Digital learning, the use of computers and the internet to study courses taught in the classroom, is viewed by many educators as a breakthrough to helping those at-risk students stay in school and earn their diplomas. The flexibility afforded by digital learning, with students working on their own time at their own pace, is a way for students to…

In this paper, we document elementary school teachers' attitudinal and pedagogical changes during the rapid move from brick-and-mortar to virtual schooling initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We administered four online surveys (in September and October 2020, and in March and June 2021) to determine teachers' perceived challenges and successes in…

The relationship between student activity data and performance in the online classroom is well-documented, yet the parameters of this relationship and their implications for K-12 online schools are not yet well understood. This study examined the role of student chronotype (defined here as the time of day a student is most active in an online…

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed virtual schooling to the forefront of the national educational landscape. Long-time proponents of this technology quickly positioned digital programs and platforms as the obvious solution for schools that had to close buildings to avoid transmitting the virus. The pandemic exacerbated a trend that NEPC virtual…

This study included quantitative and qualitative methods to provide an in-depth exploration of the parameters of at-risk student virtual education environment. Surveys were administered to teachers, students, and support staff. The connection between school resources and learning are discussed in this study. The results of the study provide…

During the Spring 2020 semester, all fifty states in the United States closed schools from in-person instruction due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. When the two Upstate South Carolina school districts in this study reopened in the Fall of 2020, they gave families the option of allowing students to attend newly developed virtual schools which…

After Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker issued a temporary school closure last March because of COVID-19, leaders at the LEARN Charter School Network got busy thinking about what remote learning would look like; they had a track record of performance to safeguard. Pre-COVID, the 20-year-old Chicago-area charter school network of 10 college-prep K-8…

While research shows that teacher training and professional development intertwine with the overall success of a student and academic achievement, there is still research needed regarding students in poverty that attend online schools and low student achievement benchmarks. The problem addressed in this study is the lack of clear understanding…

The audit objective for this report was to determine whether the Ohio Department of Education (Ohio Education) and selected Ohio local educational agencies (LEAs) have sufficient internal controls to ensure that individualized education programs (IEPs) are developed in accordance with Federal and State requirements for children with disabilities…

High school has evolved significantly over the last several decades. What was once a choice between public school and private school is now a decision that includes homeschools, magnet schools, charter schools, and virtual schools, to name a few. This was a mixed-methods case study that investigated students' and families' satisfaction with their…

National trends indicate a need for continued crisis interventions, specifically for online settings. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of crisis frequency and preparedness of online educators. This research is needed to provide guidelines for detecting and responding to crisis to meet the educational needs of students in a safe…

Instruction plays a critical role in student success. However, most studies of teachers' effects on student learning focus on face-to-face settings. Some aspects of online courses, such as the choice of synchronous or asynchronous instruction and the course structure, might reduce teachers' influence on their students. This study of an online high…

These are the appendixes for the report, "Exploring Teachers' Influence on Student Success in an Online Biology Course." This study of an online high school biology course offered by Florida Virtual School examined the variation in students' course segment (similar to semester) completion rates, end-of-segment exam scores, and time to…

Instruction plays a critical role in student success. However, most studies of teachers' effects on student learning focus on face-to-face settings. Some aspects of online courses, such as the choice of synchronous or asynchronous instruction and the course structure, might reduce teachers' influence on their students. For example, online courses…

In March 2022 a random sample of one third of Stride K12 families (37,856) were emailed a survey asking parents a series of questions about their families' experiences in their children's current Stride K12-powered online schools and their experiences in their children's former schools. 1,949 parents completed the survey, and of that total, 1,613…