Lessons from K-12 Distance Education in the U.S.A., 1986-2008

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Cavanaugh
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Virtual Schools ◽  
Effective Practices ◽  
School Students ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
K 12

<p>Distance education for elementary and secondary school students in North America has grown and evolved over a century from mail-based correspondence courses for small numbers of geographically dispersed learners to the millions of learners now using online courses in virtual schools. This article focuses on effective practices emerging from the modern electronic generation of K-12 distance education programs existing in the United States between 1986 and 2008.</p>

International Evidence on Ability Grouping with Curriculum Differentiation and the Achievement Gap in Secondary Schools

2010 ◽  
Vol 112 (5) ◽  
pp. 1492-1528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Ward Schofield
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Ability Grouping ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
School Students ◽  
High Quality Research ◽  
Curriculum Differentiation

Background/Context The achievement gap between students from different backgrounds is an issue of grave concern in the United States and in many other developed countries. U.S. research suggests that tracking and other forms of ability grouping with curriculum differentiation may be implicated in increasing this gap. Unfortunately, U.S. researchers often neglect the increasingly rich and methodologically sophisticated literature from other developed countries related to this topic. Purpose/Objective This article brings readers’ attention to a wide variety of high-quality research that is commonly underused by U.S. scholars interested in the origins of the achievement gap. It does this by reviewing what research from other developed countries says regarding two fundamental questions addressed by U.S. researchers: (1) Is having higher achieving schoolmates/classmates commonly associated with larger achievement gains for secondary school students? and (2) Is ability grouping with curriculum differentiation commonly associated with a larger achievement gap for secondary school students? This article explores the latter question in ways not typically possible in the U.S. Specifically, it asks: (a) Do hierarchical tiered educational systems, which provide separate schools with markedly different curricula for students with different abilities and career aspirations, increase the achievement gap? and (b) Do school systems that have relatively large amounts of ability grouping with curriculum differentiation or that start this practice early have a larger achievement gap than others? Research Design A narrative literature review was conducted focused on the preceding questions. High-quality research typically (a) conducted in secondary schools in other developed countries, (b) authored by researchers outside the United States, and/or (c) published in non-U.S.-based sources is highlighted. Conclusions/Recommendations International research supports the conclusion that having high-ability/high-achieving schoolmates/classmates is associated with increased achievement. It also suggests that ability grouping with curriculum differentiation increases the achievement gap. For example, attending a high-tier school in a tiered system is linked with increased achievement, whereas attending a low-tier school is linked with decreased achievement, controlling for initial achievement. Furthermore, there is a stronger link between students’ social backgrounds and their achievement in educational systems with more curriculum differentiation and in those with earlier placement in differentiated educational programs as compared with others. However, numerous methodological issues remain in this research, which suggests both the need for caution in interpreting such relationships and the value of additional research on mechanisms that may account for such relationships.

Trends and Issues of Virtual K-12 Schools

2011 ◽  
pp. 1898-1901
Author(s):  
Belinda Davis Lazarus
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Virtual Schools ◽  
Virtual School ◽  
Virtual High School ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Rapid Pace ◽  
K 12

Increasingly, K-12 schools are delivering instruction via Internet courses that allow students to access course content and complete assignments from home. According to a recent survey conducted by Education Week, 27 states in the United States have spent public monies to establish virtual public or charter schools. For example, over the past 5 years, the Florida Virtual School has spent $23 million and offered 62 online courses to over 8,000 students. Kentucky Virtual High School, which offers approximately 40 courses and enrolls approximately 750 students annually, has a budget of about $400,000 per. The Michigan Virtual High School is funded for $15 million for start-up costs with $1.5 million allocated annually for operational costs. And the Virtual High School International, a nonprofit collaborative of 200 national and international schools with a budget of $10 million, offers 160 courses to students in 16 countries. In spite of declining budgets, the growth of K-12 virtual schools continues at a rapid pace (Park & Staresina, 2004).

Family Environment, Educational Aspiration and Performance in St. Vincent

1989 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy L. Austin
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Family Environment ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Father Absence ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Harmful Effects

Father-absence occurs with unusual frequency among people of African descent in the Caribbean. Yet concern over possibly harmful effects of this condition to children and society which is most obvious in the United States is not informed by scientific findings from this region. The present study yielded no evidence that father-absence retards the aspiration or performance of secondary school students in St. Vincent, West Indies, although twelve different groupings of the available cases were analyzed. Findings from this and some American studies suggest that father-absence is not harmful if it is not strongly condemned by the culture with which youths identify.

Research on the E-Teacher in the K-12 Distance Education Classroom

2011 ◽  
pp. 1744-1778
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Murphy ◽  
María A. Rodríguez-Manzanares
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Virtual Schools ◽  
Southern Regional Education Board ◽  
School Students ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Southern Regional ◽  
Regional Education

Compared to the post-secondary level, distance education at the elementary and secondary levels has received little attention from researchers (Kapitzke & Pendergast, 2005; Smith, Clark, & Blomeyer, 2005). This lack of attention is of concern given the rapid and broad growth of this form of education. In the United States, online education programs are experiencing rapid growth. For example, during the academic year 2005-2006, more than 90,000 middle and high school students were enrolled in state virtual schools in the Southern Regional Education Board, which represented a 100% increase in enrollments from the previous year (Southern Regional Education Board, 2006). While we might assume that research from contexts of post-secondary may inform K-12 distance education, Cavanaugh, Gillan, Kromrey, Hess, and Blomeyer (2004) caution against this assumption as follows: “The temptation may be to attempt to apply or adapt findings from studies of K-12 classroom learning or of adult distance learning, but K-12 distance education is fundamentally unique” (p. 4). The authors further observed that, although research in this area “is maturing” (p. 17), it has only been studied since about 1999. The current “explosion in virtual schools” (p. 6) creates a compelling rationale for continued efforts to conduct research on K-12 distance education.

Selected Variables and Educational Expectation Among Secondary School Students in Trinidad

1975 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-100
Author(s):  
Ishmael Baksh
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
Educational Expectations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Formal Schooling ◽  
School Students ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Educational Expectation

It is generally accepted that in the United States and other modern industrial societies there is a link between formal schooling (number of years of formal education) and social mobility, though some scholars such as Anderson, Blau and Duncan, and Jencks have disputed the strength of this link. The study of educational plans (or "educational expectations") of secondary school students in such societies derives its significance in part from findings of social scientists such as Hauser and Sewell et al. that a positive relationship exists between educational expectation and educational achievement, the latter being measured by number of years of formal schooling received. In order words, the investigation of educational expectation is valuable partly because it is a predictor - albeit a somewhat crude one - of ultimate educational achievement and hence socio-econmic status.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document