Virtual School

How It Works

Virtual schools have grown rapidly over the past decade and saw explosive enrollment growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Full-time virtual schools, where students take all their courses online, enroll approximately 700,000 students, about 1.4% of all public school students. Many more students take individual online courses while attending brick-and-mortar schools. Virtual schools can be operated by school districts, charter management organizations, or state education agencies. Some operate statewide, accepting students from anywhere in the state. The academic track record of full-time virtual schools has been consistently poor in research studies. The National Education Policy Center has found that full-time virtual schools have significantly lower graduation rates, test scores, and student growth than comparable brick-and-mortar schools. Large virtual charter operators like K12 Inc. (now Stride) and Connections Academy have faced particular scrutiny for low academic outcomes combined with high profits. However, virtual schools can serve specific populations well: students in rural areas without access to certain courses, students with medical conditions or disabilities that make physical attendance difficult, and students who thrive with self-paced learning. On OpenSchoolData, virtual schools are presented with the same data as all other schools. Parents considering virtual options should pay close attention to proficiency rates and enrollment data.

Related Terms

• Charter School, A publicly funded school that operates independently of the traditional school district system under a charter (contract) that grants operational flexibility in exchange for accountability for results.
• School Choice, The principle and set of policies that allow families to choose which school their child attends rather than being assigned to a school based solely on residential address.
• School Accountability, The system by which schools and districts are held responsible for student outcomes, including state ratings, improvement plans, and potential interventions for chronically low-performing schools.