Many of the same obstacles that exist in traditional bricks and mortar classrooms, are carried over to the virtual or e-learning environment. Given tight budgets and other constraints, virtual learning will have greater appeal to school districts, but it is not a easy fit for many students with special needs. Critical technological, accessibility and curricular issues need to be worked out. While I am a big proponent of technology, I have not yet found the virtual learning world to be a good fit for my son and many of the students I represent. The following blog post is review of some of the current research and issues that pertain to virtual learning.
“Virtual schools” (also known as cyber schools, online schools, or e-learning) are one of the hottest waves in education. The number of states offering these programs to their students has boomed with the computer age. From 2002 to 2007, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reported a 60% increase virtual school enrollments. The actual number of K-12 students estimated to be enrolled in online programs ranges from 500,000 to 1 million students. Download 1290_0001 Yet according to a recent article in Education Week, it appears that students with special needs, who may benefit greatly from these programs, are either underrepresented in existing programs or, if enrolled, the programs are not being adapted to their needs, or e-learning is not proving effective to meet the needs of students with special needs. Download 1291_0001
What is a virtual school? A virtual school instructs students through on-line methods. The teacher, who is separated from the student by time and space, monitors student progress and provides feedback. Teaching can either be synchronous, involving a group of students learning together at remote locations, or asynchronously, where the student learns at his own pace. Some of the benefits of virtual schools are obvious—they can provide access to courses or trained teachers otherwise unavailable to some students; e.g., AP classes for students in rural areas, students who are home bound, competitive athletes with heavy training schedules, or professional actors.
For some students with special needs, virtual learning provides some unique benefits. Project Forum staff surveyed 61 state education agencies in 2009 and listed the following benefits virtual schools could offer students with special needs: “accessibility of curriculum for students on long-term suspension or home-bound placement; individualized attention; self-pacing of online education; availability of multi-media content and supplemental resources; students’ needs for fewer behavioral supports since they are removed from the school building setting—especially students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, or emotional disturbances (ED); and the creation of another placement option.”
Several older studies suggest that students with special needs perform better with computer- or web-based instruction. Yet, there are no data on the academic successes of students with special needs engaged in virtual learning, a need recognized by the Department of Education, which is establishing a Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities, to research the availability, accessibility, and “potential positive outcomes and negative consequences of online learning” for children with special needs. Download 1292_0001
Enrollments may be booming in these courses, but the question is exactly how many students with special needs are benefiting? Many states don’t even track the number of special ed students in their virtual programs. In some states which do track, students with IEPs represent only a small fraction of students engaged in virtual learning. Alabama, which has one of the largest state-run virtual schools providing 34,000 online courses to students, reported that only 217 students have disabilities. Other states report that the percentage of students with disabilities in their virtual schools closely mirrors that of their “brick and mortar schools.” Pennsylvania reports that 13.7% of the 3,363 students engaged in e-learning have disabilities. And in Florida at the Florida Virtual School, about 17% of the more than 90,000 students enrolled have identified special needs. However, the program believes that the true number may be as high as 40%.The Florida Virtual School acknowledges that its students with special needs are struggling; only about 30% successfully complete their courses.
So what can be done? First and foremost, in a 2003 letter, the Office of Special Education Programs explicitly stated that IDEA and its corresponding regulations “do not make any exceptions to [the requirements of IDEA] or allow States to waive or relax these requirements for virtual schools.” Thus, states are still responsible for evaluation and identification of special needs students as well as implementing IEPs and providing related services.
The earlier mentioned Project Forum survey also asked states to list the challenges of serving students with disabilities. Included in the results are “opening of virtual schools before they have adequately prepared to serve students with disabilities; lack of established standards for implementing special education services, revising curriculum for accessibility; enrolling of students for whom virtual education is not the most suitable education model; meeting the needs of increasing numbers of students with more severe needs; lack of communication between creators of IEPs and virtual school staff; ensuring students have proper support from LEAs and home schools; accessing sufficient numbers of related service personnel; and lack of adequate funding to provide resources for closed captioning, AT devices, multiple media components to meet various students’ needs and other necessary adaptations.”
In an earlier Education Week article, Jeff Diedrich, the director of Michigan’s Integrated Technology Supports, or MITS, program, said that online learning for special needs students is in its “relative infancy.” “Special education,” he went on to say, “is often an afterthought, and particularly with online-learning environments, there’s so much that could be supportive for students with disabilities. And yet, it’s not often a consideration when developing a course or acquiring materials to use in the online course.” Download 1295_0001
What does all of this mean for your student with special needs? A virtual environment, with its ability to provide immediate feedback, a variety of educational formats, and individualized attention, might be a good option. But be aware that in many cases, the technology of virtual learning has outraced the policy associated with it. The horse got out of the barn very quickly. Be prepared to ask questions, a lot of them, starting with whether a virtual school is even available for your child as a different placement option in those case where it is more appropriate for some period of time to be learning remotely. Virtual schooling can also open up learning opportunities while the student is in school that would otherwise not be available but it clearly has to be accessible to be of any use.
It is vital to ask questions about the delivery of services for your child. Some programs have students go to their local schools to receive their related services, such as OT and Speech. Some programs can be part-time, allowing students to participate in less problematic classes as well as extra-curricular activities, where they can enjoy the social benefits afforded by their local schools. It is also very critical to insure that the curriculum is appropriate for your child. Just because the course is in a digital or multi-media format does not mean it will be any more accessible to your child than a traditional textbook. Whistles and bells aren’t everything. Make sure you are clear on how special education teachers are communicating with the online teachers and the IEP is being implemented.