Missouri Virtual Public School

[Peter Campbell <campbellp@mail.montclair.edu>]

A bill to create the Missouri Virtual Public School (HB 1275) is being 
considered in the MO state legislature. This bill potentially opens the 
door to giving NCLB new teeth by giving parents an option to transfer 
out of their districts.

As an educational technology advocate, I'm very excited about the 
possibility of enhancing kids' educations via technology, especially in 
rural areas that have limited access to more advanced subject matter. 
However, as a public school advocate, I'm troubled by the potential 
role these virtual schools may play in undermining public education.

Year 2 AYP sanctions under NCLB allow students to transfer from a 
school that is on the "needs improvement" list to another school within 
the district that is not on the list. However, since NCLB only allows 
transfer within the district, where are students going to go if all the 
schools in the district are on the list? Furthermore, where can 
students go if there is only one elementary or middle school in the 
district?

So under HB 1275, can students "transfer" to the Missouri Virtual 
Public School if their schools are placed on the "needs improvement" 
list? If virtual schools are used as options in the NCLB/AYP school 
transfer process, many students will benefit, but many more will be 
left behind. The research on distance education programs shows pretty 
clearly that certain types of students benefit from this environment, 
i.e, those that are more focused and self-directed with good time 
management skills. While a good percentage of the population of public 
school students fit this profile, a large number don't.

Of even greater concern is the extent to which private, for-profit 
entities will be involved in offering these services via the Internet 
with little to no accountability provisions built in. Is the Missouri 
Virtual Public school going to operate as a charter school? If so, how 
will it be managed? Missouri's experience and the rest of the country's 
experience with charters has been mixed at best. One of the more 
troubling aspects of charter schools is their lack of accountability. 
While this is troubling enough in brick and mortar institutions where 
students have face-to-face accountability, it is even more troubling 
when no such tangible aspect of accountability exists.

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Peter Campbell