DOCTOR MY EYES: Guess what the The Wall Street Journal discovered in this weekend's piece, My Teacher is an App: More students than ever are taking classes on laptops and mobile devices. Yah. The story features charming stories and a nice slideshow of (very-well disciplined) kids and involved parents having a blast. But "to be sure" it winds up on a more ominous note, citing a report from EdNewsColorado on the results and impact of online schooling. A litany of damning findings but particularly troubling: Test scores--so far still the barometer for success--are lower for online students. Lots quit the online learning programs within a year and end up back in the classroom, further behind than their peers, and--worse yet--leaving behind the state provided funding for school (about $6K per student in Colorado, for instance) with the online schools. Tom Vander Ark offers a point-by-point rebuttal. One point: "Options are good. Families choose full time online options for many reasons." We couldn't agree more. Californian voters will get a say in November 2012 on a "California Student Bill of Rights." It proposes to allow high-school students to turn to online providers for courses required for UC and CSU admissions that their schools don't cover. The Silicon Valley Education Foundation summarizes the plan here.
