The purpose of this study was to compare virtual school students' learning outcomes with traditional school students' learning outcomes in Texas. The research design was a quantitative study using a retrospective causal-comparative design. The researcher used archival state assessment data to compare the learning outcomes of K-12 virtual school…

Schools produce multiple products and digitization articulates with them in different ways. In this paper we expand the frame for analyzing instructional automation by examining its implications for three scholastic products -- embodied learning, grades and test scores, and the narratives that connect the two. We draw on data from interviews with…

This non-experimental correlational quantitative research study was conducted to examine the relationship between the percentage of voluntary live synchronous virtual lesson attendance (LVLA) and the reading comprehension skill growth of sixth through eighth-grade English Language Arts (ELA) students enrolled in a Pennsylvania full-time online…

Despite a large increase in enrollments of students in online courses at the K-12 level, there is very little research on the use of differentiation in fully online (called "virtual") schools. This study asked virtual teachers from two different types of schools to discuss their differentiation practices, and compared differentiation…

Students' social and emotional development matters to their educational success. Ubiquitous digital use in schooling creates new contexts for development, raising the question of the nature of the relationships under these new conditions. Ratings of 9 to 13 year old students' (n = 296) social skills and self-regulation and their writing…

Intrinsic motivation is a crucial factor for students' learning and academic achievement and the initial drive for capturing students' interest in learning and engagement in a particular subject. There is a relationship between motivation and learning in traditional schools (Brophy, 2010; Schunk et al., 2014); however, despite the fact that…

Full-time K-12 online learners faced little impact when schools had to rapidly transition to remote learning in March 2020. Essentially, everyone found themselves in the same position that full-time K-12 online learners had been prior to the pandemic. It is the experiences of supplemental K-12 online learners, those students who normally have…

Virtual education has been steadily growing since the late 1990s. Early research was primarily focused on the comparative studies between brick-and-mortar schools and virtual or hybrid schools. While the research over the past two decades has grown substantially and now includes broader topics such as for whom virtual education seems to work well…

Research suggests that teacher self-efficacy shares a relationship with student achievement. This relationship has mostly been examined in face-to-face contexts and it remains to be seen how that relationship translates to online settings. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the methods and instruments used to measure teacher self-efficacy in…

In the ever-shifting world of school choice, what began as a homegrown charter-school network's small experiment in microschooling stands out as unique -- and as a uniquely promising model for replication. Gem Prep, a network of seven brick-and-mortar K-12 charter schools in Idaho, anchored by a longstanding and high-performing online school,…

With recent advances in generative artificial intelligence, it may come as no surprise that AI influences our society in profound ways. This dissertation project examines how educational and social media platforms and their algorithms shape educational practices and the identity, digital literacies and views of middle school youth participants.…

The COVID-19 pandemic changed schools' reality and posed a wide range of challenges for school leaders, such as a re-examination of principals' and teachers' authority and leadership in the schools' virtual spaces. Teaching methods and social-emotional aspects of learning were challenged as well. The school faculty had to redesign their…

The number of students leaving traditional face-to-face public schools and moving to online school environments continues to grow. The National Center for Educational Statistics reported that almost 300,000 K12 students were served in a fully online environment for the 2019-2020 school year (US Department of Education, n.d.). This study…

Educators are underprepared to respond to crises related to school safety. This lack of preparation leaves school leaders, teachers, and students vulnerable to harm. Importantly, the recent global health pandemic increased the utilization of online and hybrid learning modes increasing the need for school safety planning specific to these online…

While K-12 online education and cyber charter schools have existed for decades, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 compelled every professor and teacher globally to participate in this mode of instruction. Four years after the pandemic, many brick-and-mortar K-12 schools have retained cyber or online classes within the curriculum to offer students more…