online learning leadership in Washington state. Lancaster's study uses autoethnography to examine how an online school leader focused teachers on student learning issues rather than management issues. Malone's mixed-methods study surveyed 201 superintendents on their perceptions of online learning issues, purposes, and recommendations. Both found that financial, quality, and regulatory issues challenged implementation, while flexibility, individualization, and blended learning supported purposes. Leaders need clear visions and professional collaboration focused on student learning.

1. LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVES:
THE RAPID GROWTH
OF
K-12 ONLINE LEARNING
Lancaster (2012) & Malone (2012)
AWSP/WASA June, 2012

3. Present findings from TWO closely related research
projects
Lancaster’s (2012) autoethnography describes, analyzes and
interprets one leader’s experience in leading an instructional focus on
student learning and a group of online teachers in one of Washington’s
oldest and most successful online programs.
Malone’s (2012) mixed-methods study examines perceptions,
interpretations and reactions of K-12 superintendents in Washington in
response to the rapid growth of online learning. The findings provide
intriguing insight into the current landscape of K-12 online learning.
SESSION OBJECTIVE

4. Rapid growth of online learning
Legislation focus on metrics, not learning
Lack of quality control standards
Competition not collaboration
3rd party vendor involvement
Lack of research on effectiveness
CONTEXT

5. Washington State Superintendents
and K-12 Online Learning:
Leadership Perceptions, Challenges,
& Opportunities
MALONE (2012)

6. Q1 What are the issues that impede or support the
implementation of online learning as perceived
by Washington superintendents?
Q2 What do Washington superintendents identify as
the purposes for online learning?
Q3 What recommendations do Washington superintendents
suggest for successful implementation of online learning?
Q4 How does district size, years of experience, and online
status affect superintendent perceptions of the
online learning environment?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Malone (2012)

7. Mixed Methods Study ~ Online Survey
39 Closed & 5 Open-ended Survey Items
Quantitative Analysis:
Descriptive Statistics
Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient
Qualitative Analysis:
Constant Comparative Method
METHODOLOGY
Malone (2012)

8. Vis
Innovation ~ Recommendations
ion
Leadership ~ Purposes
hi p
ar
Change ~ Issues
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Co
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Disruptive Innovation
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Malone (2012)

9. # of Superintendents
Responding to Survey
201
RESPONDENTS
Malone (2012)

10. RESPONDENTS
Malone (2012)

11. RESPONDENTS
Malone (2012)

12. RESPONDENTS
Malone (2012)

13. Q1 ISSUEs: Financial
 “ We provide online learning to 150-200 students. 50 are from our own district. The
others from across the state. We could not offer either without the other. We need
150-200 to break even ... and we still lose money compared to bricks and mortar
schools.”
 “I am very skeptical of the motives of private companies and some school districts'
purposes. While it is not likely generalizable, my perception is that in some instances
there is more interest in making money than with teaching and learning.”
 “I am deeply troubled by districts using online learning to make money.”
 “The motives are overwhelmingly financial.”
 “It is clearly a method for school districts to add additional funds to the district. School
districts in Washington State have used this process, knowingly, to pirate students from
districts.”
 “With declining resources how can we possibly allocate funds that we don't have to
researching these opportunities. They are important but we are just trying to survive
right now!”
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

14. Q1 ISSUEs: Quality
 “The harm to local districts comes when the parents get sick of baby-
sitting and send the student back to the home district and we have to
pick up the loss of academic gains.”
 “Students are unsuccessful in online schools and then public school has
to clean the mess up.”
 “I have issue with the quality of some of the programs, since these
students often end up back in our system with inadequate skills.”
 “We find that students that come back to us from an online program
have significant deficits in their learning.”
 “I worry that online programs that may be legally sufficient are not
necessarily quality programs that provide an alternative pathway for
student success, but they do provide dollars to a district.”
 “I have never heard, in my experience, whether or not these programs
make an impact on student learning.”
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

15. Q1 ISSUEs: REGULATION
 “Living in the midst of school districts trying to push the limits of the
new laws to bring in FTE, I am a bit jaded at this point.”
 “Online programs have to be regulated to weed out the money grabbers
from the legitimate educators.”
 “The ever-changing funding for ALE makes investment risky.”
 “The idea that some schools profit from online courses with FTE, and
that other school loose FTE is difficult.”
 “State agencies need to work together to remove road blocks to online
learning.”
 “The state taking away 20% of the funding and opening their own online
competition is definitely an issue!”
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

16. Q1 ISSUES
Disagree Agree
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

17. Q2 Purposes: Flexibility
 Scheduling Flexibility (M=3.23)
 “The purpose of online learning is to provide flexible
opportunities for students in a system that is traditionally
not flexible.”
 “Online Learning allows us to provide students with an
opportunity to fulfill graduation requirements when they
need to accrue credits.”
 “It gives students options and opportunities in a variety of
situations young students get themselves into.”
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

18. Q2 Purposes: Individualization
 Meeting Individual Student Needs (M=3.13)
 “Not all students learn the same way. Online learning gives
those students an opportunity for an education who may
not be able to attend a brick and mortar school for specific
reasons.”
 “Online learning seems best suited to meeting unique,
individual needs rather than serving large numbers of
students.”
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

19. Q2 Purposes: Options
 Expanding Course Options (M=3.11)
 “Online learning is a tool used in creating a continuum of
services to meet the mission of ensuring the learning of all
our children, not a whipping post for legislators and short
sighted educators who may be afraid of change.”
 “The purpose is to provide a wider variety of opportunities
for students to take courses.”
 “It is beneficial to have a variety of choices for students to
engage in high quality learning environments.”
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

20. Q2 Purposes: Concerns
 “I do not believe the purposes of online learning align with
the practice.”
 “I believe districts rip off the system and have lost site of
the purpose.”
 “There is a considerable gap between the stated potential
for online learning and its actual implementation, which is
profit-driven.”
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

21. Disagree Agree
Q2 PURPOSES
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

22. Q3 Recommendations: Blending
 “Face-to-face contact remains critical to maintaining an effective and
sustained online learning program.”
 “Traditional and online learning together produce the best results.”
 “Strong face-to-face student-to-teacher relationships and interactions
are essential as the mainstay of K-12 education.”
 “Teachers are still an important component of online learning. The
human connection is critical.”
 “Online learning and blended classrooms are the future of education.
We as educators must have the vision to allow these programs in our
existing schools to support and enhance our more traditional academic
programs.”
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

23. Q3 Recommendations: Individualization
 “Online learning provides an opportunity for students who
do not fit in the traditional classroom setting.”
 “I am very satisfied to have online learning available to the
few learners who need the option but not on a widespread
basis.”
 “Online learning should continue to be very limited to meet
unique needs of individual students but not a replacement
for the strong and good work being done with face-to-face
instruction in schools.”
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

24. Q3 Recommendations: Regulations
 “OSPI needs to create reasonable reporting requirements and funding
formulas.”
 “Regulate the funding of online learning very carefully from OSPI. Make
an effort to limit abuse from revenue generating interests.”
 “Provide via statewide model so districts are not competing for
students.”
 “Online programs, if offered to the public, should be offered and
controlled 100% by OSPI.”
 “Develop stronger policies that discourage fly-by-night providers that
create a churn in student enrollments for profit.”
 “Vetted courses should be made available at no cost to districts, funded
by the state, so that access to educational services does not become even
more inequitable.”
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

25. Q3 Recommendations: Examination
 “Good grief, how many more hours should a young person spend in a virtual versus
actual experience?”
 “Online programs exacerbate the problems of regular schools, rather than solve
them.”
 “In general, online learning is not a meaningful learning experience.”
 “We cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand on this issue. Technology will
continue to infuse itself into education; we can embrace it or get choked by it.”
 “The decision to offer online programming should be based on student need, not the
administrative prejudices or limitations of the adults in the system.”
 “We are all convinced that the breakthrough strategy for improving the quality of
instruction that students receive, and for improving the quality of professional learning
for teachers, is the meaningful collaboration of teachers who share students and
content. This is not a feature of online instruction, and in fact online programs are a
step backward toward isolation of practice and norms of autonomy vs. the norms of
collaboration we have been working to establish.”
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

26. Q4 Demographic Affect
Factors
Experience
District Size
Online Status
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

27. Q4 Demographic: Experience
Agree
Disagree
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

28. Q4 Demographic: District Size
Agree
Disagree
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

29. Q4 Demographic: Online Status
Agree
Disagree
FINDINGS
Malone (2012)

30. Leading Online:
An Autoethnography Focused on
Leading an Instructional Focus on
Student Learning in an Online School
LANCASTER (2012)

31. Q1 What characteristics of an online learning environment
trigger teachers to focus on management issues
rather than learning issues?
Q2 What conditions might be in place to help teachers manage
their online workload effectively so they can shift discussions from
management and metrics to student-centered learning?
Q3 What leadership behaviors need to be undertaken to inspire a
culture of support to engage teachers in analyzing the teaching and
learning process in the online classroom?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Lancaster (2012)

32. Autoethnography
Better understand the story behind the data
Analytic Autoethnography
Emphasis not about self; rather it is about
searching for understanding of culture and/or
society through self (Anderson, 2006)
METHODOLOGY
Lancaster (2012)

33. Socio-technical theory
Changes in technology bring about
changes in values, cognitive structures, life
styles habits and communication which
profoundly alter a society and its chances
of survival (Trist, 1981)
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Lancaster (2012)

34. Infrastructure
 Learning management system (LMS)
 Technology support
Governance
 Compliance
 Policy
 Promotion
Teaching and learning
 Course planning and design
 Formative and summative assessment
Management
 Management for compliance
 Communication
 Issue resolution
THEMES
Lancaster (2012)

35. Q1 What characteristics trigger teachers to
focus on management issues?
Infrastructure: LMS
Teaching and Learning: Course planning and
design (management)
Governance: Political systems driven by
financial need and accountability, metrics about
money
 Promotion: Important due to policy
 Management: Required by policy and technology
FINDINGS
Lancaster (2012)

36. Q2 What conditions help teachers manage their
online workload effectively and shift from
management to student-centered learning?
Infrastructure: Technology manages, teachers teach
Governance: Performance based measures for
compliance, clear measures for student success
Clarity of course layout and design: Guidelines about
modifying and restructuring
Management: Clear tracking tools, integration of LMS
with SIS
FINDINGS
Lancaster (2012)

37. Q3 What leadership behaviors need to be
undertaken to inspire a culture of support to engage
teachers in analyzing the teaching and learning
process in the online classroom?
 Clear consistent message, clear definition of program,
roles, responsibilities that is consistent among all
stakeholders
 Structure professional conversations around learning
metrics
 Provide pressure relief when needed
 Remove barriers from teachers’ role such as funding,
infrastructure and formatting
FINDINGS
Lancaster (2012)

38. Socio-technical
FINDINGS
Lancaster (2012)

39. Governance Regulations
Financial
Management Quality Concerns
Flexibility
Teaching & Learning Blending
Individualization
Infrastructure
-Lancaster (2012) -Malone (2012)
Common Themes

40. Lancaster (2012)
•Guided by a clear vision and compelling purpose
•Facilitate processes for teachers to come together to
discuss student learning
•Provide human contact and daily checks with students
•Learning not technology should be the driver
Malone (2012)
•Regional Adaptive Dialogic Work
•Statewide Superintendent Forums
•Accountability Legislation
•Blended Online Learning
•Common Core Standard Alignment
Recommendations

41. Go COUGS!