How Can the Karns City Cyber Academy Be Improved?

Pennsylvania is a state with significant proportions of students who attend rural schools, as well as students who attend cyber schools. Parents have the right to enroll their child in any one of a dozen or more cyber schools, even if their local school district operates an online program. The purpose of this action research project was to examine the reasons why parents choose the option to enroll in an external cyber school rather than the local school district option. Results indicated that parents were unaware of the KC Cyber Academy option and reported having no choice but to enroll their child in an external cyber school. Findings also suggested that male students in grades 7-9, students with an IEP, and students who were from economically disadvantaged households depart the school system at a higher rate than other students. The implications of this study were that if improvements could be made to the existing online learning program, more students would take that option and obtain a quality education, and financial savings would be realized for the school district. Publisher