Students are Streaming to State Virtual Schools

State virtual schools are among the fastest growing programs in K–12 public education. Twenty-eight states now have virtual school programs that enroll students statewide, up from five such programs in 1997. Last year, some 139,000 students enrolled in at least one course through a state virtual school. Two of the oldest and largest state on-line programs, in Utah and Florida, have both expanded by more than 50 percent over the past five years. If trends continue—if states continue to create virtual schools and recently created programs grow at even half the rate of the programs in Florida and Utah—we can expect a half-million students to enroll in state virtual schools in just a few years.

State virtual schools are different from individual "cyber" schools in that they are generally created by state legislation or a state agency and are not designed to entirely replace traditional schools. Instead, almost all of the state virtual schools are primarily or entirely supplemental—offering students the option of taking one or more courses to supplement their traditional school experience. Programs vary, but most focus at the high school level. Virtual school students take advanced-placement and other courses not taught at their school, overcome scheduling problems, or make up credits in failed or missed courses. The programs also enable students who are not succeeding in traditional classroom settings to try an alternative.

While there are no definitive national statistics on virtual schooling, it is clear that the sector is burgeoning. As Table 1 shows, Utah and Florida have by far the largest programs.

Almost one-third of all Utah high-school-age students participated in Utah's Electronic High School last year. As Chart 2 shows, student enrollment in that program jumped from fewer than 1,000 students in 2000 to nearly 50,000 in 2006.

As Chart 3 shows, growth has been just as dramatic in Florida's program. The number of courses completed in the Florida Virtual School has grown seven-fold over the past six years.