Hello! I am new to the forum, and I’m not even sure this is the place to post this question, as it’s in reference to high school rather than college, but there’s not really any objective forums out there about online high school.
My almost 16 year old is pushing me to allow her to enroll in the k12 online learning program in Ohio. I have serious reservations about this. But I’d like to make the best decision for her. She’s a fairly serious child and her long term goal is to become a veterinarian. She was in the gifted learner program in elementary school, and as a high school student is in all Honors and AP (when available) classes. She is well liked by her peers and confident, and her school system is a suburban district with an “Excellent” designation by the state. There’s funding issues, but really, aren’t all local schools having funding issues?
My concerns are this:
I’m unable to find any statistics on the college graduation rate of traditional vs. online students. I assume this is because online public high school is still fairly new I’m concerned that the online courses will be “too easy” resulting in lax study habits, thus making her poorly prepared for studying at a college level when the time comes.
I don’t see any mention of SAT or ACT preparation. I can’t find any statistics on how this is viewed for college applications. Most research I’ve done says that colleges look at GPA (she is in the low-mid 4’s), difficulty of classes and either SAT or ACT scores primarily, with some colleges having a focus on extra-curricular activities as well.
We had been at an impasse for several months, her father supports the idea, but hasn’t been very willing to do any research on how this decision could impact her long term success. He tends to think that at 15, she’s almost an adult and should be able to make her own decisions. I disagree, I think at 15 she’s absolutely not capable of making a decision that could affect her entire life, that’s what parents are for. I’ve told him repeated that “f*ck these traditional schools” is not a rational argument. This is a guy who has never helped with homework, never signed a report card, never read to the kids and has been generally uninvolved in their education by choice. All of a sudden he is an expert, and that’s not sitting well with me 🙂 I told both of them 6 months ago to “sell me” on the idea, but I’m not getting any facts from either of them.
So, any opinions on my concerns listed above, or any sites anyone knows of where I can find some statistics? THANK YOU!!
Hi There, Online highs schools are booming.275,000 students studied online last year and the number choosing to do so is escalating each year. See our latest blog for a [url=http://www.geteducated.com/elearning-education-blog/best-online-high-schools-virtual-schools-for-brains-jocks/]list of the best online high schools[/url] offered by university programs. All these virtual programs offer about 200 courses each and specialize in offering college prep and AP advanced placement college level work. To find the best virtual schools look for 1) programs that hold regional accreditation (that is the same type of accreditation held by residential high schools); and 2) PUBLIC virtual high schools. Avoid the legion of for-profit high… Read more »
I am a mother located in California who is trying to locate credible online high school courses to supplement the instruction my daughter is currently receiving in public high school in an effort to enhance the odds of being accepted to university.
Would anyone know:
What are the best sites you’ve found/why?
Is there an external measure given to the learning site, for instance, like some sort of accreditation or a “Better Business Bureau” of some sort?
Any suggestion is much appreciated!
Hi Monica, You have a lot of great questions so I hope others will chime in. It is hard to find FACTS as opposed to opinion about online learning so I am going to try and provide some objective research for you to consider. FIRST, is online learning as GOOD as traditional learning at the K-12 level. In other words if your daughter switches to an online high school will she learn as much or perform as well on exams like the SAT or ACT or AP? I’d direct you to read the New York Times education blog on the… Read more »