Virtual Schools in State Driven by Pure Republican Politics, ignores Data that Virtual School Students Losing Ground.

Anytime education is driven by pure politics, and voucher/private schools are just that, you're going to get lousy results. Wisconsin teachers who once had input now don't. Politicians are now making classroom decisions and micromanaging curriculum, spreading privatization promises that feel good but have no basis in reality. Like online virtual schools. Should we wait and see before taking the plunge, or believe the corporate hype from those who stand to benefit?

Republicans have embraced the latter, and assured themselves future low information citizens who tend to vote on their voodoo theories and promises.

EdWeek: Students attending Colorado’s full-time online education programs have typically lagged their peers on virtually every academic indicator, from state test scores to student growth measures to high school graduation rates. new findings and an achievement gap that alarmed education officials:

• Online students are losing ground. Students who transfer to online programs from brick-and-mortar schools posted lower scores on annual state reading exams after entering their virtual classrooms.• Academic performance declined after students enrolled in online programs. Students who stayed in online programs long enough to take two years’ worth of state reading exams actually saw their test results decline over time.• Wide gaps persist. Double-digit gaps in achievement on state exams between online students and their peers in traditional schools persist in nearly every grade and subject—and they’re widest among more affluent students.

Remember, Wisconsin Republicans want to expand virtual schooling, because the private sector can do a much better job, and parents "know what's best for their kids." Sure parents may have been out of school for 10 to 20 years and a little out of touch with current educational advances, but "they know what's best."

A top state education official called the findings “very concerning.”

“We’ve got to ask some questions here and we’ve got to see what’s going on,” said Diana Sirko, deputy commissioner of learning and results for the Colorado Department of Education. Sirko said the CDE will launch a “comprehensive review” of online standards and accountability under the guidance of a newly hired choice and innovation chief.

As proof marketing is the future of education, and not the qualityl, parents tend to believe the choice schools advertising hype:

Poor achievement has done little to stem the popularity of virtual programs, with online enrollment growing last year at a pace seven times faster than that of traditional schools. Online schools in Colorado are now a $100 million a year industry.

“We know online in general does not do as well as traditional schools,” said Randy DeHoff, a former State Board of Education member who now works for GOAL Academy, one of the state’s newest and largest online programs. “That’s because so many are coming in so far behind. Online tends to be kind of their last option.” DeHoff’s program targets, at least in part, students who have struggled in conventional classrooms.
The analysis of state data shows, however, that most online school students do not appear to be at-risk students. Only about 120 students of the more than 10,000 entering online programs last year were identified as previous dropouts returning to school, and only 290 entered online schools after spending the prior year in an alternative school for troubled youth. Online programs as a group have become more diverse as the population has grown. However, they still serve fewer poor and minority students than the state as a whole.

In addition, the analysis looked at the 2,400 online students who had taken a state standardized reading test in a brick-and-mortar school the year before. More than half had scored proficient or better.
Shifting Demographics

Online student scores on statewide achievement tests are consistently 14 to 26 percentage points below state averages for reading, writing and math over the past four years. The gap in reading and writing has remained about the same between 2008 and 2011, and the gap in math has risen several percentage points. “I think the achievement gap that your data shows is very alarming,” said State Board of Education member Elaine Gantz Berman.

But will bad test scores matter, or will the false sense of power parents feel from being told "they know what's best" dictate bad decision?

A mom who represents one segment of virtual families, traditional homeschoolers, said she simply isn’t interested in test scores. “You’ll find that most homeschoolers don’t care about tests,” said Liese Carberry. “That's because we have seen learning happen for the sake of learning, not for the sake of a few points on a graph.”

A sucker is born every minute.