Are Today's Administrators Prepared?

Virtual education is one of the fastest growing areas in K-12 education today. Online education (as it is also referred to) has taken a variety of new forms since the first virtual high school was created a decade and a half ago. There are public and private stand-alone virtual schools, virtual programs that are a component of an existing program, and there are teachers who have incorporated elements of online education into traditional, on-ground instruction (referred to as hybrid or blended). A recent study, conducted by Project Tomorrow and titled "Speak-Up 2009: Creating our Future Student Survey," indicates that many more high school students are interested in online education than currently participate. One obstacle holding them back is the lack of information about the nature of online education, and another is lack of access to online programs. An earlier study published by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) indicated that about one third of all public school districts had students enrolled in distance education courses of some type in the 2002-2003 school year. That percentage has been growing each year (NCES, 2003). In fact, the January 18, 2010, edition of eSchool News published the following data.