This presentation was made at the AERA Annual Conference in New Orleans, April 2011

5. Trend Line – School Districts Adopting Online Courses

6. Trend Line – School Districts Adopting Blended Courses

7. Class Connections: High School Reform and the Role of Online Learning The purpose of the third study was to examine the role of online learning in addressing issues facing the American high school. Data were collected from a national sample of high school principals (N=441) with respect to the extent, nature, and reasons for participating in online learning programs. Question: Why Study High Schools?

8. Is the American High School an Institution in Crisis? “ the most serious problem is the persistent low graduation rates in American high schools…In a report published by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston and the Alternate Schools Network in Chicago , the high school dropout problem was deemed a ‘crisis’ that is having a detrimental life-long economic impact on individuals as well as on the American society at large. “ Center for Labor Market Studies . (May 5, 2009). Left behind: The nation’s dropout crisis. (May 5, 2009). Boston: Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University and the Alternate Schools Network in Chicago. Retrieved from: http://www.clms.neu.edu/publication/documents/CLMS_2009_Dropout_Report.pdf

9. Is the American High School an Institution in Crisis? President Barak Obama in his first major address on American education after assuming the presidency, pleaded with American youth that: “ dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country; and this country needs and values the talents of every American.” Obama, B. (February, 2009). Address to a joint session of the United States Congress. Retrieved from: www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/remarks-ofpresident-barack-obama-address-to-joint-session-of-congress.

10. Is the American High School an Institution in Crisis? The United States Congress in March 2009, the extent of the high school graduation problem was described as: “… About 1,230,000 secondary school students, which is approximately one-third of all secondary school students, fail to graduate with their peers every year. According to the Department of Education, the United States secondary school graduation rate is the lowest the rate has been since 2002… … The graduation rates for historically disadvantaged minority groups are far lower than that of their White peers. Little more than half of all African-American and Hispanic students will finish secondary school on time with a regular secondary school diploma compared to over three-quarters of White students.“ Bill S-618 Introduced in the United States Senate (March 17, 2009). Title of the Bill: To improve the calculation of, the reporting of, and the accountability for secondary school graduation rates. 111th Congress, 1st Session. Retrieved from: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc111/s618_is.xml

11. Figure 5. Summary of Responses to: How important do you believe each of the following items would be in offering or potentially offering online and blended/hybrid courses ? Why Online or Blended Courses?

12. Figure 8. Types of online courses offered by percentage of the schools with the offerings. Types of Online Courses Being Offered

13. Figure 9. Types of blended courses offered by percentage of the schools with the offerings. Types of Blended Courses Being Offered

14. Figure 7. Summary of Responses to: How important do you believe each of the following items would be in offering or potentially offering online and blended/hybrid courses? cross tabulated by the location of the school . Location, Location, Location

15. Figure 10. Types of online courses offered by percentage of the schools with the offerings cross tabulated by location. Urban School Districts and Credit Recovery

24. Will blended learning become the dominant instructional model for all education surpassing traditional f2f and fully online modalities? Who will be the major providers of online learning in the K-12 environment? Will a few providers (companies) come to control this market? Will credit recovery be the dominant online learning application that ushers in the other subject and skill development areas? What is happening at the state and local level? (i.e., Idaho considering requiring four online courses in order to graduate high school; New York City is undertaking a major credit recovery initiative.)