AERA 2009 - Variability in U.S. Virtual School Policies Affecting Course Completion Rates
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This study examined trial period and course completion policies across U.S. virtual schools. It found that over 70% of schools had trial periods, averaging around 20 days, with most common lengths being 2-4 weeks. Wide variation existed in how schools defined course completions. The study calls for standardizing these metrics to allow for meaningful comparisons of quality indicators between schools. Future research should examine student characteristics related to attrition and compare policies to those in Canada. Standard metrics are needed for both internal and external reporting.
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AERA 2009 - Variability in U.S. Virtual School Policies Affecting Course Completion Rates
- 1. U.S. VIRTUAL SCHOOL TRIAL PERIOD AND COURSE COMPLETION POLICY STUDY ABIGAIL GONZALES, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY MICHAEL K. BARBOUR, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY AERA 2009
- 2. State of Virtual Schools in U.S. Growth in schools 1997: 2 states with K12 online learning opportunities 2008: 44 states (Watson, Gemin, & Ryan, 2008) Majority virtual high school. Trend in K-8 arena. Growth in student population 40,000 to 50,000 students enrolled in 2000 (Clark, 2001) 1,030,000 students enrolled in 2007-2008. (Picciano& Seaman, 2009) Primarily supplements brick-and-mortar schooling Increasingly diverse student body
- 3. Challenges of virtual schooling Attrition is a significant problem (Carr, 2000; Lary, 2002; Rice, 2005) Researchers call for standardizing performance measures (Smith et al., 2005; Pape et al., 2006; Watson et al., 2006) Two studies examining policies (Pape et al., 2006; Watson & Ryan, 2007) Findings: variety in policies adopted Study weakness: Small sample size 32 and 3 VS Trial periods can sift out weaker students (Ballas&Belyk, 2000; Cavanuagh, Gillan, Bosnick, Hess, & Scott, 2005; McLeod, Hughes, Brown, Choi, & Maeda, 2005) Variance in policies make comparison of quality indicator meaningless.
- 4. Policies Affecting VS Attrition Rates When do we count students? TrialPeriod Policy: period of time where student withdraws with no penalty. Begin counting at date of enrollment? After 4 weeks? When submit first assignment? How do we count students in retention stats? Course Completion Policy: # students completing course # students started course Who counts as “completing”. Passing grade? Failing grade? Remains in course?
- 5. Research Questions 1. What is the variation in trial period policies in US? Variability across types schools & geographic regions 2. What is the variation in how US virtual schools define course completions? Variability across types schools & geographic regions
- 6. Methods Sample 159US schools Schools listed in iNACOL‟sOnline Learning Clearinghouse List „07 State-led schools in Keeping Pace w/ K12 Online Learning (Watson, 2007) Survey Study 3-question email survey w/ introduction, purpose Presence of trial period Length of trial period in days Definition of successful course completion
- 7. US Geographical Regions Northeaste rn States Central States Western States Southeaste rn States
- 8. Representativeness by Region Sample Populatio Populatio Region Sample % n n% Central States 23 26.1 41 25.5 Northeastern 8 9.1 18 11.2 States Southeastern 20 22.7 33 20.5 States Western States 37 42 67 41.6 Total 88 159
- 9. Responses by School Type Sampl Sample Populatio Population % School type e % n Cyber 16 18.2 34 21.1 Charter For Profit 1 1.1 9 5.6 Multi-district 7 8.0 11 6.8 Private 13 14.8 21 13 Single-district 26 29.5 49 30.4 State – led 17 19.3 24 14.9 University – 8 9.1 11 6.8 led Totals 88 159
- 10. Trial Period Prevalence Trial: 61 No trial: 27 Total: 88
- 11. Trail Period Length in Days Range: 1-185 Mean: 19.59* Instances where event marked end of trial period *w/o extreme outliers
- 12. Trial period length in days (n=61) v v
- 13. Trial period length variations by… School type: Sig. @ p=.05 df(5) f3.909 Differences: Private school vs. state-led, cyber charters, and single-district Private schools had shorter trial periods compared to other schools Geographical region: No significant difference
- 14. Completion Definitions where… Grade Relevant vs. Irrelevant vs. Other
- 15. Course Completion Definitions where… Grade is Relevant Definitions US US % Pass the course 38 44.2 (60%) Pass course & final 2 2.3 Pass w/ ≥ D/64% 1 1.2 Pass w/ ≥ C-/70% 6 7 Pass w/ ≥ B-/80% 4 4.7 Pass w/ ≥ A-/90% 1 1.2 Totals 52 60.6%
- 16. Course Completion Definitions where… Grade is Irrelevant Definitions US US % 16 18.6 Remain in course Complete all/majority of 11 12.8 coursework Totals 27 31.4%
- 17. Course Completion Definitions where… Other Definitions US US % Mastery not defined by grade 1 1.2 Individual schools define completion 4 4.7 Totals 5 5.9%
- 18. Course completion variations by… School type: No significant difference Geographical region: No significant difference
- 19. Findings Summary Trial Period Presence Prevalent practice ~70% Supports Watson & Ryan 2007 survey of 32 VS with ~66% Trial Period Length Average length ~ 20 days Most common lengths: 2 and 4 weeks Supports Watson & Ryan 2007 findings Regional differences: Not sig. School type: Sig. - private schools
- 20. Findings Summary Course completion definitions Wide variation between and within groups Remain in course Future Research Student characteristics, experience, and reason for dropping out during trial period duration Comparison study with Canadian trial period and course completion policies
- 21. Implications Need common metrics for calculating attrition Best if same as bricks-and-mortar schools Gather data for internal and external reporting Internal= Institutional metrics External = Standardized metrics Determining metric easier since geography and school type factor little
- 22. Assistant Professor Wayne State University - Detroit, MI mkbarbour@gmail.com http://www.michaelbarbour.com
Editor's Notes
- 1997 only two schools had K12 online programs. 11 years later up to 44 states had significant online learning opportunities according to Watson,Gemin, and Ryan’s 2008 Keeping pace wit hK-12 online learning.Majority of schools are virtual high schools but increasingly more K8 schools are opening.3. Estimated 1,030,000 students enrolled in some type of online program during the 2007-2008 academic year. This is a 47% increase from just two years previously.4. For most students this supplements their face to face or home schooling program. However there is a growing trend towards more full-time programs.3. Student body is expanding and becoming increasingly diverse. This is due to more and more at-risk students using virtual schools for credit recovery and legislative mandates, such as Michigan and Alabama, which require as part of graduation an online learning component. Other states may soon follow.
- Long trial periods can act as a sifting mechanism during which weaker students to drop out, masking attrition rates for lower performing students. FLVS 1999 -2000 evaluation report—reported a 71% retention rate. If included dropout students from trial period – 54%In turn, virtual schools with generous trial periods would be able to report high retention rates because students who were having trouble and would have likely struggled to complete the course would have dropped out by the time the virtual school began counting then as students.
- 159 US schools located:: NACOL Clearinghouse list, State-led schools from Keeping Pace with K-12 Education 2007Canadian schools selected based on Email survey : 3 questions; 2 open-ended,
- Single district, Cyber charter, and State –led: 67%
- Single district, Cyber charter, and State –led: 67%Fairly representative set of responses compared to the sample set.
- US: Of the 88 schools surveyed, 27 schools had no trial period compared to 61 schools had a trial periodTrial periods were a common practice in the US.Several instances where a trial period was marked by an event such as submitting your first assignment, taking your first quiz, paying your tuition; in contrast to a time period that was common in the US.
- US most common: 28-30 days about 4 weeks accounted for 28.3% of the sampleMost common (14 days) 14-15 days: 2 weeks accounted for 26.7% of the sample
- Ran One way ANOVAs to see if there were any significant differences in trial length based on school type or region.For School types found that US significant with an f value of 3.909Did a Post HokTukey test to see which variables were significant and found that
- Wide range from passing the course w/ 60% to a mastery level with 90% or betterUS had significant variation within this category.
- Wide range in completion definitions.
- Not define by grade: elementary school
- This study gives us evidence beyond anecdote or guess, that variations are significant and there is a need to standardize trial period policies and course completion definitions.We need to count students in the same time and same manner.Ideally, best if we could align this with how brick and mortar schools are calculating attrition/retention to allow for comparisons