Policy Brief

Introduction

Online learning offers policymakers the opportunity to rethink the way public schools are organized and funded. Since the early 1900s, public schools have been organized on a factory-based model, to meet the needs of a rapidly industrializing economy. This standardized system was designed to process large batches of students who spend a fixed amount of time at each stage. This system has not changed in nearly 100 years. Current laws and practices assume all children will spend the same amount of time at each stage. Seat time and classroom location are the constants, and student learning is the variable.

Schools are currently funded through lump-sum public appropriations based on pre-set staffing formulas. Schools receive money based on a certain number of teachers, administrators and support staff for every 1,000 students. This automatic method of funding means a school’s budget has no connection to its effectiveness in actually teaching children. Students receive credits for fulfilling courses based on completing attendance requirements, for sitting for a defined number of hours in a classroom, even if they have failed to acquire the knowledge they need to proceed to the next level.

In order for students to thrive in a modern knowledge-based economy, schools will have to provide individualized instruction in a way that is impossible under the current structure. Online learning has the proven ability to individualize and customize learning to meet the needs of each student, and to transform the current monolithic, factory-style school model to a more affordable, mastery-based, student-centered system. In a student-centered system, the pace of learning is the constant, and time and seat location are the variables. As pointed out in Education Week:

“There is far more standardization than customization in schools. Schools teach using a monolithic batch system. When a class is ready to move on to a new concept, all students move on, regardless of how many have mastered the previous concept (even if it is a prerequisite for learning what is next).... Both the bored and the bewildered see their motivation for achievement shredded by the system.”

Online learning allows policymakers to consider a shift from defining “inputs” for education funding (like number of dollars spent), to an “output” model, which funds schools based on each student’s successful course completion. In addition, online learning makes better use of limited school resources. Each teacher has the time to help more students when classroom loads are lightened through online curricula.

Key Findings

1. The average cost of providing a quality education to an online student is significantly less than the $10,200 average per-student cost of a traditional public school.
2. Financing online schools through student-centered funding is more transparent than traditional funding. The education money spent on online programs can be clearly tracked and is directly linked to student achievement.
3. Private education companies realize they must provide online students with a quality educational experience, otherwise students, and their funding, will be shifted elsewhere.
4. School districts can restrict student access to online learning under current regulations.

Read the full Policy Brief here.