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 2015 report is third in a series of annual reports on virtual education in the U.S. It is organized in three major sections: Section I examines the policy and political landscape associated with virtual schooling and describes the current state of affairs related to finance and governance, instructional program quality, and teacher quality.…

This report is the second of a series of annual reports by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) on virtual education in the U.S. The NEPC reports contribute to the existing evidence and discourse on virtual education by providing an objective analysis of the evolution and performance of full-time, publicly funded K-12 virtual schools. This…

This national study, which comprehensively reviews 311 virtual schools operating in the United States, finds serious and systemic problems with the nation's full-time cyber schools. Despite virtual schools' track record of students falling behind their peers academically or dropping-out at higher rates, states and districts continue to expand…

This book describes the history, structure and institutions of open and distance education in six countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US. It discusses how open and distance education is evolving in a digital age to reflect the needs and circumstances of national higher education systems in these countries, and explores…

As proponents continue to make the case that virtual education can expand student choices and improve the efficiency of public education, full-time virtual schools have attracted a great deal of attention. Advocates contend that this potential for individualization allows virtual schools to promote greater student achievement than can be realized…

This report contains two separate studies examining the status of high-achieving students in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) era. Part I, An Analysis of NAEP Data, authored by Brookings Institution scholar Tom Loveless, examines achievement trends for high-achieving students (defined, like low-achieving students, by their performance on the…

Hampton Institute has developed an educational technique in several lines which is of interest especially to those institutions that are still trying to find their way under difficulties and that for lack of vision as well as lack of support are unable to reach the high ideals of training which have resulted from the careful working out of the…

During the 1995-96 year, the Education Commission of the States (ECS) Clearinghouse issued almost three dozen "Clearinghouse Notes" on a wide array of education issues. The notes, which are usually one to two pages long, show at a glance state legislation passed or pending on specific education issues. This packet contains the complete…

This volume on apprenticeships in Australia summarizes 11 research studies. After an "Introduction" (Nigel Smart), the reports are: "Apprenticeship in Australia: A Concise History" (John Ray); "Issues and Directions from the Australian Apprenticeship and Traineeship Literature" (Stephen Saunders); "Determinants…