Trends and Issues of Virtual K–12 Schools

Increasingly, K-12 schools are delivering instruction via Internet courses that allow students to access course content and complete assignments from home. Although a decade ago, online courses for public school students were not available, a growing number of countries have discovered that online instruction offers schools the opportunity to provide a wider variety of courses and experiences for students with a variety of skills and abilities. In fact, the Governor of Michigan just signed legislation that will require all high school students to take at least one online course prior to graduation (Carnevale, 2006; Moser, 2006). Educators have learned to adapt courses for online instruction and several universities are partnering with public schools to share expertise in the virtual education arena.