Archived: School districts that offer high-quality online learning

Washington’s current on-time graduation rate is 77percent - lower for low-income students, students of color and specialneeds students. Online Learning is anintegral strategy for schools in their efforts to offer students greater accessto courses they need. Inschool year 2013–14, over 23,000 Washington students enrolled in nearly 73,000K-12 online courses. Both the number of students and the number of enrollments were essentially unchanged from the previous year. The number of districts reporting online enrollments increased, while the number of schools fell slightly.

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• Amend WAC 392-502-030: removing barriers to implementing online school programs. (Under WAC 392-502-030, online providers—including public schools providing online courses and programs—must assure the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) that their online programs are accredited through a designated accrediting organization. Requiring third party accreditation of online school programs imposes costs on public school districts, can be redundant, and is not consistent with OSPI’s adoption of new online provider performance targets. The purpose of this amendment to WAC 392-502-030 is to exempt online school programs, single-district providers, and affiliate providers from the rule’s accreditation requirement.)
• In 2014, OSPI made a significant change in the rules that govern the online provider approval process. The previous process focused largely on program “inputs” — policies, and procedures. With the rule revision, providers must now meet student achievement performance targets (“outputs”) in order to maintain their approved status.
• Schools and online providers should have the chance to fully implement the changes in laws and rules. OSPI and the State Auditor’s office will continue to closely monitor ALE and online learning and this will help inform any future policy discussions in this area.

Refer to the Digital Learning Department website for information on Online Learning Options including information for schools,districts, parents, providers, and students at http://digitallearning.k12.wa.us/

Support OLAC – the Online Learning Advisory Committee selected by Superintendent Dorn. Members of the advisory committee assist OSPI by providing advice regarding the approval criteria, major components of the website, the model school district policy, model agreements and other related matters. http://digitallearning.k12.wa.us/about/olac/

Consider membership with iNACOL: a nonprofit organization with the mission to ensure all students have access to a world-class education and quality blended and online learning opportunities that prepare them for a lifetime of success. http://www.inacol.org/our-work/