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Running head: IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
HOW CAN THE KARNS CITY CYBER ACADEMY BE IMPROVED?
A Doctoral Capstone Project
Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies and Research
Department of Secondary Education and Administrative Leadership
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Education
Eric D. Ritzert
California University of Pennsylvania
August 2020
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
© Copyright by
Eric D. Ritzert
All Rights Reserved
August 2020
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Dedication
This work is dedicated to my family, who supported my efforts to complete this
milestone, which has helped me grow professionally. Thank you, Krista, and my loving
kids, Addison, Kendall, and Taylor, for being patient with me during the time that was
needed to complete this project.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Acknowledgments
This work would not have been possible without the time and support of
numerous educators that I have the privilege to work with daily. May we all continue to
work together to make tomorrow a better day for the students we serve. I am sincerely
appreciative of the encouragement and feedback I have received over the past two years
from Dr. Aiken. He has been instrumental in keeping me on track. I am also very
appreciative of the help and support from Dr. Arney, who served not only as a mentor
with this project but as my friend. Your encouragement made all the difference.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
vi
Table of Contents
Dedication
iv
Acknowledgements
v
List of Tables
ix
List of Figures
x
Abstract
xi
CHAPTER I. Introduction
1
Reflection/Overview
1
Financial Implications
1
Desired Outcomes
4
Research Questions
5
CHAPTER II. Review of Literature
6
Introduction
6
Current Challenges and Concerns
6
A Brief History of Charter Cyber Schools with a Pennsylvania
Focus
10
Reasons Parents Choose to Enroll their Child in an External
Cyber School
16
Parental Involvement
20
Parent-Teacher Partnerships
24
Online Learning
26
Design and Operation of Online Courses
30
Conclusions and Recommendations
34
CHAPTER III. Methodology
Introduction
37
37
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
vii
Purpose of Study
37
Setting and Participants
43
Interventions/Research Plan
44
Research Design
44
Methods and Data Collection
45
Role of Researcher
47
Validity
48
Limitations
48
Methodology Summary
49
COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on this Study
50
CHAPTER IV. Data Analysis and Results
52
Introduction
52
Summary of Sample and Survey Factors
53
Research Question 1
54
Summary of Results for Research Question 1
72
Research Question 2
74
Summary of Results for Research Question 2
80
Research Question 3
81
Summary of Results for Research Question 3
83
Conclusion
84
CHAPTER V. Conclusions
86
Introduction
86
Parental Survey and Reasons that Parents Enroll their Child in
Cyber School
87
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
viii
Comparison of Student Demographic Data
91
Limitations of this Study
94
Financial Implications
95
Future Directions and Recommendations
97
Future Studies and Research
98
Summary
99
References
101
APPENDIX A. Informed Consent Form
111
APPENDIX B. Parent Survey Instrument
113
APPENDIX C. Internal Review Board Approval
120
APPENDIX C. Student Data Anonymity Verification Letter
121
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
ix
List of Tables
Table 1. National Standard for Quality Online Teaching, Version 2
27, 81
Table 2. Terms and Definitions for K-12 Online Learning
29
Table 3. Enjoyment of Former School versus Current School Placement
62
Table 4. Comparison of Absences from School
75
Table 5. Comparison of Math GPAs
76
Table 6. Comparison of Language Arts GPAs
77
Table 7. Comparison of Science GPAs
78
Table 8. Comparison of Risk Factors
79
Table 9. Comparison of Economic Status, IEP Status, and Gender
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
x
List of Figures
Figure 1. Informed Consent Verification
55
Figure 2. Child’s Gender
56
Figure 3. Parent Education Level
57
Figure 4. Grade First Enrolled in Cyber School
57
Figure 5. Grade Most Recently Completed in Cyber School
58
Figure 6. Post-Graduation Plans
58
Figure 7. Local Public School Attended
59
Figure 8. Feeling Safe at School
60
Figure 9. Friends at School
60
Figure 10. Enjoyment at KCASD School
61
Figure 11. Enjoyment in Cyber School
61
Figure 12. Experienced Academic Problems
63
Figure 13. Experienced Problems with Others
65
Figure 14. Knowledge of KC Cyber Academy
68
Figure 15. Importance of High School Diploma
69
Figure 16. Importance of Extra-curricular Activities
69
Figure 17. Importance of Butler County Area Vocational Technical School
70
Figure 18. Importance of Driver Education Program
70
Figure 19. Importance of Flexible Schedule
71
Figure 20. Preference on Method to Receive Additional Information
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
xi
Abstract
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.
Keywords: rural Pennsylvania schools, cyber school students, online education,
student-teacher relationships, professional development
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
CHAPTER I
Introduction
Reflection/Overview
This action research study explored the reasons why parents enrolled their children
in an external cyber school. First, parents of students that have exited our school system
and then subsequently enrolled in an external cyber school were surveyed to determine
what factors contributed to their decision. Secondly, demographic data that existed on
students that were once actively enrolled in the school system, but later left to attend an
external cyber school were analyzed for common characteristics and patterns. Lastly,
through the review of literature, "best practices" associated with offering and providing
online instruction to K-12 students in the public-school setting were identified based on the
existing research.
Due to the different data types contributing to this study, the focus was placed on
triangulating the data sources to build confidence with the accuracy of the results of the
study (Hendricks, 2017, p. 135). The information learned from this study was shared with
the administrative team, the board of school directors, and teachers. The findings were used
to identify realistic changes that could be made in the programming and operation of the
KC Cyber Academy that would lead to improvements that meet the needs of students.
Financial Implications
The cost to the school district over the years has spent hundreds of thousands of
dollars per year for students that attended an external cyber school. Thus, Karns City Area
School District created the KC Cyber Academy several years ago to attempt to minimize
the number of students leaving the school system to attend an external cyber school. From
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the time of its inception, the KC Cyber Academy has since evolved to provide online credit
recovery and enrichment courses to students who desire to take classes that were not
offered by the traditional school. The goal of this study was to look at what could be
learned about the reasons KC students leave our school system for an external cyber school
even though they have an option to take online courses locally through the school district.
It was anticipated that this study would identify reasons why parents made the
decisions they did regarding their child's education. It was also expected that considerations
as to how to improve and expand the KC Cyber Academy would surface. With potential
changes, it would be expected that funding from the school district would be needed to
implement any changes effectively. In order to justify the funding, two separate fiscal
budgets were produced, each reflecting a distinct path that would add instructional support
to the current KC Cyber Academy program that would enhance the Academy's ability to
help students. This information was provided to the Board of School Directors for their
input and consideration.
The primary justification of requesting the funding for this project was supported by
the fact that the KC Cyber Academy demonstrated its ability to retain some students from
leaving the school system for an external cyber school, and the school district saved money.
A secondary factor was that with improvements that would be made to the KC Cyber
Academy, all students that would take courses through it would receive educational
benefits from the program.
With what was learned by conducting this action research project, practical
recommendations were identified that the school district could use to improve its online
curriculum platform so that it could provide quality online classes to the students.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Ultimately, the online programming that the home school offered to students should be
more valuable than what was available to students from an external cyber charter school.
The KC Cyber Academy provides the student a Karns City diploma, access to participate in
extracurricular activities, access to "in-person" contact with teachers and other staff as
needed, and the ability of students to take vocational-technical classes. With enhancements
and appropriate marketing of our program, our program could provide students that have
desired an alternative educational path a quality option that they can use to meet their needs
without uncoupling themselves from our school and community. The findings that would
be uncovered from this action research would serve as a basis to lead a discussion within
the school district with the administrative team and teachers. The results will be used to
craft a plan of improvement that can be implemented in the next school year. If such an
outcome can be accomplished, the students, the school, and the local community will
benefit from the improvements to the local educational offerings and a reduction in costs to
the school system.
The general public does not understand the negative financial impact that external
cyber school has on their local school districts. The loss of students causes a significant
economic impact on the school system due to the loss of revenue that follows the departing
student when they enroll in an external cyber school. This cost is often difficult to budget
for because the departure of students can take place at any time throughout the school year,
and for any reason, as is permitted under the current cyber charter law in Pennsylvania.
During the 2018-2019 school-year, a total of forty-five Karns City Area School
District students were enrolled in one of the external cyber schools for at least part of the
school year at an overall cost of $487,041 to our school district. The cost equated to the
value of almost six (6) mills of property tax that left the school district in the form of tuition
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payments to external cyber schools. Framing the cost another way, this would be more than
one and a half times what would be generated by a property tax millage increase to the
index. This transfer of money from the public school to an external cyber school is legal. It
will continue unless the school system develops meaningful ways to reduce the loss of
revenue by decreasing the number of students that leave the system to enroll in a cyber
school.
Desired Outcomes
This project was designed to identify the potential strategies that the school system
can implement to enable it to meet the needs of its students. A survey was created and
administered to parents to obtain their viewpoints. Parent participation in the survey was
voluntary, and informed consent was obtained from everyone that participated in the study
as outlined in (Mertler, 2019, p. 46). The data collected was interpreted with the goal of
revealing the root causes as to why parents made the choice they did for their children and
what factors may have influenced them to keep their children enrolled in the school
district's KC Cyber Academy. Understanding the reasons why parents made the choice that
they made will help the school system select the proper options to implement to improve
the KC Cyber Academy.
With this study, it was desired that this project would help save the school system
money, and at the same time, improve the course delivery options available to the students.
If accomplished, the students and the taxpayers will benefit in the long run. The research
questions to follow will serve to guide me as I seek solutions that could reduce the number
of students leaving my school system to enroll in external cyber schools.
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Research Questions
1. Why do parents choose to enroll their child(ren) in an external cyber school instead of
our school district's own cyber academy program?
2. What does the school district's data on students that leave the system to enroll in an
external cyber school indicate about these students as compared to those that stay
enrolled in the school system?
3. What are the best practices for the design and operation of online cyber classes for K12
students?
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
CHAPTER II
Review of Literature
Introduction
This literature review explored the body of existing research to identify and better
understand some of the reasons why students and their parents may choose a cyber school
to accommodate their educational needs even if their home school offers an online
programming alternative. The focus of the project was to identify practical ways that a
traditional public school district can identify and implement to improve upon their online
curriculum platform so that they may provide quality online classes to their students.
Ultimately, the online programming that the home school offers students should be of more
value than what is available to them from an external cyber charter school to keep students
from leaving to pursue external options. If such an outcome can be accomplished, the
students, the school, and the local community will have benefited from improvements to
the local educational offerings and a reduction in costs to the school system. With that, the
journey began with a look at a problem that many small rural school districts currently face.
Current Challenges and Concerns
One of the challenges that traditional public schools in Pennsylvania face is the loss
of students to cyber school. Even though school districts offer their own online cyber
courses to students, some students continue to migrate from the home school system to an
external cyber school when the traditional model of education delivery does not meet their
needs. The loss of students has a significant financial impact on the school system due to
the loss of revenue that follows the departing student when they enroll in an external cyber
school. This cost is often difficult to budget for because the departure of students can take
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place at any time throughout the school year, and for any reason, as is permitted under the
current cyber charter law in Pennsylvania.
The current situation is very much a problem for the Karns City Area School
District, where, for example, during the 2018-2019 school-year, forty-five (45) students
were enrolled in external cyber schools for at least part of the school year. As such, it cost
the school district over $487,000 in lost revenue that was ultimately deducted from the
school district's state subsidy payments and transferred to external cyber schools. In
Pennsylvania, this is how cyber schools are funded under the terms of the state's charter
cyber school law, which requires the funding to follow the student. It does not matter
whether the student chooses to attend their district school, a charter school, or one of the
cyber charter schools within the state. Students in Pennsylvania are permitted to enroll in
cyber charter schools at no cost to their family, and cyber schools advertise this fact
routinely and aggressively to attract students. Unfortunately, people do not understand
where the money truly comes from, and that tends to contribute to a degree of apathy
around the problem and its impact on the traditional public school.
Under Pennsylvania's Charter Cyber School Law, the school district of residence is
responsible for providing payment to the cyber charter school regardless of whether the
student has even ever been enrolled in the school district. That is, a student is permitted to
enroll directly into an external cyber school without ever first trying their home school
district's school or online program. Every school district is required to annually calculate
and publish a cyber school tuition rate that is based on a formula established and provided
by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). Each school district must calculate
their cost for regular education students and a separate and more expensive cost for special
education students that the school district is responsible for paying the cyber school if a
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resident student enrolls. Complicating things is that the cost paid to cyber schools varies
significantly from school district to school district because the tuition rate is not based on
the actual costs incurred by the cyber school to educate the student. The cyber tuition rate
is based on what school districts spend to educate their students, which is why it varies.
The variance in the amount of the payments that different school districts make to
the same cyber school is one of the items cited as a reason why Pennsylvania's Charter
Cyber School Law needs to be reformed. If for no other reason other than the financial cost
to taxpayers, this topic warrants being discussed openly by elected state officials. Most
recently, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf publicly proposed making several changes to
the state's charter cyber law. Pennsylvania taxpayers spent $1.8 billion on charter schools
during the 2018-2019 school year, including more than $500 million on cyber schools. The
rising cost of charter schools is draining funding from traditional public schools, which has
forced cuts to classroom programs and has caused property taxes to increases (PDE, 2019).
The governor's proposal could save school districts an estimated $280 million a year by
better aligning charter school funding to the actual cost spent educating a student in a cyber
setting. The plan would set a limit on online cyber school tuition payments and applies the
special education funding formula to charter schools, as it does for traditional public
schools.
Despite costing Pennsylvania taxpayers $1.8 billion last year, cyber schools have
little public oversight and no publicly elected school board. The for-profit companies that
manage many cyber schools are not required to have independent financial audits as is
required of traditional public schools. "There are high-quality charter schools, but some of
them, especially some cyber charter schools, are underperforming," said Governor Wolf.
"The inequities are not fair to students in charter schools or the children in traditional public
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schools. It's time for change" (The Office of Pennsylvania Governor, 2019). On average,
Pennsylvania charter schools have not improved student test scores in reading as compared
to traditional public schools, and they have performed worse in math, according to a 2019
Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) study from Stanford University
cited by Wolf (The Office of Pennsylvania Governor, 2019).
The Stanford study also found that the academic situation was worse among the
state's cyber charters, which dramatically underperform compared to public schools.
Governor Wolf plans to propose several pieces of legislation, including one that would
impose a moratorium on new cyber charter schools and cap student enrollment at lowperforming cyber schools. These changes would require legislative approval, and that
would be a long shot at this time due to the current political climate. Therefore, it would be
prudent that school districts take steps to address the loss of their students to cyber charter
schools.
In addition to financial costs, traditional public schools must be prepared to work
with students who return from a cyber school to their home school district at any time.
Often, when students do return, they are behind in their academics. Students that are behind
must receive remediation opportunities that help them overcome any curriculum gaps that
exist. Therefore, the home school needs to be prepared to dedicate additional resources
such as tutoring or remediation courses to bridge the differences that exist. In a CREDO
2019 study, little changed in the academic progress of Pennsylvania online charter school
students since the CREDO 2015 study. Online charter schools registered weaker learning
gains in both reading and math as compared to the average traditional public school across
both studies. Furthermore, there has been no substantial academic improvement of
Pennsylvania's online charter sector across these two studies (CREDO, 2019).
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The fact the cyber schools lag behind their public school peers provides an
academic reason for school systems to be motivated to determine viable strategies to reduce
the number of students that leave the local school system for an external cyber school.
Offering students that consider an external cyber school for their education, an alternative
to the traditional school day schedule might motivate some to stay. School systems should
also reach out to the parents of students that have left the system to attempt to recruit the
students back. Even if the effort is unsuccessful, the school system might be able to
ascertain why the students left in the first place. This information would contribute to
making strategic improvements to the school's online programming options leading to the
development of a quality in-house cyber school program that meets the needs of the
students and would be a step in the direction needed to stem student loss. If this can be
accomplished, it would make a positive difference for the students' education and the
school.
A Brief History of Charter Cyber Schools with a Pennsylvania Focus
The first charter school in the United States opened in Minnesota in 1992 and
helped to create what has become a viable option for students who otherwise attend
traditional public schools. Because charter schools and cyber schools are approved public
schools, they can and do receive tax dollars to cover operational costs. However, unlike
traditional K-12 public schools, cyber schools are not governed by publicly elected school
boards and, in most cases, are managed by boards that are privately appointed. In contrast
to traditional public schools, most charter cyber schools are operated as a for-profit
enterprise, overseen and accountable only to individual charters that define each school's
mission and educational purpose (Mann, Kotok, Frankenberg, Fuller, & Schafft, 2016).
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Charter schools have continued to grow in number since the creation of policies that
established these schools in the early 1990s. As of 2018, there are more than 7,000 charter
schools throughout 43 states and the District of Columbia, educating approximately 3.2
million students per year (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 2019). These
schools are made of both brick and mortar schools and online cyber schools. The desire for
school choice has driven the expansion of charter schools as an alternative to the traditional
public school and has enabled them to operate with less regulation than traditional public
schools.
Charter and cyber schools in Pennsylvania are authorized under the state's Charter
School law, known as Act 22, which was initially passed in 1997 and later became part of
the Pennsylvania School Code. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education:
The Commonwealth's charter school system is intended to improve pupil learning,
increase learning opportunities for all pupils, encourage the use of different and
innovative teaching methods, provide parents and pupils with expanded choices in
the types of educational opportunities that are available within the public school
system, and hold the schools established under this act accountable for meeting
measurable academic standards and provide the school with a method to establish
accountability systems (PDE, 2019).
For almost the three decades, federal and state policies have enabled and promoted
the growth of charter schools. Cyber schools have evolved out of the charter school
movement as a result of the technology needed to make remote learning possible. Cyber
schools have since become more readily available, enabling learning opportunities to take
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place in offsite locations from anywhere that access to the Internet can be attained
(Berends, 2015).
As a state, Pennsylvania has a significant number of students who attend rural
schools and has a considerable number of students who participate in cyber schools. The
enrollment patterns of students attending cyber schools in Pennsylvania differ somewhat
across geographic regions. Overall, a higher percentage of rural students attend cyber
schools than do students from urban areas. In some instances, it is thought that rural
students attend cyber schools in higher numbers due to the lack of other options to them in
their local community. When enrollment data was analyzed at the student-level,
considering demographic characteristics, the data indicated that in contrast to traditional
public schools, cyber schools attract students from a variety of areas, but rural students
exhibit a higher likelihood of attending cyber schools than do suburban or urban students
(Mann et al., 2016). The implications of findings in relation to educational equity, cyber
school performance, and the fiscal impacts of cyber schools on the budgets of small school
districts was significant for Pennsylvania school districts, and there is little doubt that their
existence if hurting some Pennsylvania school districts (Mann et al., 2016).
According to PDE (2019), during the 2018-2019 school year, there were 15
approved cyber schools in operation in Pennsylvania, and they educated approximately
39,000 students according to data published by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Enrollment in Pennsylvania's cyber schools has often been comprised of a higher
percentage of students from poorer school districts, who have gravitated toward the cyber
school option (Mann & Baker, 2019). As a result, the loss of funding when students leave
the traditional public school more heavily impacts some of the school districts least able to
bear the loss of revenue. This trend jeopardizes the quality of public education because the
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
school districts losing the highest percentage of students to cyber school competitors are the
ones already struggling the most with funding. In some cases, as a result of parents
enrolling their child in a cyber school, the traditional public school has been negatively
impacted because the cyber school siphoned off revenue which added stress to traditional
public school's budget (Molnar, Huerta, Barbour, Miron, Rankin-Shafer, & Gulosino,
2015).
Proponents of cyber schools have argued that competition will force schools to
become better and more adaptive in their approach to education. This belief falls short
because traditional public schools were never formed or designed for direct competition
with cyber schools. The mission of the traditional public school was to meet the needs of
society by educating the masses. Public schools must educate all students within its
boundary, even while dealing with competition from cyber schools. Indeed, both traditional
schools and cyber schools may compete for the same students, but they are not competing
under the same set of operational rules and regulations. The discrepancy in how the state
allows each of these two forms of education to operate prevents the traditional school from
being able to compete equally with the cyber school schools.
The traditional public schools in Pennsylvania operate under a state accountability
system that has evolved over many decades. It measures individual school performance
against criteria determined by state policymakers and holds each school accountable for
increasing student performance (Gemin, Pape, Vashaw, & Watson, 2015). However, a
single system does not accurately measure all schools. Among the problems is that these
systems do not adequately assess schools with high rates of student mobility. Although
cyber schools face these same issues, they have less of an impact on cyber schools because
the cyber school is not held to the same level of accountability as the traditional public
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school. Therefore, the traditional school must look inward and reflect on what it can do to
offer its students what they need and, more importantly, want so that students do not choose
to leave the school system for alternative options.
As enrollment in Pennsylvania's cyber schools has increased, so has the criticism of
their operation. The Pennsylvania Department of Auditor General, Eugene DePasquale
(2012), and DeJarnatt (2013) have both suggested that there is a lack of fiscal oversight and
accountability with Pennsylvania's cyber schools. Auditor General DePasquale
recommended that Pennsylvania establish a uniform state tuition rate for students that
attend cyber schools based on cost and not budgeted amounts. If a consistent cyber tuition
rate were to be established, it would likely save school districts money because it would
reduce the amount that flows from traditional public schools to cyber schools. Therefore, it
is a point of contention for cyber school advocates who view any attempt to change
Pennsylvania's charter school law as nothing more than an attempt to limit their operations
and reduce parental options for their children's educational opportunities.
Although the Auditor General's comments were critical on the operational controls
that are in place for Pennsylvania cyber schools, it has done little to erode the overall
political support that exists for cyber schools as currently structured. Many Pennsylvania
elected officials believe that cyber schools offer parents a legitimate choice and therefore
continue to provide support for their operation and the current funding mechanism.
Furthermore, Pennsylvania cyber schools appear to operate much like many of the other
cyber schools from across the country, and when similar concerns with cyber charter school
oversight have been raised nationally they have led to little change (Huerta, Gonzalez, &
d'Entremont, 2006; Hasler-Waters, Menchaca, & Borup, 2014).
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
In addition to oversight concerns, there are some signs of a willingness to have a
real discussion as to the overall effectiveness of current cyber schools. A growing area of
research is beginning to show that students enrolled in cyber schools perform lower on
standardized tests and other state-mandated tests than do their peers enrolled in traditional
schools (Miron, Horvitz, & Gulosino, 2013). Before reports of ineffectiveness from
mainstay media sources, cyber enrollments were continually increasing in many school
districts in Pennsylvania. However, as the media stories questioning cyber school
performance have increased, Pennsylvania school districts with more educated parents
realized a decrease in student enrollment in cyber schools. The same was not the same for
those with less-educated parents and fewer resources as they continued to see an increase in
enrollment (Baker & Mann, 2019). This comparison has challenged the belief that cyber
schools hold the answer to what was wrong with traditional public schools.
This review did not settle the argument of which one was better than the other
academically or otherwise, as that would require a more thorough exploration of that area
of literature. Instead, it served as a point of discussion and an attempt to undercover why
might parents and students select a cyber school instead of a traditional school. What
factors existed for a parent to choose the cyber school over the traditional school for their
child's education? If a parent had any doubts about their decision, what swayed them to
make the decision that they make? The factors that influenced a parent's decision-making
process that lead to the actual choice to enroll in an external cyber school were an essential
outcome of this study to address the problem.
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Reason Parents Choose to Enroll their Child in an External Cyber School
Are there common reasons why parents choose to enroll their children in a cyber
school instead of their traditional local public school? According to Ahn (2011), an online
option provides an alternative to the traditional schedule that a school district offers and
serves unique, niche populations of students. Ideally, being able to identify how the cyber
school can or are perceived at meeting the student's needs could lead to information that
can be used to improve upon the school's current online platform that it operates for online
classes.
Whatever the motivations for parents and students in choosing a cyber charter
school, they appear to seek an alternative to their traditional schooling experience. In some
instances, Ahn (2011) found that students may have had previous issues with low
achievement or social considerations such as bullying, employment, or health
considerations, which influenced them to choose an alternative setting.
According to Gemin et al. (2015), hundreds of thousands of students are attending
full-time online cyber schools that provide their entire education. Many of these students
were once homeschooled, but by enrolling in a cyber school, they have become public
school students. Other students are attending cyber schools due to medical or behavioral
issues, are engaged in sports or a job, or have not been academically successful in the
traditional public school and are seeking a different mode of instruction. Most full-time
online schools are charter or cyber schools that enroll students from across entire states, but
a growing number are now being run by school districts that enroll students from within
their school district boundary.
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Today, millions of students are taking supplemental online courses with many of
these for credit recovery. Other students are taking advanced, honors, or dual enrollment
online courses that may not be available in the traditional school setting. While, others are
taking courses that are offered at their traditional public school but online during a study
hall, or over the summer, in order to gain additional scheduling flexibility. There are
significant differences, though, to the extent the student's enrolling school supports the
online courses. In some schools, the student was provided with a room to work in, a
computer, and a monitor who is often a teacher who can assist if needed. At the other end
of the spectrum, some students take online courses through a cyber school from their home
with minimal support from the school (Gemin et al., 2015).
Cyber schools provide a way for the students to complete their academic work from
home and with the potential for increased parental guidance if parents wish to be involved
in the learning. According to Huerta et al. (2006) and supported by Gemin et al. (2015),
families who would typically homeschool their children may find cyber schools as an
appealing education option because it provides homeschooling with a packaged curriculum.
It is crucial to examine the unique role parents play in K-12 online learning, their
impact on student achievement, and how they engage in their students' learning to better
understand what motivates parents to select this option for their child (Borup, Stevens, & HaslerWaters, 2015). To date, there would appear to be limited research that exists which examines
the role of parental involvement in the K-12 online learning environment, and thus, little is
understood about the parents who enroll their children in cyber charter schools.
Furthermore, there does not seem to be specific demographic profiles of parents whose
students attend a cyber school that could be used in a predictive nature (Borup, Stevens, &
Hasler-Waters, 2015).
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Characteristics such as the parent's educational background and life experiences are
thought to contribute to the decision-making process that is used by parents when they
decide on their child's educational setting. The American Community Survey (ACS) is one
source of data that can be used to obtain information on the income and educational
demographics of residents of geographic areas such as a school district (Julian, 2012). This
data source was used to determine the percentages of adults residing within Pennsylvania
school districts with a bachelor's degree or higher degree and compared to the number of
Pennsylvania students that attend cyber schools from those same areas. When reviewing
information from the 2013-2014 school year, Mann and Baker, (2019), found that in 496 of
the 500 school districts, there was a relationship that showed the many rural school districts
had lower percentages per capita of adult residents that had obtained at least a bachelor's
degree. Mann and Baker (2019), also found that the same school districts had a higher
percentage of costs for students that attended a cyber school. This could imply that this is
some relationship between a parent's educational level in rural communities and the
likelihood they would select a cyber school as their child's educational provider. This is a
topic that warrants additional research in order to determine if the relationship can shed
light on the reasons why a parent's educational background plays a part in the decision
parents may make for their child's educational programming.
Whatever the reason, students in cyber schools may differ from their peers in
considerable ways if for no other reason than they are seeking some sort of a substitute to
the typical public-school experience that most students still experience. Attempting to
identify factors that motivate parents and students that influence them to want to leave the
regular school setting and attend a cyber school setting will be helpful in identifying and
understand what can be done to retain additional students from leaving.
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It is apparent that students and parents are, in most cases, looking at the option of
attending a cyber school as an alternative to the status quo. Whether or not the choice is
made for a positive or a negative reason, it is lawfully available and is easily utilized.
Therefore, the traditional public school will need to learn to adapt and implement strategies
that minimize the loss of students to external cyber schools or continue to lose significant
amounts in funding.
In the last twenty years, the number of parents and students choosing an online or
cyber option of learning has increased, but there are signs that, as of recently, the number of
students attending cyber schools has started to level off (Gulosino & Miron, 2017).
Research indicates that while some of the available online and cyber school analyses focus
on online schooling in general, little is known about whether online learning and blended
schools are serving the general cross-section of the K-12 student population representing
the same composite of student that is attending the traditional public school system (Gill et
al., 2015; Pazhouh et al., 2015). It would, therefore, be important for additional research
related to online and blended schools to examine whether all students are appropriately
served. Also, further study needs to take place to determine if students are successful in the
placement that they have chosen, especially since little is known on the public benefits of
online schooling in the K-12 setting (Gulosino & Miron, 2017).
Educationally, although students who are highly motivated may be able to do well
in an online environment, those who have struggled academically in the traditional public
school setting may continue to struggle online (Hasler-Waters & Leong, 2014). Several
meta-analysis studies that were reviewed on student performance found no significant
difference in achievement or positive effects in online student performance compared to
their brick-and-mortar counterparts (Bernard et al., 2009; Cavanaugh, 2001; Cavanaugh et
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al., 2004; Tamim et al., 2011). However, an important caveat of these online studies was
that the findings were focused on blended online instruction with in-person contact and
concentrated in higher education rather than elementary or secondary schooling. Thus, the
comparison may not be representative of the results related to full-time online schools for
K-12 students.
In 2015, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), published the
first nationwide data and analysis of K-12 virtual charter schools as well as their impact on
students' academic growth in 17 states and Washington, D.C. (Woodworth, Raymond,
Chirbas, Gonzalez, Negassi, Snow, & Donge, 2015). In this report, overall, students
attending virtual charter schools showed lower performance as compared to students from
traditional public schools in reading and math. A limitation of the study is its sole focus on
full-time cyber charter schools and did not include data on students who have taken online
courses in a blended school environment. Surprisingly, for a rapidly growing field such as
cyber and blended schools, the body of research regarding the impact on academic
performance remains largely unexplored (Molnar et al., 2015).
Parental Involvement
Parental involvement in schools is recognized as being a beneficial factor that
contributes to the experience that the student has in school and increases the connection for
both student and parent to the school. Schools, students, and parents all derive specific
benefits from parental involvement (Epstein, 2001; Fan, 2001; Henderson & Mapp, 2002;
Jeynes, 2005). Research shows that children receive the greater benefit, the earlier the
parent involvement process began. Additionally, benefits can be derived for students at all
grade levels regardless of gender or racial status of the children (Jeynes, 2005). In
traditional schooling environments, teacher outreach that includes practices such as parent-
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teacher meetings, regular progress updates, and consistent exchange of learning materials
between the home and school results in improved student performance (Jeynes, 2005).
Research about parental involvement in K-12 online schools is limited, but what
does exist explains that it can have a positive impact on the connection parents and students
have with the school (Black, 2009; Liu, Black, Algina, Cavanaugh, & Dawson, 2010).
Black (2009) maintains that parents who have students in an online school environment can
have a positive influence on the achievement of their students, but encourages further study
to determine perceptions and the roles of parents of students in cyber schools. Parents of
cyber schooled students reported that cyber schooling empowered students who did not fit
in traditional settings (Liu et al., 2010). Furthermore, full-time online schools often partner
with parents to oversee and support students who are completing their education in an
online environment.
Though parents play a significant role in educating students who school online, the
research is nearly silent on their roles. Epstein (2001) discusses family, school, and
community partnerships and how they can benefit student learning. The model of
overlapping family and school spheres describes the type of cooperation that must be
present in any school setting for students to succeed (Epstein, 2001). At the center of
Epstein's model are three separate but overlapping entities: school, family, and community.
External forces help determine how much each entity overlaps and how strong one or
another is in the relationship. The forces determining the overlap of school, family, and
community are:
• age, grade level of the student, and time
• experience, philosophy, and practices of the family
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• experience, philosophy, and practices of the school
• experiences, philosophy, and practices of the community (Epstein, p. 163)
Applying Epstein's research to the online educational setting, full-time, online
schools that partner with parents can increase the overlap in the school and family spheres,
which should, in turn, positively affect the success of students. This partnership also serves
as a basis to build the level of satisfaction that parents and students have with their school,
which should further the feeling of being connected to the school.
Learning why parents and students view the option of cyber schooling as favorable
to the prospect of remaining in the traditional education setting, will shed light on what can
be done differently and better to retain and recruit students that otherwise leave for external
cyber schools. With my action research, parental options will be sought and utilized
through a survey instrument to determine their views and opinions of the traditional public
school and the external cyber school setting that their child was or is in for their schooling.
According to Beck, Maranto & Lo (2013), there are significant differences in
parental and student levels of satisfaction across demographic groups of students and
significantly higher satisfaction among special education students in the cyber school
environment. Some students indicated that they did not feel connected to their home
schools before the decision to transfer to a cyber school. The lack of connectedness
contributes to the feeling of being unattached and enabled deciding to leave their school
easier because they felt somewhat removed from their school environment. With this
feeling of disconnectedness with the school, comes discontentment, which contributed to
the desire to make a change.
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How do parents resolve the differences as to how effective each setting will be in
helping their child achieve? If the student is unhappy in the current setting, does that
automatically equate to lower achievement? Conversely, if the student is happy in their
setting, will it equate to higher achievement? Most of the existing research that exists was
conducted on students within the traditional educational setting. Several decades of
research have supported that children perform better and attain higher academic
achievement in traditional school settings when parents are involved in their education
(Hasler-Waters, Menchaca, & Borup, 2014; Fan & Chen, 2001). Further, parental
engagement in traditional settings is related to greater academic achievement in terms of
both grades and standardized test performance (Cheung & Pomerantz, 2011).
Thus far, there has been limited research on the educational background of
parents of Pennsylvania cyber school students, and the influence their educational
background has on decision-making related to their reason for selecting a cyber school
for their child's education. One might expect that parents with higher levels of education
would better understand the options that are available to them and the impact of the
decision when considering the choice they make for their children's education. It would
be expected that parents with higher levels of education would be more involved in their
child's education.
Additionally, in a study by Hoover-Dempsey, Walker, Sandler, Whetsel, Green,
Wilkins, & Closson, (2005), self-efficacy was identified as a motivator of parental
involvement in their child's education. In this study, self-efficacy was defined as the
belief in one's ability to act in a way that produced the desired outcome that was
connected to the goals one would pursue. In the case of parents, it would suggest that
parents have goals for their involvement in their child's education. Furthermore, parents
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with a high level of efficacy tended to make positive decisions about participation,
whereas parents with a low level of efficacy tended to be involved to a lesser degree
(Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005).
Parental efficacy was also shown to be a predictive indicator of whether or not
parents monitored and supervised their children's activities. Parental monitoring of
schoolwork was shown to have a positive effect and was helpful for students who took
online courses. Furthermore, parents who regularly assisted and motivated their children
who were taking online courses were able to help the student persevere with their work.
Parent involvement was shown to lead to a higher likelihood of success and achievement
for the student. Importantly, the effects of parental efficacy also held true across
differences in the socioeconomic status of the families (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005).
The research that this action study explored focused on providing insight and
understanding of the reasons why parents made their decision to enroll their children in a
cyber school. The reasons parents reported, along with what was learned from the review
of literature, helped identify several traits that the cyber students had in common with
each other. Parents that were surveyed and the data collected were analyzed to determine
findings that helped the school system make informed decisions on its existing online
programming.
Parent-Teacher Partnerships
Educators and parents play critical roles in the educational success of students in
both traditional and online school settings. The parent-teacher expectations, roles, and
relationship in an online environment, however, differs from that of the traditional school
setting. Research finds that the role of the teacher in an online environment was
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significantly different from that of the role of the teacher in the traditional public school
setting (Hasler-Waters & Leong, 2014; Barbour, 2009). Being a good classroom teacher
does not automatically translate into being a good online teacher (Davis & Roblyer, 2005).
Therefore, when teachers prepare to teach online courses, it should be expected that they
will require and need to be provided the appropriate training to be effective in this new role.
Archambault and Larson (2015) found that K-12 teachers that teach online can face
challenges such as lack of receiving timely feedback on their instruction from their students
that would often be experienced in the live setting by their face-to-face counterparts.
In a cyber school, the teacher was not the sole provider of instruction, as many may
think, and changes have resulted in their traditional role of just presenting information to
facilitating the information (Hasler-Waters & Leong, 2014). While they were a central
component in the support for students, cyber school teachers relied heavily on the parents
to partner as co-educators. Hasler-Waters and Leong (2014) explored the overlapping roles
that teachers and parents shared as co-educators in supporting students in cyber charter
schools. Parents that were involved in their child's cyber education became learning
coaches and assumed the responsibility for helping to manage their own children's
education and academic progress. Teachers were then able to focus on being content
experts, facilitators, and ensuring student mastery of content.
Getting parents to be more involved required making them aware of opportunities
and by inviting them to participate in their child's learning. Invitations from teachers and
others from within the school setting significantly increased the chances that parents would
participate in some manner and increased their opinions within the school environment
(Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005). According to Borup et al., (2013), the interaction between
high school-aged students enrolled in online charter schools and their parents was viewed
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positively and motivated students to want to learn. Although parents did not fully
understand the impact that their involvement had on their student's learning or fully
understood the motivational value of their involvement on their children, the results had a
positive effect (Borup et al., 2013). It would be important that more research was conducted
in this area to understand better how to effectively persuade parents to be more involved in
their children's schooling in both the traditional public school and the cyber school settings.
Online Learning
The literature around online learning programs for K-12 students originated from
the mid-1990s and builds upon research and practice from the K-12 distance education era
(Cavanaugh, Barbour, & Clark, 2009). While K-12 online programs have evolved and
grown over the past decade, the amount of published research on why online learning was
selected as a method of learning over the traditional education pathway has not
significantly been explored. The current literature on online learning included practitioner
reports and quasi-experimental studies, both published and unpublished, but contained
limited research studies (Cavanaugh et al. 2009). Themes throughout the literature included
steady growth and a focus on the benefits, challenges, and broad effectiveness of K-12
online learning. Also, newly developed standards for K-12 online learning have emerged in
descriptions of effective practices.
Table 1. contains the national standards for online teaching that was published by
the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL). These standards reflect
what online teachers should be able to do for evaluation purposes and were designed to
provide quality guidelines for online teaching (iNACOL, 2011, p. 4-16). At their core,
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these standards represent the competencies that instructors should be able to demonstrate
when teaching online courses to students.
Table 1. National Standard for Quality Online Teaching, Version 2
Standard A - The online teacher knows the primary concepts and structures of effective
online instruction and is able to create learning experiences to enable student success.
Standard B - The online teacher understands and is able to use a range of technologies,
both existing and emerging, that effectively support student learning and engagement in
the online environment.
Standard C - The online teacher plans, designs, and incorporates strategies to encourage
active learning, application, interaction, participation, and collaboration in the online
environment.
Standard D - The online teacher promotes student success through clear expectations,
prompt responses, and regular feedback.
Standard E - The online teacher models, guides, and encourages legal, ethical, and safe
behavior related to technology use.
Standard F - The online teacher is cognizant of the diversity of student academic needs
and incorporates accommodations into the online environment.
Standard G - The online teacher demonstrates competencies in creating and
implementing assessments in online learning environments in ways that ensure the
validity and reliability of the instruments and procedures.
Standard H - The online teacher develops and delivers assessments, projects, and
assignments that meet standards-based learning goals and assesses learning progress by
measuring student achievement of the learning goals.
Standard I - The online teacher demonstrates competency in using data from
assessments and other data sources to modify content and to guide student learning.
Standard J - The online teacher interacts in a professional effective manner with
colleagues, parents, and other members of the community to support students' success.
Standard K - The online teacher arranges media and content to help students and
teachers transfer knowledge most effectively in the online environment.
To some degree, the introduction of online learning was borne from the
development and public release of the Internet. Dabbagh and Bannan-Ritland (2005)
defined online learning as "an open and distributed learning environment that uses
pedagogical tools, enabled by the Internet and Web-based technologies, to facilitate
learning and knowledge building through meaningful action and interaction" (p. 15).
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According to a study by Dabbagh and Bannan-Ritland (2005), there are four key
components of online learning, and they include pedagogical models, instructional and
learning strategies, and pedagogical tools.
Pedagogical models are views about teaching derived from learning theory and
enable the implementation of specific instructional and learning strategies (Dabbagh &
Bannan-Ritland, 2005). Instructional strategies are the plans and techniques that the
instructor uses to engage and facilitate learning (Jonassen, Grabinger, and Harris, 1991).
Instructional strategies are the means through which pedagogical models are put into
practice.
Learning technologies such as asynchronous and synchronous communication tools,
such as email and chat, and multimedia technologies, such as video, and animation, enabled
the implementation of these strategies (Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005). With Internet
connectivity, these learning technologies have evolved to form online learning
environments that facilitated collaborative activities, and information sharing, to which
students can experience learning anytime (Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005).
Online learning also may be referred to as e-learning, cyber learning, web-based, or
remote instruction. The advantages of online learning included accessibility, convenience,
and flexibility (Killion, 2000) as well as financial benefits in the form of increased
efficiency and increased student enrollment. According to Khan (1997), a well-designed
online learning program has the potential to provide numerous features conducive to
learning and instruction that can address pedagogical, technological, organizational,
institutional, and ethical issues. In reference to Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences,
Khan (1997) stated that the flexibility provided in online learning increased the potential
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29
for all intelligences to be represented and cultivated regardless of the physical location of
the student.
According to Hasler-Waters et al. (2014), online learning is categorized into four
types of educational delivery methods such as:
•
virtual schooling
•
cyber schooling
•
online charter schooling
•
blended learning
Although sometimes used interchangeably, each of these terms represents different
pathways to deliver online courses. Table 2. provides a working definition that describes
the practice each method generally represents (Hasler-Waters et al., 2014, p. 306).
Table 2. Terms and Definitions for K-12 Online Learning
Term
Virtual Schooling
Cyber Schooling
Online Charter Schooling
Blended Learning
Practice
Supplemental online learning; sometimes
identified as a la carte
Full time online learning, with little to no brick
and mortar schooling experiences; sometimes
identified as flex model
Full time online learning with brick and mortar
practices; sometimes identified as enriched
virtual
Primarily brick and mortar based schooling
with some online work; sometimes identified
as rotational
Online schooling provided students with access to online educational opportunities
that fulfilled a need in the educational system by giving students access to learning.
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Research by Cavanaugh et al. (2004) identified factors that influence the success of a
distance education program; these factors include:
• Abilities and disabilities of the student
• Quality of the teacher
• Demands of the content
• Design of the distance learning environment
A characteristic that sets successful distance learners apart from their traditional
classroom-based counterparts was their autonomy and need for greater student
responsibility in their learning (Cavanaugh et al. 2004). Students in the K-12 setting
needed instruction to be scaffolded, and online school teachers must be capable of helping
students acquire the skills of autonomous learning, including self-regulation.
A second characteristic that differentiated successful online learners from
unsuccessful online learners was an internal locus of control, leading students to persist in
the educational endeavor (Cavanaugh et al. 2004). The research found that older students
had developed a more internal locus of control than younger students. Effective online
programs for K-12 learners needed to include frequent teacher contact with students and
parents, lessons that were divided into short segments, and regular feedback provided on
the student's progress (Cavanaugh et al. 2004).
Design and operation of online courses
A decision that must make regarding the online course was whether classes would
be asynchronous or have synchronous components. Asynchronous communication was
defined as the exchange of messages, not requiring the simultaneous presence of the sender
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and the receiver (Haythornewaite & Bregman, 2004). In other words, the students and
teachers were able to communicate with each other, but not in real-time. Examples of
asynchronous communication would be e-mail, discussion boards, and blogs to exchange
ideas and materials. With asynchronous communication, there was found to be a delay
between when one participant made a comment and when another participant replied to that
comment, even if both were online at the same time. What was nice about asynchronous
communication was that it allowed participants the ability to communicate with each other
while still being able to take advantage of the "anytime, anywhere" aspect of online
learning. With this mode, participants did not need to be on their computers at the same
time to engage in discussions of content, which research has found to be a significant
selling point for K–12 students (Journell, 2010; Tunison & Noonan, 2001).
A potential downside to asynchronous communication was that for students who
desired or even needed immediate feedback, they could be disappointed. For example,
when students posed a question or comment on a discussion board and received no
response for hours or even days, it could be frustrating to the student and created a feeling
of not being connected to the class. Moreover, there was no guarantee that asynchronous
posts would be read at all, especially if replies were not required, or students felt as though
there were too many posts to read (Journell, 2010).
Activities such as talking with others in chat rooms, on instant messenger programs,
or even via video-conferencing would be examples of synchronous communication. The
apparent downside to synchronous communication was that it took away from some of the
flexibility provided by online learning because the participants would need to be engaged
with each other at the same time. Students who took online courses primarily because they
wished to fit their academic responsibilities around work and personal needs may find
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synchronous requirements restrictive or even impossible to meet their needs based on the
time allotments.
The need for flexibility was a major item to be considered when districts decide on
the format of their online curricula, but it should not be the only consideration. Research
has found that synchronous communication offers teachers and students benefits. The
environment was more authentic and closer to what students would find in a traditional
classroom situation. Discussions were productive, and the conversation moved at a much
faster pace. Similarities to face-to-face conversations promoted a sense of community
among students, and students could receive immediate feedback on ideas (Hrastinski, 2008;
Journell, Beeson, Crave, Gomez, Linton, & Taylor, 2013; Mabrito, 2006).
There were also limitations to synchronous communication. Students could find the
speed of synchronous conversations challenging, especially for those that were slow at
typing. Students who required time to compose an answer or response may find that the
pace caused them to fall behind (Hou & Wu, 2011). One tool to help mitigate that problem
was to use synchronous video software. This type of software allowed users to simulate
face-to-face classroom experiences using microphones and webcams so that users would be
able to see and hear each other in real-time.
Combining synchronous and asynchronous communication methods may be
desirable, depending on the content that was taught. Teachers that incorporated a balance
between the two modes of communication when they planned the structure of their online
courses allowed students to reflect on issues while still maintaining some of that "anytime,
anywhere" component of online learning. They were also able to provide regular
opportunities for synchronous communication to increase the sense of community among
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students and allow for immediate feedback on assignments or discussions related to
content.
An ideal balance would be something like having one synchronous chat session per
week, held at a consistent time. Teachers could use that opportunity to explain upcoming
assignments and discuss issues about content. Too many synchronous class meetings,
however, would probably restrict students' flexibility and disrupt the reason that many of
them chose to take online classes in the first place. If synchronous sessions were limited to
one or two per week and held at consistent times, students should be able to plan and better
able to work around them. The way teachers structure a balance of their instruction will
help determine the learning management system they need to implement their pedagogical
vision.
The teacher must also develop skills that foster interaction and communication with
and between students during the online learning experience. This requires the teacher to use
pedagogical techniques that draw on and integrate the available online tools needed to
support student collaboration and knowledge acquisition (DiPietro, Ferdig, Black, &
Preston, 2008). Teachers that have the knowledge to use technology that was available to
them effectively were better at assisting their online students in accessing the information
needed that contributed to learning remotely.
An additional component of online learning for students in the K-12 setting was the
need for parent involvement. Teachers need to decide how they can most effectively
engage and contact parents, and vice versa, if there are concerns about a student's
performance in an online course. Establishing a channel of communication between the
teacher and the parent of the online student increased the likelihood that the student were
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successful. It was also important that the school developed policies that allowed parents to
meet face-to-face or through web-based meeting sessions with their children's teachers if
that was needed. These types of policies were needed to reinforce the importance of
parental involvement in students' success in online courses. Recent research suggested that
parental involvement may be even more critical for online students than those in face-toface classrooms because of time students spend learning at home without the direct
guidance of the teacher (Liu, Black, Algina, Cavanaugh, & Dawson, 2010). Parental
involvement was thereby very important, and schools should do their best to allow online
parents to play an integral part in their children's education.
As noted earlier, the differences in types of online learning can be attractive to
different types of learners. Working to determine the best format and most supportive
venue for students can impact the choice that they make for their education. Traditional
public schools that offered students the choice of taking online classes from home or during
the school day when at school may find that these options retain and attract students that
were in external cyber schools.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Creating the best means to educate every student will require school personnel to
think beyond the normal bounds of the educational delivery by which they received their
education. Online schooling and cyber schools provide an alternative to traditional schools.
They may be an appropriate option for some students, but the evidence suggests that online
cyber schools do not always do well with the atypical student that attends these schools. In
most cases, academic benefits from online cyber schools were the exception rather than the
rule. Online cyber schools did, however, provide maximum flexibility for students with
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schedules that did not fit the traditional public school setting. This could be a benefit or a
liability as flexibility required discipline and maturity to maintain high standards. Not all
parents can provide the direction and support needed for online schooling, and that was a
drawback to this venue of learning. It would be beneficial if there were an objective way
that permitted online cyber schools to screen students to ensure their programs are a good
fit for potential students' needs before enrolling them in their school.
There was evidence that some cyber schools had been able to produce consistent
academic benefits for students, but most cyber schools did not. The tradeoff has been
"increased flexibility for less accountability," and the balance has been left to each cyber
school to establish for themselves. States should examine the progress of existing online
programs before allowing more cyber schools to operate. Online schools have the potential
to serve significant numbers of students with practically no physical restraints on
expansion. As such, mechanisms that have typically played a role in regulating the growth
of brick-and-mortar schools such as facility construction and limited student populations do
not exert the same pressure on online schools. Without these natural constraints, online
schools have the potential to expand more rapidly than traditional schools. This makes it
important for school districts to advocate that online cyber schools demonstrate positive
outcomes for students before being allowed to grow.
With this action research, the possible root causes or reasons why parents from the
school district choose to enroll their children in an external cyber school as opposed to
continuing with the traditional public school's online program were sought. Determining
these reasons was beneficial to understanding what if, anything that the traditional public
school can do to improve the school district's online program. Much of the research thus far
on parental satisfaction has focused primarily on the traditional school setting rather than
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the online setting. Additional research is needed in the area of why parents want their
child(ren) to leave the school system to seek a cyber school for their educational
programming.
As the opportunity to choose among the various school options continues to be
encouraged through state and federal legislation, traditional public schools will need to be
able to provide compelling information on the value of their school system to diverse
stakeholders. Traditional public schools need to evaluate factors that can inform their
pursuit of improving school operations and performance. One way would be to find out
what parents are thinking by administering satisfaction surveys that would obtain input
from school stakeholders who might otherwise be disenfranchised with their school
experience. Satisfaction surveys could be an important step in a strategy of the traditional
public school to begin to hold themselves accountable to their educational consumers, both
from an internal and external perspective. The information collected would, at the very
least, provide some guidance on what students and parents like about their school and what
they dislike.
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CHAPTER III
Methodology
Introduction
One of the challenges facing traditional public schools is the loss of students to
external cyber schools. This is true in the state of Pennsylvania, where parents have
educational choices and are able to enroll their children in any one of Pennsylvania's public
cyber schools. The problem is complex and has serious implications on traditional public
schools because students can leave at any time, without any reason, and at no direct
financial cost to their family. Traditional public schools must cover the cost of the student's
tuition to attend the cyber school and are negatively impacted by the loss of students
because the funding they would otherwise receive goes to the cyber school for tuition
payments. Therefore, traditional public schools must explore ways to make their
educational environments more appealing to their students if they wish to retain them.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this action research study was to explore a practical and meaningful
project that would identify reasons why parents would choose an external cyber school
placement for their child's education over their school district's online course offerings.
With this action research study, parents who have chosen to cyber school their children
were surveyed, and their responses analyzed to identify areas of focus that would lead to
opportunities for improvement of the school system’s online platform. These improvements
would then be used to help the school district’s KC Cyber Academy become a more viable
option for students who would otherwise choose an external cyber school over the
traditional model for their educational needs. A guiding assumption was that a benefit of
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the study was that by improving the school district’s online course offerings, the school
district would see fewer students migrate to an external cyber school. This will lead to a
favorable financial impact, and the students educated in the traditional public school would
also benefit from the additional educational options available to them as a result of the
improvements.
The cost to the school district for students that attended external cyber schools was
over $400,000 annually since the 2015-2016 school year. Thus, the Karns City Area School
District (KCASD) was motivated to create the KC Cyber Academy during the 2016-2017
school year as an alternative to external cyber schools. The Academy’s intended goal was
to reduce the number of school district students leaving the school system to attend an
external cyber school. From the time of its inception, the KC Cyber Academy has
continued to evolve, but it has not been evaluated to see how it can be improved to be even
more valuable. The Academy now provides online credit recovery opportunities to students
who are behind in their studies and enrichment opportunities to students who desire to take
a course that is not offered in the traditional school schedule. However, the underlying goal
of this study was to better understand the reasons KCASD students leave the school system
for an external cyber school when they have a similar in-house option available to them
through the school district.
It was anticipated that this study would identify reasons why parents made the
choices they did regarding their child’s educational placement. It was expected that by
analyzing parental responses to a survey, reasons why parents made the decision that they
did, could begin to be identified, and generalizations could be made. This would provide a
set of realistic considerations that could factor into how the KC Cyber Academy could be
improved and even expanded.
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Realizing that enacting changes would require approval and funding from the
school district, the Board of School Directors were informed and shown that this was
beneficial to the school district and its students. The primary justification for requesting the
funding was supported by the KC Cyber Academy’s ability to reduce additional students
from leaving the school system to attend an external cyber school, saving the school district
money. A secondary benefit would be that when improvements are made to the KC Cyber
Academy, all students that take courses through it will receive the educational benefits.
External cyber schools have advantages over traditional public schools because they
can operate under flexible rules and with minimal oversight. Cyber schools throughout
Pennsylvania receive their revenue from the traditional public schools and do not need to
seek approval for expenditures from elected governing boards. Therefore, unlike public
schools that need to raise local property tax rates to obtain additional revenue when needed,
cyber schools do not need to navigate such a politically challenging process.
Unaware, the general public does not understand the financial impact on their local
school system when students enroll in an external cyber school. The loss of students has an
immediate impact on the school system due to the loss of revenue that follows the departing
student when they enroll in an external cyber school. This cost can be difficult to budget for
because the departure of students takes place throughout the school year, and for any
reason, as permitted under the current cyber charter law in Pennsylvania.
During the 2018-2019 school year, forty-five (45) KCASD students were enrolled
in an external cyber school for at least part of the school year at the cost of $487,041 to our
school district. The expense equated to almost six (6) mills of property tax leaving the
school district in the form of tuition payments to external cyber schools. Framing the cost
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another way, it was more than one and a half times what could be generated if the school
district raised the property tax millage to the index. This transfer of money from the public
school to an external cyber school was legal and will continue unless the school system
develops creative and effective ways to decrease the number of students that leave the
system to enroll in a cyber school.
Under Pennsylvania’s Charter Cyber School Law, the school district of residence is
responsible for providing payment to the cyber charter school regardless of whether the
student has previously been enrolled in the school district. With the law, students are
permitted to enroll directly into an external cyber school without first participating in their
home school district’s school or online program. Each school district must calculate and
publish a charter school tuition rate based on a formula established and provided by the
Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). School districts calculate the rate for regular
education students and a separate and more expensive rate for special education students
that each school district is responsible for paying the cyber school if a resident student
enrolls. Further complicating matters, the price paid to cyber schools varies significantly
from school district to school district because the tuition is based on budgeted numbers and
not the actual cost incurred by the cyber school to educate the student.
The variance in the amount of the payments that different school districts pay to the
same cyber school was an item cited as a reason that Pennsylvania’s Charter Cyber School
Law needs to be reformed. If for no other reason other than the financial impact on the local
taxpayers, this topic has now begun to be discussed openly by elected state officials. Most
recently, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf publicly proposed making several changes to
the state’s charter cyber law. Pennsylvania taxpayers spent $1.8 billion on charter schools
during the 2018-2019 school year, including more than $500 million on cyber schools.
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“The rising cost of charter schools is draining funding from traditional public schools,
which has forced cuts to classroom programs and has caused property taxes to increases”
(The Office of Pennsylvania Governor, 2019). The governor’s proposal would save school
districts an estimated $280 million a year by aligning charter school funding to the actual
cost spent educating a student in a cyber setting. The plan would set a limit on online cyber
school tuition payments and apply the same special education funding formula to charter
schools, as it does for traditional public schools.
Despite costing $1.8 billion last year, cyber charter schools have little public
oversight and no publicly elected school board. The for-profit companies that manage
charter schools are not required to have independent financial audits as required of
traditional public schools.
“There are high-quality charter schools, but some of them, especially some cyber
charter schools, are underperforming,” said Governor Wolf. “The inequities are not fair to
students in charter schools or the children in traditional public schools. It’s time for
change” (The Office of Pennsylvania Governor, 2019). On average, Pennsylvania charter
schools have not improved student test scores in reading compared to traditional public
schools, and they have performed worse in math, according to a 2019 Center for Research
on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) study from Stanford University cited by Wolf (The
Office of Pennsylvania Governor, 2019).
The same study also found that the academic situation was worse among the state’s
cyber charters, which dramatically underperformed compared to public schools. Governor
Wolf stated he planned to propose several pieces of legislation, including one that would
impose a moratorium on new cyber charter schools and cap student enrollment at low-
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performing cyber schools. These changes would require legislative approval, and that
would be a long shot at the current time. Therefore, it would be prudent that school districts
take steps at the local level to address the loss of their students to cyber charter schools.
In addition to financial costs, traditional public schools must be prepared to work
with students who return from a cyber school to their home school district at any time.
Often, when students return, they were behind academically, and they must receive
remediation opportunities to help overcome any curriculum gaps that exist. The additional
needs require the home school to be prepared to provide additional resources such as
tutoring or remediation courses to bridge the differences that exist. In a CREDO 2019
study, little changed in the academic progress of Pennsylvania online charter school
students since the CREDO 2015 study. Online charter schools register weaker learning
gains in both reading and math as compared to the average traditional public school across
both studies. Furthermore, there has been no substantial academic improvement of
Pennsylvania’s online charter sector across these two studies (CREDO, 2019).
This provides an academic reason for school systems to be motivated to determine
viable strategies that reduce the number of students that leave the local school system for an
external cyber school. Offering students that may consider an external cyber school, an
alternative to the traditional school day schedule might motivate some to stay. School
systems could also reach out to students that have left the system to recruit them back. Even
if the effort is unsuccessful, the school system might be able to ascertain why they left in
the first place. Making strategic improvements to the school’s online programming options
by developing a quality in-house cyber school program that meets the needs of the students
would be a step in the direction needed to stem student loss. If this can be accomplished, it
would make a positive difference for the students and the school.
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Setting and Participants
In this study, the active participants were parents of students who currently attend or
attended an external cyber school and resided in the KCASD within the last four years.
These parents became the population group for an online survey that was conducted. The
KCASD can be described as a small rural traditional public school that spans parts of
Armstrong, Butler, and Clarion Counties in western Pennsylvania. The school system
operates two, K-6, elementary schools and one, 7-12, junior/senior high school that
combined provided educational services to approximately 1,325 students. The demographic
information used in and obtained from the study on parents and students that attended the
school district will be provided in the results section of the report.
The parents selected to participate in the study all resided in the school district and
had at least one child who was enrolled in an external public cyber school at some point
after August 1, 2016. The participant group included parents of students who may have
ultimately returned to the traditional educational setting from an external cyber school. The
student demographic data collected from the survey instrument was compared to the
demographic information available on students that continued their studies within the
traditional model. All data used in the study had personal and identifying characteristics
removed so that it was anonymous to the reviewer, protecting the identity of both the
parents and students.
The study plan was discussed and shared with the administrative team, key teaching
staff, and the Board of School Directors of the school district, who ultimately approved the
study before it commenced. The parties understood that the study was in partial fulfillment
of the requirement of the researcher’s doctoral degree and that the identities of all
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participants would be kept anonymous. Upon the completion of the study, all data collected
were destroyed.
Intervention/Research Plan
This action research design was based on a constructivist assumption that
“individuals seek understanding of the world in which they live and work” (Creswell, 2003,
pg. 9). In this case, as the researcher, I wanted to learn more about the reasons why parents
make the decisions that they do in order to determine if there would be any viable changes
that the school district could consider making that would reduce the number of students that
leave the school system. With the goal of the inquiry to explore why parents made the
educational decisions that they did for their children when considering a cyber school, an
online survey instrument was created to obtain parental feedback. Before conducting any
data collection, IRB approval, and a letter of cooperation from the high school principal
who assisted in pulling anonymous student data from the school district’s student data
warehouse, edInsight by On Hand Schools were obtained (Appendix C & D). Any data
collected from parents and students was devoid of identifying characteristics and was used
by the researcher to review solely for the purposes of the study. Parents that voluntarily
participated in the survey electronically signed the consent form (Appendix A).
Research Design
The methodology used for this study was a non-experimental research design using
descriptive research and triangulation of data. According to Mertler (2017), “the purpose of
descriptive studies is to describe and interpret the current status of individuals, settings,
conditions, or events” (p. 95). With this study, a baseline understanding was needed to help
appropriately inform the researcher and the school system as to what the root cause of the
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problem(s) was in order to formulate reasonable and practical solutions. The nonexperimental design was chosen because a cross-sectional sample of parents was surveyed
from the relevant population to address answers to research question one. With research
questions two and three, and due to the different data types contributing to this study, I
focused on the importance of triangulating the data sources to build confidence about the
accuracy of the results of the study (Hendricks, 2017, p. 135).
The research questions used to guide this action research were:
1. Why do parents choose to enroll their child(ren) in an external cyber school instead
of our school district’s own cyber academy program?
2. What does the school district’s data on students that leave the system to enroll in an
external cyber school indicate about these students as compared to those that stay
enrolled in the school system?
3. What are the best practices for the design and operation of online cyber classes for
K12 students?
Methods of Data Collection
In order to obtain answers to the research questions, multiple forms of data
collection were utilized. Although the primary data collection tool used was a parental
survey, existing school district student data, and a review of information on similar studies
were reviewed to help address the questions. The surveying of parents of students that
enrolled in an external cyber school was the focus of this study because it offered an
authentic way to obtain the opinion of parents as to why they made the decision that they
did. Prior to this survey, no previous effort was attempted by the school district to obtain
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parent input, and therefore we did not have any credible information as to the reason(s)
parents left our school system for an external cyber school.
The parent survey found in Appendix B was provided to the population group of
110 unique families. Each family had the opportunity to voluntarily complete and submit a
response that would be included in this study. The participants were not offered any
incentive for their participation in the survey, nor did they face any negative impact for
choosing not to participate in the study.
The informed consent was shared with the survey population group twice. It was
initially mailed to all participants, and then it was also embedded in the online survey
instrument. By inserting the informed consent within the online survey and requiring a
response as question one on the survey, approval was able to be recorded for all
respondents that submitted a response. With the mailing of parental survey invitations, it
was explained to respondents that their information would be treated with strict
confidentiality. No data was collected that would or could identify any participant at any
time during the study.
The survey instrument was administered by using Google Docs to create an online
form to collect responses and was available to authorized respondents on a secure server.
The potential respondents were provided a generic four-digit code that they entered to gain
access to the online survey instrument. This was done only to contain responses to those
from the intended population group. Of the 110 possible respondents, 22 or 20% of the
invitations were returned unopened, and 17 or 15.5 % of the respondents submitted a
response to the survey. The information will be analyzed and explained in a later section of
the report.
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An answer to research question two was sought by reviewing existing student data
contained in the school district’s student database called edInsight. Demographic data that
was reviewed on students that left the school system to enroll in an external cyber school
was compared to demographic data on a similar-sized random set of students that remained
in the traditional public school setting. The random selection of students from the school
district in grades 3-12 from the school district was taken to determine if there was a
difference in the number of IEPs, the number of students at the poverty level, in Title 1, the
number of absences, attendance percentage, grades, or risk score as compared to the group
of students that departed the school district to attend a cyber school. The data was
compared with a statistical test to determine if the differences were significant. All data that
was provided to the researcher was done so without any personal identifying
characteristics.
Finally, research question three was addressed through the review of the literature
on the topic. This approach was used to determine if any solutions to the problem of losing
students to external cyber schools were studied previously and whether viable solutions
could be generalized to help the KC Cyber Academy improve upon its current operation.
This included a review of the online platform software currently being used to deliver the
online programming.
Role of the Researcher
Researchers are not without bias. I have worked in the traditional public school
setting since 1997 and have served as a classroom teacher, principal, and superintendent of
a school system. My experience leads me to the belief that being connected to the school
was essential to the outcome a student has with their academic success. I strongly believe
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that the online model will not replace the traditional model of education in the K-12 setting,
but it does have its place. Research indicates that online learning was just as effective as
traditional schooling when appropriately structured (Cavanaugh et al., 2004). As an
educator, the level of the student, teacher, and parent engagement were all important
ingredients to the result. My role in this research was that of an observer, trying to analyze
and assemble information that enabled the KCASD to make its KC Cyber Academy better
next year for all students.
Validity
In order to ensure a high level of confidence in the survey results, measures were
taken to ensure that surveys were provided to only parents that meet the study criteria as
being defined as a KCASD resident that has or once had a student enrolled in an external
cyber school since August 1, 2016. The invoices from external cyber schools were used to
determine the names of the parents that were mailed the invitations to participate in the
study. These participants were provided with an access code to enable participation in the
survey.
A small pilot of the survey instrument was conducted with several school
administrators and teachers to verify its online functionality and to check for respondent
understanding of the questions asked. Several questions were modified slightly based on
feedback received from the small pilot of the tool, but this is an area that could be improved
upon if another survey were conducted in the future.
Limitations
There are limitations to every study. One such limitation is that the site for the
research was small and familiar to the researcher. As an administrator, my position is one
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of authority within the school system, and assurances had to be made to the participants, so
they understand that what they share will not reflect on their child in any way and that their
participation was strictly voluntary. Although this was provided and steps are taken to
ensure the privacy of the participants, I believe the participation rate in the survey was
somewhat lower than it would have been if it were conducted by a guidance counselor or
no administrator.
The small sample size of 110 parents and the overall response rate of 15.5% is also
a limitation of this study and requires taking a cautious approach to drawing significant
conclusions. The results collected were important, and were the first attempt to truly
capture the thoughts and beliefs of the parents who permitted their child to depart our
school system for an external cyber school.
Methodology Summary
The information learned from this study was shared with the administrative team,
the Board of School Directors, and teachers. It will be used to identify realistic changes that
can be made in the programming and operation of the KC Cyber Academy that would lead
to improvements that meet the needs of students.
With what I learn by conducting this action research project, I will identify practical
recommendations that my school district can use to improve its online curriculum platform
so that we may provide quality online classes to our students. Ultimately, the online
programming that we as the home school offer our students should be more valuable than
what is available to them from an external cyber charter school. We will provide the student
a Karns City diploma, access to participate in extracurricular activities, access to “inperson” contact with teachers and other staff as needed, and the ability of students to take
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vocational-technical classes. With these enhancements and appropriate marketing of our
program, I believe that as the superintendent of the Karns City Area School District, we can
provide students that have desired an alternative educational path a quality option that they
will find meets their needs without uncoupling themselves from our school and community.
The findings that were uncovered from this action research will be used by me to lead a
discussion within the school district with the administrative team and teachers. The results
will be used to craft a plan of improvement that can be implemented in the next school
year. If such an outcome can be accomplished, the students, the school, and the local
community will have benefited from improvements to the local educational offerings and a
reduction in costs to the school system.
COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on this Study
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the field of education. Late
in the day on Friday, March 13, 2020, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf ordered all public
schools closed in the Commonwealth for an initial two-week period due to concerns of the
COVID-19 virus. The timing of the announcement was late in the day and caught many of
us in education off guard. Had we known earlier in the day that this was to take place, we
could have prepared differently. Students that needed a device such as a Chromebook at
home could have been provided one to taken one with them when they departed for the day.
Instead, we missed this opportunity to distribute the technology that we did have to students
when they left school that day.
Governor Wolf’s initial announcement of a two-week closure of schools, was since
expanded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in conjunction with the
Pennsylvania Department of Health to require public and private schools closed for the
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remainder of the 2019-2020 academic term. With the prospect of schools closed due to the
COVID-19 concerns, the need to focus on providing education to students in a remote
manner became paramount. As the school district worked on creating its Continuity of
Education plan, the most likely format became moving the traditional method of
educational delivery to an online format of delivery where possible. The KCASD took steps
to quickly assess the needs of families and adapted by loaning devices, helping secure
Internet access for students without a connection and provided training to teachers on the
use of the various resources that were available to assist with their online instructional
delivery.
I genuinely think that although the desire was to return to some sense of normalcy,
which included a return to students attending the traditional school setting, the attitudes and
beliefs of students, parents, and teachers toward online learning has been forever changed.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the focus of developing and improving online
learning at KCASD. We have confronted the challenges that remote learning has posed by
adapting, and we have accomplished more in a few months than we would typically have
been able to achieve in a year. Out of necessity, teachers and administrators were immersed
in the use of Google classroom and other online resources.
The data collection for this study was completed prior to the closure of schools that
COVID-19 caused. Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic did not directly impact my study
as it was completed prior to the disruption caused by the virus. However, it has likely
impacted the beliefs of students, parents, and educators alike on the concept of online
learning. It would be interesting to look at the parental beliefs in a post-COVID-19 era now
that their local school district has provided most of its educational programming via an
online format from mid-March until early June.
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CHAPTER IV
Data Analysis and Results
Introduction
There was a need for additional research in the area of K-12 online education to
understand why parents and students chose this format over the traditional school
pathway of education (Black, 2009; Cavanaugh et al., 2009). Most of the research in the
area of online education has been conducted in the post-secondary arena or on large cyber
schools (Black, 2009; Liu et al., 2010). This action research study looked at determining
the factors that influenced why parents chose a cyber school educational placement for
their child over the traditional public school placement. The study focused on a small
rural school district and was designed to identify practical information that can be used to
make educational improvements that will benefit students. The research questions
guiding this action research were:
1. Why do parents choose to enroll their child(ren) in an external cyber school
instead of our school district’s own cyber academy program?
2. What does the school district’s data on students that leave the system to enroll in
an external cyber school indicate about these students as compared to those that
stay enrolled in the school system?
3. What are the best practices for the design and operation of online cyber classes for
K12 students?
This section reports the results obtained through the investigation of the reasons
that parents chose an external cyber school for their child’s placement even though the
local school district has a similar existing option. The section: (a) describes the report
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findings from a parental survey on why parents choose to enroll their child(ren) in an
external cyber school instead of our school district’s cyber academy program; (b)
describes the report findings on what the school district’s data on students that leave the
system to enroll in an external cyber school indicate about these students as compared to
those that stay enrolled in the school system, and (c) describes the findings from the
literature review that were identified as best practices for the design and operation of
online cyber classes for K12 students.
Summary of Sample and Survey Factors
Detailed information regarding the survey and methods utilized for data collection
are found in Chapter three. As a summary, this study employed an online survey
instrument that was constructed to sample the parents of students that resided in the
school district and that were enrolled in various external cyber schools for at least part of
the year during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years. The online survey
instrument was built with Google Docs, and 110 parents were provided a survey link
through a mailing with a request to participate. The survey completion rate was 14.5%,
which included 16 parent participants. This was a lower number of responses than was
expected but was nonetheless helpful at obtaining valuable input into reasons parents
enroll their child in an external cyber school instead of the school district’s online
program.
A possible theory as to the low response rate was that the sample population has a
higher mobility rate as compared to that of the school district population. When
information was mailed to parents informing them of the survey, there were 20.9% or 23
survey invitation mailings that were returned by the post office for reasons such as “not
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deliverable as addressed,” “unable to forward,” and “vacant.” This could be an indication
that this population changes their place of residence more frequently than do the parents
who have children that remain in the public school setting. The school district’s student
information system was used to calculate a three-year average parent mobility rate of
7.2% for students that remained within the school system, indicating that there was a
higher address change rate for students enrolled in cyber schools.
Although some survey invitations were returned as unable to be delivered, it
provided an opportunity for the school system to cross-check the address records on
external cyber students. In doing so, two students were removed from the school district’s
cyber bills due to having moved out of the school district without notifying their cyber
school where they were enrolled. This finding enabled the school district to recover
$11,888.10 from a cyber school that it was not obligated to pay. Most of the other
discrepancies with mailing addresses were able to be resolved, and the school records
were updated.
Research Question 1
While there has been a growing body of educational research in the field of online
education, there continues to be limited research that contributes to the reasons parents
from small communities chose online learning for their child over a traditional
educational experience. Research question one addressed this gap when it asked: Why do
parents choose to enroll their child(ren) in an external cyber school instead of our school
district’s cyber academy program? The online survey that was administered to the parents
of students that were enrolled in a cyber school produced data that provided insight into
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why parents made the decision they did. The results of this parent survey represented
authentic data that was collected from this population.
Upon accessing the survey, each respondent was asked to review and confirm the
consent to participate in the online survey. Figure 1 indicated that 100% of the
respondents confirmed their understanding and agreement of the informed consent and
were then able to proceed with completing the online survey. The survey participants
were informed that all data collection was done anonymously, and participants were free
to discontinue their participation in the survey at any time and without any negative
ramifications to them or their child.
Figure 1. Informed consent notice was provided to the participants and acknowledged in
the initial question of the survey.
In survey question two, the gender results revealed that the children of the
respondents were 68.8% male and 31.3% female. This relationship was comparable to the
gender composite of the sample population group of cyber school students that were
surveyed, which was 71.8% male and 28.2% female. However, the gender reported does
represent a discrepancy when compared to the gender statistics on the students that
remain in the traditional school system. The student cohort that stayed in the public
school system was 47.9% male and 52.1% females based on an average of 1,325
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students. The data indicated that a higher than expected rate of male students departed the
school system than did female students to attend an external cyber school, and this would
warrant a closer look as to why this would occur.
Figure 2. Identifies the gender of the students in external cyber schools, as reported by
their parents.
Most of the respondents, 14 of 16 or 87.5%, were comprised of parents that had
earned a GED or High School diploma, as noted in Figure 3. Only 1 of 16 or 6.3% of the
parents responded having earned a bachelor’s degree. According to Mann & Baker
(2019), there was a relationship that showed many rural school districts in Pennsylvania
had lower percentages of per capita of adult residents that had obtained a bachelor’s
degree level of education. The results to this survey question agreed with Mann &
Baker’s findings.
Looking deeper at the data from the 14 respondents, all reported that obtaining a
high school diploma was very important to them as a parent. Of the other two
respondents, one had an associate’s degree and rated a high school diploma as very
important. In contrast, the other respondent had a bachelor’s degree and rated a high
school diploma as of only medium importance to them.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Figure 3. Identifies the highest level of education for the parent who participated in the
survey.
Figure 4 shows what grade the children of the respondents first enrolled in a cyber
school. Most of the parents, 14 of 16 or 87.5%, reported that their child first attended an
external cyber school sometime when their child was enrolled in the school district’s
secondary school building, which was comprised of grades 7-12. Of note, 12 of 16 or
75% of the students departed the school system when the student would have been in
junior high school, with eighth and ninth grades representing the highest number of
student departures.
Figure 4. Identifies the grade level of students when parents first enrolled them in a cyber
school.
In Figure 5, the data was mixed but showed that the grade level showing the
highest return rate was that of eleventh grade, where 5 of 16 or 31.3% of the students
57
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
returned to the public school setting in that grade. Anecdotal information suggested this
trend was accurate because some students in an external cyber school enroll in the public
school setting again near the end of their educational career to be able to graduate from
the public school, thereby earning a high school diploma.
Figure 5. Identifies the grade level that students most recently completed.
In question six, almost a third (31.3%) of the parents reported that their child
would likely pursue higher education, such as college. However, most parents, 13 of 16
or 81.3%, said that their child would likely pursue a job upon completing their high
school level of education. These responses do not necessarily mean that the parents do
not value higher education, but they do indicate that parents have a greater appreciation
for the pursuit of employment.
Figure 6. Identifies what parents reported as the likely plan(s) for their child after they
graduated from secondary school.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
In question seven, the data indicated that grade levels that the administration
should focus their efforts on the most. By monitoring students who were more likely to
consider cyber-school, staff could be prepared to provide them with more help and if
need be information on the KC Cyber Academy if necessary. Twelve of the 16 parents
reported that they first enrolled their children in a cyber school when their child was in
seventh or eighth grade. These grade-levels would seem to deserve more attention so that
we may keep students either in the traditional instruction pathway or transition them into
the KC Cyber Academy as opposed to them enrolling in a cyber school.
Once the students reached their junior year of school, the data suggested that they
continue in the traditional setting. Thus, it would not necessarily be as important to focus
attention on cyber-school for upper-grade level students as it is on the junior high-grade
levels.
Figure 7. Identifies the school within the Karns City Area School District (KCASD) that
the student most recently attended if enrolled before departing to a cyber school.
In Figure 8, the data from parental responses suggested that parents felt their child
was safe while attending KCASD. Therefore, safety was not likely a significant concern
for parents. The responses were on the positive side of the scale and thus may not have
59
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
been a substantial contributor to the decision to leave the public school to enroll in an
external cyber school.
Figure 8. Identifies the parental responses indicating how safe they believed their child
was when attending his/her KCASD school.
In Figure 9, the data suggested that the lack of friends may not be a significant
contributing factor as to why parents to switch their children to cyber school.
Figure 9. Identifies parental responses indicating whether their child had friends while
attending his/her KCASD school.
In Figure 10, the data suggested that the students that departed the public school
setting reported not enjoying the school they last attended. This conclusion was supported
by 9 of 15 of the parents, or 60%, who indicated that their child did not like attending
school when enrolled at KCASD. The other 6 of 15 parents choose what would be
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
considered a neutral rating for the question. No parent reported that their child enjoyed
attending school.
Figure 10. Identifies parental responses indicating whether their child enjoyed school
while attending his/her KCSAD school.
In Figure 11, the data suggested that cyber-students enjoyed the current setting
more than the traditional setting they left. The result was not surprising since one would
expect the decision to depart the previous setting for another would be the result of some
desire for change. The response to this survey question was significant based on the
results of the t-test (Table 3). It was noteworthy to point out that the overall increase in
the survey ratings reflected a one-point change on the scale. If increased enjoyment were
a side effect of simply changing to cyber-school, a more significant increase might have
been observed based on the student and parent’s experience.
Figure 11. Identifies parental responses indicating whether their child enjoyed school
while attending his/her cyber school.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
62
The results in Table 3 confirmed that there is a relationship between responses to
questions ten and eleven that with the change in placement being more positive than the
former placement for the students involved. As noted by the t-value and the p-value, there
was a significant difference in enjoyment of school ratings after the change in placement
was made, t(46) = -6.75, p = 1.37E-05, for the parents reported that students who enrolled
in an external cyber charter school (M = 3.36, SD = 0.06) being higher when compared to
the sample of 14 students who remain enrolled in the Karns City Area School District (M
= 2.36, SD = 0.06).
Table 3: Enjoyment of former school versus current school placement
t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means
Enjoyment in KCASD
Enjoyment in Cyber
Placement
Mean
2.36
3.36
Variance
0.25
0.25
14
14
Observations
Pearson Correlation
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
0.38
0
13
t Stat
-6.75
P(T<=t) one-tail
6.86E-06
t Critical one-tail
1.77
P(T<=t) two-tail
1.37E-05
t Critical two-tail
2.16
In Figure 12, these data indicated that schoolwork was a problem for students, and
that was a part of the reason they ended up attending a cyber school. Homework was
identified by 14 of 15 or 93.3% of the parent respondents as a problem for their child. It
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
could be that the amount and type of schoolwork expected were too much or did not
resonate with the students. In the future, determining more about this area could clarify
the impact that it had on the parent’s decision to enroll their child in an external cyber
school.
In a follow-up question on the survey, parents were asked an open-ended question
that directly asked for comments regarding academic problems that existed while
attending the traditional public school. The responses to this question clarified some of
the thinking around the degree that schoolwork influenced the decision to leave the
public school setting.
Figure 12. Identifies parental responses indicating which items their child experienced
academic problems with while attending his/her KCASD school.
In question thirteen, parents were asked an open-ended question about problems
with academics. The responses that parents provided were reported as submitted without
edits. The comments suggested that issues with homework can be grouped into two
categories. The uselessness of the homework itself was identified by 8 of 13 or 61.5% of
the respondents as a problem, and the amount of homework assigned was identified by 6
of 13 or 46.2% of the respondents as a problem. The only comments related to content
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
difficulty placed the blame on the teacher for not teaching the material well enough as
opposed to suggesting that the material is too difficult. The responses that follow
reflected what parents stated about problems with academics.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Some teachers gave too much work.
The work was not related to what teachers tested. Teachers rarely graded the
homework and did not give much if any feedback.
The classwork was mostly busywork. Teachers seemed to enjoy giving lots of
work but didn’t want to explain why it was needed. My daughter fell behind
and then didn’t want to go to school.
The work seemed to be unrelated to what was needed to learn the material.
The teachers gave too much work that seemed just to be busywork. Teachers
didn’t seem to care about some kids.
Too much busywork that didn’t relate to anything.
Too much work and not enough teaching
Too much busy work!
Schoolwork was too much for my child. He did not want to go to school and
cyber school was really the best option.
The work was just busy work and was not valuable. Too many worksheets.
Not Applicable
The teacher’s homework was just busy work and did not relate to what was
tested.
There is too much work and not enough teaching to help students.
Some teachers need to do a better job of teaching the material so that students
can actually learn.
In questions fourteen and fifteen, parents reported responses to problems with
individuals in the school setting focused mostly on the teachers. Issues or concerns with
another student were reported by 9 of 16 or 56.3% of the respondents, whereas 14 of 16
or 87.5% reported there were problems with the teacher at their child’s school. Parents
indicated such things as teachers had favorite students who were not punished, and
teachers ignored “bad” behavior in general. Five parents felt that the teachers did not care
about the students, while two other parents felt teachers had mistreated their child. Two
negative responses referenced an administrator. The comments parents stated were
somewhat surprising as often anecdotal comments from parents through casual
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
conversation would seem to lead you to believe that problems were mostly with peers and
not employees. Therefore, the data that parents provided indicated that problems with
employees were more of a concern than problems with their child’s peers.
Figure 13. Identifies parental responses indicating whether their child had problems with
others in the KCASD school setting.
In question fifteen, parents were given the opportunity in an open-ended question
to share if their child experienced problems with other individuals while attending his/her
KCASD school. The responses that follow reflected what parents stated without edits.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kids picked at each other and nothing was done to stop it.
Some teachers left some kids get away with whatever they wanted but punished
other kids.
Teachers expected students blindly be able to do all of the busy work without
their help. If a student fell behind they were left behind.
Teachers didn’t seem to care about some kids.
Teachers let some kids do what they wanted and punished others. They played
favorites and that lead to problems between kids.
Teachers treated my son as he was a bad kid even though he wasn’t.
The teachers did not seem to care about my child
Teachers do not seem to care about some students that need extra help.
The principal would not help me and actually encouraged me to consider cyber
school for my son.
My son did not get along with his teacher. She was mean to him.
Not Applicable
Schoolwork was hard for my son. He got in trouble from teachers and principal
and stopped wanting to go to school.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
•
•
•
My child was bullied and teacher had favorites.
Teachers have favorites and kids pick on each other with anything being done
to stop it.
Some teachers didn’t seem to like their job or care about the students. Some
teachers did care but seemed to be afraid of the teachers that didn’t care and
were afraid to speak out publicly about the problem.
In question sixteen, the parents were able to share the reasons why they chose to
enroll their child in a cyber school. This question went to the heart of the study and
provided parents an opportunity to be specific with any of the reasons that contributed to
why they enrolled their child in a cyber school. Despite the free-response format, patterns
still emerged. Six of the 16 or 37.5% of the responses referenced the parent having grown
tired of fighting with their child about going to school or that they reached a general
feeling that there was no other choice. Two more referenced not wanting to continue to
deal with problems and the student not wanting to go to school. Another two referenced
needing a fresh start, and one other response involved needing a change to due
unhappiness. In each of these groups of responses, one could argue that the parents did
not state that cyber-school was a better option than the public school; they just viewed it
as a necessary alternative to traditional school. These eleven parents may still believe that
traditional school could be a suitable option and thus could have been persuaded to keep
their children in the traditional setting with some type of intervention.
Of the remaining five responses, only two gave reasons that would suggest a
cyber-education program was superior to a traditional program. One references “busy
work” associated with traditional education and the other references being better able to
tailor coursework to the student’s ability and interest. Two others involve teachers in
what would be described as a personality conflict. The final response referenced
relocating and not enrolling in the traditional setting due to the move. While more
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
challenging to persuade, these parents might be persuaded to stay in or return to
traditional education if a personal connection could be made.
In question sixteen, parents were asked to share the reasons why you chose to enroll
your child in a cyber school. Changes were made to the transcription of a couple of
responses by removing the personal names of employees that were mentioned by the
parent. The changes were identified by underscoring the text in the specific
responses. The personal names used were substituted with the person’s job category,
such as student, teacher, principal, etc. and only to protect the individual’s identity.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
My daughter did not want to go to school and I got tired of fighting her about
it.
I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
I had no choice but to get my daughter out of the school. She didn’t want to go
and I was then being fined for attendance. I was told by the principal that I
might as well enroll my daughter in cyber school because she wasn’t going to
make it at KC.
It gave my son a fresh start.
I wanted to avoid the problems and this was the only way I could think of to
help my daughter.
I wanted him to have a fresh start and a chance to succeed.
My child needs an education and does not need to do busywork
It was the only option I had to help get my son to be able to graduate.
I got tired of fighting the battle of trying to get my son to go to school.
To get away from the teacher. I just have not switched my son back to the
school system.
We moved after the beginning of the school year. Both of my sons chose to try
cyber-school rather than enroll in a new school right away.
I didn’t want to continue dealing with the problems and the principal wouldn’t
help us.
My student did not want to go to school and his grades were low.
To get away from the problems and help my kid be happy
I wanted my child to avoid certain teachers.
Student-to-teacher ratio and the tailor-ability of courses to meet the student’s
learning style and interests.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
In question seventeen, all but one parent indicated that they were unaware of the
KC Cyber Academy option for their child. This suggested that the school system did not
engage the parents and students that were considering leaving the school system in
sharing information regarding their options before a decision was made to enroll in an
external cyber school. Discovering this provided an opportunity for the school district to
reach out to these families in an effort to attempt to recruit students back to the home
school and reduce costs to the school district.
Figure 14. Percentage of parents reporting awareness of the KC Cyber Academy as an
option to Cyber School.
Figure 15 represents that 13 of 16 or 81.3%, of the parents reported that it was
important for their child to earn a high school diploma. The same number of parents
reported in question six that their child would likely pursue a job after graduation. Since
earning a high school diploma or equivalent is a minimum precursor to obtaining a job,
the responses to the two questions seem plausible and complementary. In the future, it
would be of interest to see if the school district’s curriculum could be shaped to be more
supportive of delivering workforce-related instruction and skills that prepare students for
obtaining a job. Doing so would perhaps help these students see greater value in the
educational opportunities a traditional school setting can offer. While this can be
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
challenging in the current high-stakes testing era of education, improvement in this area
could have a substantial impact on these students.
Figure 15. Indicates the importance parents placed on their child earning a high school
diploma from a public school such as KCASD.
In questions nineteen through twenty-one, the data collected provided insight into
potential selling points when trying to convince students and parents to stay in a
traditional school or at least take advantage of KC Cyber Academy. In all three questions,
parents responded that it was important for their children to have the opportunity to
participate in extra-curricular activities (Figure 16), access to the Butler County Area
Vocational-Technical School (Figure 17), and the school district’s behind the wheel
driver education program (Figure 18). Thus, access to these three items could be used to
possibly persuade students and parents to maintain enrollment with the traditional school
plan or in the KC Cyber over an external cyber-education.
Figure 16. – Indicates the importance parents placed on their child being able to
participate in extra-curricular activities.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Figure 17. Indicates the importance parents placed on their child being able to attend the
Butler County Area Vocational Technical School (BCAVTS)?
Figure 18. Indicates the importance parents placed on their child being to take a driver
education class that enables him/her to earn a driver’s licenses from an onsite instructor.
Figure 20 shows how parents rated the importance of a flexible schedule for their
child. Eight of 16 or 50% of the parents selected a neutral rating, but all the other eight
respondents selected positive ratings for the question. Cyber-schools not affiliated with
the school district have a distinct advantage of flexible scheduling, and this was an area
that the public school sector would need to adjust to compete better. The responses,
however, indicated that this was not as important to the parents as their children being
able to participate in extra-curricular activities and participate in driver education.
Therefore, it appeared that parents valued how their child felt about the school experience
more than the need for a flexible schedule.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Figure 19. Indicates the importance parents placed on their child having the opportunity
to have a flexible schedule to complete their educational requirements.
In question twenty-three, parents were asked to identify the best way for them to
obtain additional information on the school district’s online program. The responses
indicated that parents seemingly preferred a self-discovery method of receiving more
information that allowed them to maintain the ability to pursue additional information on
their own rather than with a phone call that would enable two-way communication.
Publicizing and promoting of the KC Cyber Academy was needed and essential so that
parents and students were at least aware of it as an option.
Figure 20. – Indicates the method of how parents would like to receive additional
information on the KC Cyber Academy.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Summary of Results for Research Question 1
With the results from the survey, insight into the reasons parents enrolled their
child in an external cyber school, and what the typical cyber student looks like for our
school district started to take shape. The average cyber school student was male, departed
the school system sometime in junior high, likely intended to join the workforce after
graduation, has a dislike toward schoolwork, and lived in a household with a parent that
has a GED or high school diploma. The student and the student’s parents were not aware
that the school district offers an online option to take classes and therefore viewed an
external cyber school as the only option as an alternative to the traditional public school
pathway.
Looking closer at the open-ended responses to the question on the survey that
asked parents to share why they chose to enroll their child in a cyber school, a pattern
was noticeable. The responses were grouped into two categories. One category
representing responses that implied that the cyber school might be “better” than the
traditional school and another that represented the respondents felt they had “no other
choice” but to select a cyber school as an alternative. In taking the responses from
question sixteen, they were arranged into the two categories.
The first group represented the responses that indicated that parents felt that a
cyber school option was better than the traditional setting. In this grouping, 5 of 16 or
31.3% of the parents may have felt that cyber school was better than the traditional public
school setting. The five parental responses representing the “better” group follow.
•
•
I wanted my child to avoid certain teachers.
Student-to-teacher ratio and the tailor-ability of courses to meet the student’s
learning style and interests.
72
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
•
•
•
My child needs an education and does not need to do busywork
To get away from the teacher. I just have not switched my son back to the
school system.
We moved after the beginning of the school year. Both of my sons chose to try
cyber-school rather than enroll in a new school right away.
The second group represented 11 of 16 or 68.6% of the parent responses that
indicate parents felt they were “out of options” or just did not know of any alternatives
other than a cyber school placement for their child. The eleven parental responses
representing the “no other choice” group follow.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
My daughter did not want to go to school and I got tired of fighting her about
it.
I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
I had no choice but to get my daughter out of the school. She didn’t want to go
and I was then being fined for attendance. I was told by the principal that I
might as well enroll my daughter in cyber school because she wasn’t going to
make it at KC.
It gave my son a fresh start.
I wanted to avoid the problems and this was the only way I could think of to
help my daughter.
I wanted him to have a fresh start and a chance to succeed.
It was the only option I had to help get my son to be able to graduate.
I got tired of fighting the battle of trying to get my son to go to school.
I didn’t want to continue dealing with the problems and the principal wouldn’t
help us.
My student did not want to go to school and his grades were low.
To get away from the problems and help my kid be happy
Looking at the parent responses provided some hope that if parents were
provided options within the traditional school setting for their child, some might decide to
keep their child enrolled with our school system. Offering parents a choice is essential
and can lay the groundwork for creating a stronger sense of a connection to the school.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Research Question 2
The review of the school district’s student databases helped address research
question two by asking: What does the school district’s data on students that leave the
system to enroll in an external cyber school indicate about these students as compared to
those that stay enrolled in the school system? The school district has contracted with
edInsight OnHand Schools (edInsight) for the use of its student data management tool
since the 2011-2012 school year. The data used for this analysis was pulled and provided
to the researcher in an anonymous format, as was agreed to prior to the onset of
conducting the study.
Data set one represented data on twenty-four students that were once enrolled in
the school system for which information existed within the edInsight database on students
who departed the school system and enrolled in an external cyber school. This group
represented the experimental group for this study. The second data set was created from a
random selection of twenty-four students from the same edInsight database to serve as
the control group. The selection process was based on assigning each student a number
and then using the website www.random.org to generate the twenty-four numbers that
were then used to pull the student data for the control group.
A comparison of student absences, math GPA, language arts GPA, science GPA,
economic status, or free and reduced lunch eligibility, IEP status, and gender was made
between the two groups. A comparison of the risk factor that was generated by edInsight
based on a matrix that takes into consideration the types of absences (excused,
unexcused, and suspensions), two years of grades, and two years of standardized test
74
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
75
results were also analyzed. Data on each variable were compared to determine if any
variance was significant between the two data sets.
In Table 4, the number of absences from school was compared between the
former KCASD student group who were in cyber students and the current KCASD
student group. As noted by the t-value and the p-value, there was not a significant
difference in attendance rates, t(46) = -.51, p = .61, despite the number of days absent for
the students who enrolled in an external cyber charter school (M = 5.67, SD = 3.97) were
lower when compared to the sample of 24 students who remained enrolled in the Karns
City Area School District (M = 6.29, SD = 4.46). This was somewhat surprising but
informative.
Table 4: Comparison of Absences from School
Attendance t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming
Equal Variances Student
Cyber
Students
Mean
Variance
Observations
Pooled Variance
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
t Stat
KCASD
Students
5.67
6.29
15.80
19.87
24
24
17.83
0
46
-0.51
P(T<=t) one-tail
0.31
t Critical one-tail
1.68
P(T<=t) two-tail
0.61
t Critical two-tail
2.01
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
76
When math GPAs, as shown in Table 5, were analyzed, there was not a
significant difference in math GPA rates, t(45) = .04, p = .97, despite the math GPA for
the students who enrolled in an external cyber charter school (M = 2.70, SD = 3.25) were
slightly higher when compared to the sample of 23 students who remained enrolled in the
Karns City Area School District (M = 2.70, SD = 1.00).
Table 5: Comparison of Math GPAs
Math GPA t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming
Equal Variances
Cyber
Students
KCASD
Students
Mean
2.71
2.70
Variance
1.80
1.02
24
23
Observations
Pooled Variance
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
1.42
0
45
t Stat
0.04
P(T<=t) one-tail
0.49
t Critical one-tail
1.68
P(T<=t) two-tail
0.97
t Critical two-tail
2.01
When language arts GPAs, as shown in Table 6, were analyzed, there was not a
significant difference in language arts GPA rates, t(45) = .04, p = .97, despite the
language arts GPA for the students who enrolled in an external cyber charter school (M =
2.83, SD = 2.02) being lower when compared to the sample of 23 students who remained
enrolled in the Karns City Area School District (M = 2.86, SD = 1.14).
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
77
Table 6: Comparison of Language Arts GPAs
Language Arts GPA t-Test: Two-Sample
Assuming Equal Variances
Cyber
Students
KCASD
Students
Mean
2.83
2.86
Variance
1.42
1.07
24
23
Observations
Pooled Variance
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
1.25
0
45
t Stat
-0.07
P(T<=t) one-tail
0.47
t Critical one-tail
1.68
P(T<=t) two-tail
0.94
t Critical two-tail
2.01
When science GPAs, as shown in Table 7, were analyzed, there was not a
significant difference in science GPA rates, t(45) = .90, p = .37, despite the science GPA
for the students who enrolled in an external cyber charter school (M = 3.17, SD =
1.21) being higher when compared to the sample of 23 students who remained enrolled in
the Karns City Area School District (M = 2.87, SD = 1.22). In all, after analyzing the
math, language arts, and science GPAs, the data was unexpected because it was
previously thought that grades would be an indicator that influenced whether a student
left the school system for a cyber school.
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
78
Table 7: Comparison of Science GPAs
Science GPA t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming
Equal Variances
Cyber
Students
KCASD
Students
Mean
3.17
2.87
Variance
1.10
1.48
24
23
Observations
Pooled Variance
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
1.29
0
45
t Stat
0.90
P(T<=t) one-tail
0.19
t Critical one-tail
1.70
P(T<=t) two-tail
0.37
t Critical two-tail
2.01
In Table 8, the risk factor rating was evaluated to determine if there would be any
difference between students in each data subset. The risk factor rating itself was a
measure calculated by the edInsight data program on each student and was based on
assigning points to various types of student absences, grade ranges, and performance on
standardized tests. The higher the rating, the more “at-risk” the student was with
academic problems. This rating allowed teachers and administrators to keep an eye on
students that need additional attention. Therefore, looking at the risk factor rating for this
study was desirable to see if it could be an indicator that might show any correlation that
could be used to predict a student that might consider a cyber school over the traditional
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
79
public school setting. Upon review, the t-value and the p-value indicate there was not a
significant difference in risk factor ratings, t(46) = .68, p = .50, despite the risk factor for
the students who enrolled in an external cyber charter school (M = 27.4, SD = 20.1) being
higher when compared to the sample of 24 students who remained enrolled in the Karns
City Area School District (M = 23.6, SD = 18.2).
Table 8: Comparison of Risk Factors
Risk Factor Rating t-Test: Two-Sample
Assuming Equal Variances
Cyber
Students
Mean
Variance
Observations
Pooled Variance
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
KCASD
Students
27.38
23.63
402.85
332.70
24
24
367.77
0
46
t Stat
0.68
P(T<=t) one-tail
0.25
t Critical one-tail
1.68
P(T<=t) two-tail
0.50
t Critical two-tail
2.01
In Table 9, data represented characteristics that were reported as the mean for
each variable, along with the difference between the two groups. The cyber school group
reported higher means in the areas of economic status, IEP status, and gender designation
of being male. With a small sample size, it would be cautioned not to generalize that this
data accurately described all cyber school students in this setting. Instead, it would be
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
80
appropriate to explore this area in more depth in order to determine the validity of what
seems to be a difference in the too comparable data sets.
Table 9: Comparison of Economic Status, IEP Status, and Gender
Cyber School
Students
n = 24
KCASD Students
Change
Free/Reduced Lunch
45.8%
33.3%
+12.5
IEP Status
25.0%
12.5%
+12.5
Female
45.8%
54.2%
-8.4
Male
54.2%
45.8%
+8.4
n = 24
Source: KCASD edInsight OnHand Schools
Summary of Results for Research Question 2
Before completing the review of the available data that existed within the student
database containing demographic information on students, it was expected that certain
data would show enough of a difference for cyber students as compared to traditional
public school students that would be significant. If so, these data would serve to provide a
clue as to what characteristics could be discretely monitored and that help predict the
likelihood that a student would depart the school system for an external cyber school.
Unfortunately, of the characteristics looked at in this study, none proved to show enough
significance to be used in the manner that was originally hoped. The data from this
research question does, however, start to show a pattern in the characteristics for a
potential cyber student but not with enough validity to make solid predictive decisions on
who would likely depart and who would not.
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Research Question 3
The review of the literature helped address research question three by asking:
What are the best practices for the design and operation of online cyber classes for K-12
students? The literature around online learning programs for K-12 students originates
from the mid-1990s and builds upon research and practice from the K-12 distance
education era (Cavanaugh, Barbour, & Clark, 2009). Themes throughout the literature
included steady growth and a focus on the benefits, challenges, and broad effectiveness
of K-12 online learning. Also, newly developed standards for K-12 online learning have
emerged in descriptions of effective practices.
Table 1 contained national standards for online teaching published by the
International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL). These standards reflect
what online teachers should be able to do for evaluation purposes and were designed to
provide quality guidelines for online teaching (iNACOL, 2011, p. 4-16).
Table 1. National Standard for Quality Online Teaching, Version 2
Standard A - The online teacher knows the primary concepts and structures of
effective online instruction and is able to create learning experiences to enable student
success.
Standard B - The online teacher understands and is able to use a range of
technologies, both existing and emerging, that effectively support student learning and
engagement in the online environment.
Standard C - The online teacher plans, designs, and incorporates strategies to
encourage active learning, application, interaction, participation, and collaboration in
the online environment.
Standard D - The online teacher promotes student success through clear expectations,
prompt responses, and regular feedback.
Standard E - The online teacher models, guides, and encourages legal, ethical, and
safe behavior related to technology use.
Standard F - The online teacher is cognizant of the diversity of student academic
needs and incorporates accommodations into the online environment.
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Standard G - The online teacher demonstrates competencies in creating and
implementing assessments in online learning environments in ways that ensure the
validity and reliability of the instruments and procedures.
Standard H - The online teacher develops and delivers assessments, projects, and
assignments that meet standards-based learning goals and assesses learning progress by
measuring student achievement of the learning goals.
Standard I - The online teacher demonstrates competency in using data from
assessments and other data sources to modify content and to guide student learning.
Standard J - The online teacher interacts in a professional, effective manner with
colleagues, parents, and other members of the community to support students’ success.
Standard K - The online teacher arranges media and content to help students and
teachers transfer knowledge most effectively in the online environment.
Effective online programs for K-12 learners will need to include frequent teacher
contact with students and parents, lessons that were divided into short segments, and
regular feedback provided on the student’s progress (Cavanaugh et al. 2004). Entities
that plan to operate an online program need to determine if the online program will offer
asynchronous or have synchronous classes. Each style has benefits, but with the age of
the students in K-12 and their needs, a model that permits synchronous instruction
permitting timely and frequent feedback will likely be more effective in delivering new
instruction than an asynchronous program. Ideally, the program would have some of both
components where it combines synchronous and asynchronous instructional methods.
Teachers who incorporate a balance between the two when they plan the structure of their
online courses enable students to have time to reflect on their learning but also provide
regular opportunities for synchronous communication can increase the sense of
community among students (DiPietro, Ferdig, Black, & Preston, 2008). This can allow
for opportunities for immediate feedback on assignments or discussions related to content
that was delivered and mirror the traditional style of learning but with the flexibility of
the online or remote learning platform.
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An additional element of online learning for students in the K-12 setting was the
need for parental involvement. Teachers need to engage and contact parents, and vice
versa, if there were concerns about a student’s performance in an online course.
Establishing an open channel of communication between the teacher and the parent of the
online student increased the likelihood that the student was successful. The research
suggested that parental involvement maybe even more important for online students than
those in face-to-face classrooms because of time students spend learning at home without
the direct guidance of the teacher (Liu, Black, Algina, Cavanaugh, & Dawson, 2010).
Educators are starting to accept that when learners have some control over their
learning environment, they are more successful (Cavanaugh et al., 2013). In many online
courses, students were permitted the ability to have an increased level of control, which
in turn increased the level of engagement and ownership in their learning. More online
courses are now moving toward individualized learning plans and concept mastery rather
than discrete tasks such as homework and worksheets. Courses that assessed a student
and dynamically provided content that fit the student’s learning needs were considered
most effective and contributed to learning (Curtis, 2013).
Summary of Results for Research Question 3
Characteristics of successful online experiences were ones with two-way
communication between the teacher and student, parental involvement in a way that
supported the experience, had defined expectations of the student, provided frequent
feedback opportunities, and were flexible. Students must be self-motivated, engaged,
willing to participate and be accountable for their learning. Parents should be available to
monitor, mentor, and motivate their children as they complete their work.
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Research has found that synchronous communication offered teachers and
students benefits. The environment was more authentic and closer to what students would
find in a traditional classroom situation. Discussions were productive, and the
conversation moved at a much faster pace. Similarities to face-to-face conversations can
promote a sense of community among students, and students could receive immediate
feedback on ideas (Hrastinski, 2008; Journell, Beeson, Crave, Gomez, Linton, & Taylor,
2013; Mabrito, 2006).
Conclusion
In Chapter IV, a summary of the findings from data collection methods employed
in the study to learn more about the reasons parents chose cyber learning for their child
and what a school system can learn about these reasons so that it may better compete and
retain students in their online program. There were some statistically significant
relationships between the variables of economically disadvantaged status, education of
the parent, student grade level, and gender of the student. Although no simple, definitive
profile of the typical student who leaves the traditional education setting was developed,
there were characteristics that surfaced for the parents and their children who attend
cyber schools as compared to the average student who stays enrolled in the public school
setting.
In the case of the parents, a majority of the sample population was looked at in
this study could be described as being less educated, felt like they had no other choice but
to enroll their child in a cyber school, were unaware of the KC Cyber Academy option,
and valued their child earning a high school diploma. The typical student that ended up
transitioning to a cyber school could be described as more often than not, a male in grade
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7-9, from an economically disadvantaged household, had a dislike toward homework and
schoolwork, and reported liking the change once they switched to the new school.
It was clear that although there were some objective characteristics that can help
the school system be more observant to the student that might struggle in the traditional
setting and consider cyber school, cultivating relationships that help anchor the student to
the school played a significant role in keeping them enrolled in the school system.
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CHAPTER V
Conclusions
Introduction
Although the Karns City Area School District has operated the KC Cyber
Academy for several years, it has been underutilized as a resource to effectively recruit
external cyber school students back to our school system. When first established, the
option was used as an effort to reduce the number of future students that would leave the
school system and ignored the students that had already left. Overlooking the problem
was the result of internal uncertainty on how best to address the problem of students
leaving the school district and its effect on the system’s budget.
Initially, I was looking to creating an online option that permitted students to take
classes that our school system offered without restriction, much like that of what an
external cyber school permits and provides for its students. Unfortunately, our teacher
association and some board members were concerned that this would lead to accelerating
the number of students leaving the school system and thus preferred a more narrowed
option. Therefore, we built our program predominately to help retain the students that
were deemed at risk and focused our efforts there with the programming.
In the first year, the program was helpful in educating five students that very well
would have left for an external cyber school or, worse, dropped out of school altogether.
As a school system, we felt good about our initial efforts, but we failed to bring back any
students that already left the school system. We also did not have a real sense of why
students or their parents were deciding to leave our school district. Knowing the reasons
why students left became essential to identifying what we needed to do differently to
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bring them back. This, coupled with the sheer cost of tuition paid to external schools per
year, brought about a new sense of urgency to the problem.
As mentioned in the onset of this study, during the 2018-2019 school-year, a total
of forty-five Karns City Area School District students were enrolled in an external cyber
school for at least part of the school year at an overall cost of $487,041 to our school
district. This loss in revenue could be used to help provide our students with more
opportunities if it could somehow be recaptured and keep within the school district.
Parental Survey and Reasons that Parents Enroll their Children in Cyber School
The desired outcome of this study was to understand why parents enroll their
child in a cyber school rather than keeping the student in the school district. Learning
about the reasons contributing to the decision would help us be able to identify changes
to our program that would make it an attractive alternative to a cyber school. A parental
survey was used to obtain feedback that could be used to determine why parents made the
decision they do. The survey instrument contained a mix of closed-ended and open-ended
questions that parents could answer. This provided me with an opportunity to use
quantitative and qualitative methods to gain a better understanding of the issue.
Appendix B contains a copy of the survey instrument that was used to probe
parents of students that enrolled their child in an external cyber school to obtain their
viewpoints. In total, I provided information on the online survey to 110 parents via a
mailing that contained the required privacy notices on the survey, my intention for
conducting the study, and information on how the participants could access the survey
link to complete the survey. Although the survey completion rate was only 14.5%, the
results helped provide factual data from the parent’s perspective. During the process of
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mailing the surveys, I received 20.9% or 23 survey invitations in return mail by the post
office for reasons such as “not deliverable as addressed,” “unable to forward,” and
“vacant.” I reviewed the information with the business office, and we were able to
determine that at least two students had moved from our school district to a neighboring
school district. Correcting this resulted in reducing the number of external cyber school
students from forty-five to forty-three and lowered our cyber school cost by over
$11,000. The high non-deliverable rate and low participation rate indicate that this
population group is transient and not as attached to the school district as families of
students that remain in the school district.
In analyzing the responses, it is telling that some patterns surfaced from the
parent’s responses. Parents that responded to the survey reported that by a 2:1 margin or
specifically, 68.8% to 31.3% that their child’s gender was male, which indicates that
more males leave our school system than do female students for an external cyber school.
This relationship was verified by reviewing the gender of all students that were enrolled
in an external cyber school and finding that 71.8% were male and 28.2% female. Further
analysis of the student body shows that it is almost equally divided, with 47.9% male and
52.1% female. The responses indicated for student gender provided validation that
respondents were representational to the population group as a whole and that male
students are more prone to leave our school system than female students.
Although only 1 of 16 or 6.3% of the parents reported having earned a bachelor’s
degree, all respondents indicated that they valued their child obtaining a high school
diploma. The data on the educational level of the parents complements the findings from
a study by Mann & Baker (2019), which reported many rural school districts in
Pennsylvania had lower percentages of per capita of adult residents that had obtained a
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bachelor’s degree level of education. Even though most of the parents 14 of 16 or 87.5%
did not earn more than a high school diploma, they valued education and wanted their
child to finish school and at least earn their diploma.
Another trend that surfaced from the data was that 14 of 16 or 87.5% of the
respondents reported that their child first attended an external cyber school sometime
when their child was in grades 7-12, which would be our school district’s secondary
school building. In particular, 12 of 16 or 75% of the parents reported that their child
departed the school system when they would have been in junior high school with eighth
and ninth grades seeing the highest rate of departure. This information warrants us taking
a closer look at these grade levels to determine if there are additional resources needed to
help reduce the number of these students leaving our school system in junior.
Parents shared that their child was more likely to pursue a job post-graduation as
compared to the option of pursuing additional schooling, with l3 of 16 or 81.3% making
such selection. Therefore, our school system should review its career readiness plan to
verify that students have access to meaningful opportunities that prepare them with the
skills that lead directly to employment. Parents also reported that their children liked the
change in educational placement with the data showing that the change to the cyber
school was determined to be significantly positive.
Surprisingly, parents reported that schoolwork or, more specifically, homework
was a problem area for their child. The open-ended responses that parents provided
indicated that the homework assigned was either unrelated to what was being taught,
being just busywork, was rarely graded, and of little value to the learning process. All 15
responses to the question were negative in some way about the quality or volume of the
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homework assigned by the teachers. It was clear from the responses that teachers could
benefit from some training in the area of how to select fewer but high-quality homework
problems that support the content being taught. Until this happens, there will continue to
be a disconnect between what is taught and what is assigned as homework as there is no
expectation this pattern changes on its own without intervention. This problem not only
contributes to students leaving our school system but holds students back from reaching
their educational potential. Working with teachers through professional development in
this area presents an opportunity to benefit all students by enabling teachers to provide
targeted assignments that translate into meaningful outcomes.
I also asked parents two questions that probed whether their child had any
problems while attending the school district. I expected to find that bullying or issues
with peers would be identified as the highest-rated problem for students by parents. The
data, however, surprised me with 9 of 16 or 56.3% indicating there were problems with
classmates, and 14 of 16 or 87.5% indicating there were problems with teachers. It was
not expected that problems with teachers would rank as the highest item selected by the
parents. The parental responses make it apparent that staff training in the area of how to
build positive relationships with students could be beneficial. Creating supportive
relationships between teachers and students would help students feel connected to their
school.
It is possible that some teachers are unaware of their impact on their students.
Simply sharing and discussing the data from this study with the teaching staff is a good
first step. The awareness of the problem could lead to changes in interactions and a
reduction in the feeling that teachers show indifference to certain students and ignore the
behaviors of some students while disciplining others. Additionally, negative behaviors
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should decrease by building positive relationships that create mutual respect. Working
collaboratively and helping teachers become aware of the impact they can have on their
students could be an important step taken to help reduce the number of students that
depart our school system for a cyber school.
The survey revealed that more parents felt they were out of options when making
the decision to enroll their child in a cyber school than thought the cyber school was
better than the traditional school setting. Frustratingly, one parent indicated that a school
principal told her that she might as well enroll her child in a cyber school because “she
wouldn’t make it at KC.” This response did not help the student, the parent, or the school
system and exemplified the need for further discussion on how best to address stressful
situations.
The survey also reported that 15 of 16 or 93.8% of the parents were unaware that
the school district provided an alternative option to its traditional educational model
through the KC Cyber Academy, enabling students to take online classes. Creating a
professional-looking brochure that can be shared with information on the KC Cyber
Academy option would be a simple step to ensure students and parents are at least aware
of the option.
Comparison of Student Demographic Data
The second question in this study addressed the identification of patterns from
demographic data that might surface from reviewing student data that the school district
had on students that left the school system for a cyber school with data on students that
stay with the school system. A review of the school district’s student information
database edInsight enabled data to be pulled and provided to the researcher in an
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anonymous format. The edInsight system had demographic data such as student
absences, math GPA, language arts GPA, science GPA, economic status based on free
and reduced lunch eligibility, IEP status, gender, and a risk factor that was generated by
edInsight on twenty-four students that left the school system and subsequently enrolled in
an external cyber school.
A control group was selected with twenty-four students that were randomly
selected to test for relationships between the variables mentioned to see if any patterns
started to develop that would describe the typical student that departs for a cyber school.
Interestingly, variables such as attendance, math GPA, language arts GPA, science GPA,
and edInsight’s Risk Factor showed no significant difference for students that left the
school system and from those that stayed in the school system. Although the sample size
was small, it provided an objective comparison based on data.
Data on variables such as economic status, IEP status, and gender showed
differences between the two groups. The pattern that developed shows that most students
that enrolled in an external cyber school were from economically disadvantaged
households, had an IEP and were male. This profile is supported by the data but should
not be relied on a definitive without further study that involves a larger sample size and
differentiation of degrees within each variable. For example, although attendance rates in
either group did not show as significantly different in this study, specific types of
attendance should be explored further to determine if there is a correlation. The same
could be said about looking at more closely at discipline infractions to determine if a
correlation exists with specific infractions and consequences that were assigned.
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The third question in this study focused on whether the review of the literature
would identify the best practices for the design and operation of online cyber classes for
K-12 students? The literature around online learning programs for K-12 students
originates from the mid-1990s and builds upon research and practice from the K-12
distance education era (Cavanaugh et al., 2009). Themes throughout the literature include
steady growth and a focus on the benefits, challenges, and broad effectiveness of K-12
online learning. Also, newly developed standards for K-12 online learning have emerged
in descriptions of effective practices.
School districts that can create well-designed online and blended courses and
offer students guidance along with explicit instructions, so they know how to “get
started” with their work can address the void that currently exists in a school operated
online program. In addition, providing assessments, instructional materials, interactions,
and technology that align with measurable learning objectives will assist students with
success. Ensuring these components work together can become a struggle for districts
and organizations to create their own courses. Therefore, the design of online classes and
the operation of an in-house online program will require a team effect with a realist
vision.
It could be that it is necessary to purchase online courses from a commercial
provider and use them for the curriculum or seek permission to adapt their course content
to match the existing school district curriculum than the development of one’s material
from the start. With the current nationwide challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, an
immediate and intense focus has been placed on online learning. Almost every school
district in the country was confronted with the need to provide some form of online
learning to students during the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Therefore, there is no
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doubt that the concept of online or remote learning is in for a transformation where it will
become a legitimate part of the traditional public school’s educational offering. It will be
improved and will become an acceptable method of K-12 delivery.
Limitations of this Study
There are several study limitations that should be considered when interpreting
the data and recommendations from this study. First, the participation rate of the parents
in the survey was 14.5%, with 16 of the total 110 parents participating. Care was taken to
encourage the parents to participate, and with more time, additional follow up reminders
would have been sent to remind and explain the importance of obtaining their views.
Even though the response rate was somewhat low, the data suggest that the parents that
did respond do represent the population group.
Secondly, although obtaining the views of the parents was informative to this
study, it would also be desirable to engage the students directly to obtain firsthand
responses to the questions to better understand the reasons why students leave the school
system and enroll in a cyber school program. The vulnerability of student participation in
a research study must be weighed and carefully protected, and, in this case, their opinions
could serve as a crosscheck to the opinions of their parents.
Thirdly, when comparing the data on students that left the school system to the
data on those that remained with the school system, the sample size of the group that
departed was small at only twenty-four. Therefore, the comparison was made by
constructing a randomly selected equal size group of twenty-four from the data on the
students that stayed enrolled in the school system. With a larger set of data, the ability to
drawn additional and stronger conclusions may develop.
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Lastly, when conducting the review of literature, it was realized that most of the
current research on online learning has occurred in the higher education arena or has
focused on the academic performance of students in cyber schools as compared to
students in K-12. Limited research has occurred on the specific reasons why students
gravitate to cyber schools from rural public school settings, and therefore generalizing
should be done with caution.
Financial Implications
The cost of students attending external cyber schools is significant to the school
district exceeding $480,000 per year and will continue unless efforts are made to stem the
departure of students. During the survey portion of the study, it was discussed the school
district was charged tuition for part of a school year for two students that no longer
resided in the school district. This matter was reconciled, and the school district
recovered a little more than $11,000 that it may otherwise never became aware of without
this study. This discovery has led to a process of verifying the physical addresses of the
cyber school students to ensure that they still reside at the address listed on the billing
invoice.
The cost of creating promotional materials for the KC Cyber Academy to share
with parents and students of our school district would be nominal at under $2000. The
money needed for this has already been recovered by recruiting two students back to the
school system that were previously in an external cyber school. After the mailing of the
parental survey forms, one parent reached out, asking for information on our internal
program. The material that we had lacked eye appeal but was informative, and along with
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talking with the parent was enough for her to decide to enroll her students in the KC
Cyber Academy.
Additional money will be needed to be able to expand the course offerings and to
provide personal support for our online classes. The expanded course offerings would be
scalable and are currently purchased from a third-party vendor on a per-student or perclass basis. Therefore, the school district’s financial exposure would be limited to the
actual cost of content purchased and only when needed. Increasing the personal support
to students using our teachers in this setting would be a valued added expense and come
at an additional cost unless instructional time can be scheduled during the regular
workday. Realistically, to provide adequate support, some supplemental payment would
need to be negotiated with the professional staff association for time worked beyond the
contracted day to work with KC Cyber Academy students. I would anticipate that, at
minimum, $15,000 be allocated for supplemental payments for content area teachers to
offer help and support to students outside of the teacher workday.
Funding for professional development for the teachers will also be needed but
could be incorporated into the overall existing professional development budget because
the skills needed are now universally important for all teachers in the system to acquire.
The cost of expanding the KC Cyber Academy would be estimated to be approximately
$17,000 plus an additional $20,000 in online content costs if twenty students enrolled in
the program. Assuming the plan and allocation would be approved by the Board of
School Directors and twenty external cyber school students participated, the school
district would need to possibly spend $57,000 to be able to reduce expenses in cyber
tuition by approximately $200,000 for a net savings of over $140,000.
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Future Direction and Recommendations
The Karns City Area School District created the KC Cyber Academy several
years to help keep students from leaving for an external cyber school placement. The
intentions were good, and the online programming expanded to include support for
students needing remediation and enrichment opportunities. However, the KC Cyber
Academy was never effectively promoted as a viable option to external cyber schools in
part because there was a concern from some that too many students would choose the
online option over the traditional school day.
There has been very little positive associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, but it
has emphasized the need for quality online learning in the K-12 setting. What was
unthinkable in February 2020 became a reality in March 2020, with public schools closed
in Pennsylvania and across the country. Unable to operate schools in the traditional sense,
online learning became the only way to move forward with education. Our school system
embraced the challenge and continued with the KC Cyber Academy for students enrolled
in it and used Google Classroom as a method to deliver instruction to as many other
students remotely as we could with the devices that we had on hand.
The pandemic forced our system to adjust, and we accomplished what would
normally have taken years to occur in a matter of months. We undertook immediate
planning steps to bolster our ability to offer online content by purchasing additional
Chromebooks so that every student would have their own device to use for the 2020-2021
school year. Parents have been surveyed to find out which homes do not have Internet
access, and we are exploring options such as hotspots and expanding our building Wi-Fi
access to parking lots for drive-up access to download and upload schoolwork in the
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future. Probably as important as anything else, the attitudes of the teachers has changed
from being somewhat resistant to online learning to one of acceptance.
Teachers now understand that if we do not offer a quality option and experience
for our students that meet their needs, students will leave and enroll in external cyber
schools. Through open and honest dialogue, they now realize the financial cost to the
school system when students leave. The decline in enrollment and the cost has finally
been associated directly with the scale of the operation and how it could negatively
impact teaching positions if we fail to make needed changes. Some staff have taken the
initiative and suggested that the school district discuss a staff run online program.
With the need for change and improvement growing out of the pandemic’s
closures of schools, an opportunity presents itself to work collaboratively with the
teaching staff to build a better online program for our students. A memorandum of
understanding will be sought with the Karns City Education Association that will codify
the use of our staff to provide online learning even beyond the current pandemic. We can
proceed with promoting it as a viable option and use our teaching staff to engage students
interactively. Professional development will be offered and be required in the areas of
online instruction and teaching techniques to make the experience easier for teachers and
consistent for students. All teachers and administrators will engage in dialogue on how to
build genuine relationships with students and parents that demonstrate they are valued
and establish a sense of connectedness to the school.
Future Studies and Research
This study identified some of the reasons why students leave our school system
for and external cyber school and provided information on potential changes that would
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help improve our KC Cyber Academy. Additional studies should focus on a more indepth look into the effect specific types of student absences from school and specific
discipline infractions to determine the impact these variables have on the decision parents
make regarding their child’s education. Although this study did not reveal a definitive
profile for the student that is most likely to leave the school system for a cyber school, it
confirmed the characteristics that start to describe the student who does. In this study, the
characteristics of the student that left the school system pointed to that student being a
male in grades 7-9, with an IEP, and who qualifies for a free or reduced lunch.
These traits deserve a closer look to determine why they fit the pattern of a typical
cyber student from our school district. A future study could focus on one of these
categories to further identify interventions that the school could implement to reduce the
likelihood of the student departing. Lastly, a study looking at the connectedness that
students have with their teachers and school would be beneficial. It is apparent that most
students that left our school system for an external cyber school did so because they
became disenfranchised more so than thought the cyber school was better at providing
education.
Summary
This action research project helped identify some of the reasons parents remove
their children from our school system from the perspective of parents. It revealed
potential changes that the school system could make to its KC Cyber Academy to
enhance the experience of its students while saving the school district money. The study
refuted a misconception that students that left the school system did not do as well in
school academically as those that stayed. In fact, prior to leaving the school system, the
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
students obtained similar grades to other students, they missed a similar number of days
of school per year, and they had a similar number of discipline infractions per year as
their peers.
The sharing of the results of the study with the administrative and teaching staff is
just the beginning of the next step in the process of revamping our online learning
program. Providing professional development to the teachers on how to plan, prepare,
and teach online classes will be ongoing and prioritized. The professional development
offered will support and underpin our current efforts of providing remote learning as a
result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately, education has fundamentally
changed due to the pandemic, and we need to strengthen our online offerings.
Further, collaborating with the teachers to establish a more positive learning
environment will lead to students wanting to stay in their home school. Improving the
school environment will increase the quality of education provided to students and will
decrease the loss of revenue the school district spends on cyber school tuition for
students. The changes that can be made in the upcoming school year should be positive
for the school system and its students.
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Appendix A
Informed Consent Form
TITLE OF STUDY
How can the Karns City Cyber Academy be Improved?
Informed Consent Letter
Dear Parent of a current or former Cyber School Student,
I am writing to you today as the Superintendent of the Karns City Area School District
and as a doctoral student at the California University of Pennsylvania. I want to invite
you to participate in a voluntary study that will help me better understand the reasons that
you chose to enroll your child in a cyber school. Your responses will be used to help
make improvements to our educational programming.
Purpose of Study and Contact Information
The purpose of this research project is to identify the key reasons why parents choose to
enroll their child in an external cyber school program as opposed to enrolling them in the
school district’s own cyber academy program. The project will be conducted by me and
has been approved by the California University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review
Board. This approval is effective 10/15/19 and expires on 08/15/20. If you have any
questions, I may be contacted at 724-756-2030 x 1021 or by emailing me at the following
email address: RIT2335@calu.edu I will conduct this study under the direction of Dr.
Peter Aiken, my faculty advisor at California University of Pennsylvania. His email
address is Aiken@calu.edu.
Participation is Voluntary
Your participation in this research study is voluntary, and there is minimal risk from your
participation. If you decide to participate in this research survey, you may withdraw at
any time. If you choose not to participate in this study or if you withdraw from
participating at any time, you will not be penalized. If you participate in the survey and
submit your responses, you are providing your consent for your data to be used in this
project. No monetary value is provided for participation in the study.
What will you be asked to do?
The procedure involves completing an online survey that will take approximately 5-7
minutes. Your responses will be confidential, and I will not collect identifying
information such as your name, email address, or IP address. The survey questions will
be about your general background, your child’s interests, your knowledge of online
learning options, and the reasons why you made the choice that you made for your child’s
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
learning. You will have the opportunity to provide comments during the survey if you
wish.
What happens to the data and who has access to it?
All data is stored in a password protected electronic format. The survey will not contain
information that will personally identify you. The results of this study will be used for
scholarly purposes that will lead to improvements in our school district’s educational
programming and shared with California University of Pennsylvania representatives. All
online survey responses will be deleted after the study is completed.
Steps to complete the Parent Cyber School Survey
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Please go to the school district’s webpage which is www.kcasdk12.org
Hover on the “For Parents” tab
Click on the “Parent Cyber School Survey” tab
Click on the word “Survey” to open the survey
The password for the survey is 2020
Your opinions truly matter! Thank you for your consideration in participating in this
study. If you completed this survey by February 7, 2020, it would be most helpful.
Respectfully,
Eric Ritzert
Consent will be accepted & signed online when you open survey
I have read this consent form, and I understand that my participation is voluntary and that
I am free to withdraw at any time, without giving a reason. I also understand that
returning the surveys associated with this study is an indication of consent to use the data
collected from the surveys.
Institutional Review Board Approval
This action research project has been approved by the California University of
Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board, effective 8/15/19 and expiring 8/14/20.
Participant's signature ______________________________ Date __________
112
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Appendix B
Online Parent Survey Instrument
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116
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Submit
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Appendix C
Internal Review Board Approval
Institutional Review Board
California University of Pennsylvania
Morgan Hall, 310
250 University Avenue
California, PA 15419
instreviewboard@calu.edu
Melissa Sovak, Ph.D.
Dear Eric,
Please consider this email as official notification that your proposal titled
“How can the KC Cyber Academy be improved (Proposal #18-083) has been
approved by the California University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review
Board as amended.
The effective date of approval is 8/15/19 and the expiration date is 8/14/20.
These dates must appear on the consent form.
Please note that Federal Policy requires that you notify the IRB promptly
regarding any of the following:
(1) Any additions or changes in procedures you might wish for your study
(additions or changes must be approved by the IRB before they are
implemented)
(2) Any events that affect the safety or well-being of subjects
(3) Any modifications of your study or other responses that are
necessitated by any events reported in (2).
(4) To continue your research beyond the approval expiration date of
8/14/20 you must file additional information to be considered for continuing
review. Please contact instreviewboard@calu.edu
Please notify the Board when data collection is complete.
Regards,
Melissa Sovak, PhD.
Chair, Institutional Review Board
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Appendix D
Student Data Anonymity Verification Letter
121
HOW CAN THE KARNS CITY CYBER ACADEMY BE IMPROVED?
A Doctoral Capstone Project
Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies and Research
Department of Secondary Education and Administrative Leadership
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Education
Eric D. Ritzert
California University of Pennsylvania
August 2020
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
© Copyright by
Eric D. Ritzert
All Rights Reserved
August 2020
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Dedication
This work is dedicated to my family, who supported my efforts to complete this
milestone, which has helped me grow professionally. Thank you, Krista, and my loving
kids, Addison, Kendall, and Taylor, for being patient with me during the time that was
needed to complete this project.
iv
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Acknowledgments
This work would not have been possible without the time and support of
numerous educators that I have the privilege to work with daily. May we all continue to
work together to make tomorrow a better day for the students we serve. I am sincerely
appreciative of the encouragement and feedback I have received over the past two years
from Dr. Aiken. He has been instrumental in keeping me on track. I am also very
appreciative of the help and support from Dr. Arney, who served not only as a mentor
with this project but as my friend. Your encouragement made all the difference.
v
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
vi
Table of Contents
Dedication
iv
Acknowledgements
v
List of Tables
ix
List of Figures
x
Abstract
xi
CHAPTER I. Introduction
1
Reflection/Overview
1
Financial Implications
1
Desired Outcomes
4
Research Questions
5
CHAPTER II. Review of Literature
6
Introduction
6
Current Challenges and Concerns
6
A Brief History of Charter Cyber Schools with a Pennsylvania
Focus
10
Reasons Parents Choose to Enroll their Child in an External
Cyber School
16
Parental Involvement
20
Parent-Teacher Partnerships
24
Online Learning
26
Design and Operation of Online Courses
30
Conclusions and Recommendations
34
CHAPTER III. Methodology
Introduction
37
37
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
vii
Purpose of Study
37
Setting and Participants
43
Interventions/Research Plan
44
Research Design
44
Methods and Data Collection
45
Role of Researcher
47
Validity
48
Limitations
48
Methodology Summary
49
COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on this Study
50
CHAPTER IV. Data Analysis and Results
52
Introduction
52
Summary of Sample and Survey Factors
53
Research Question 1
54
Summary of Results for Research Question 1
72
Research Question 2
74
Summary of Results for Research Question 2
80
Research Question 3
81
Summary of Results for Research Question 3
83
Conclusion
84
CHAPTER V. Conclusions
86
Introduction
86
Parental Survey and Reasons that Parents Enroll their Child in
Cyber School
87
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
viii
Comparison of Student Demographic Data
91
Limitations of this Study
94
Financial Implications
95
Future Directions and Recommendations
97
Future Studies and Research
98
Summary
99
References
101
APPENDIX A. Informed Consent Form
111
APPENDIX B. Parent Survey Instrument
113
APPENDIX C. Internal Review Board Approval
120
APPENDIX C. Student Data Anonymity Verification Letter
121
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
ix
List of Tables
Table 1. National Standard for Quality Online Teaching, Version 2
27, 81
Table 2. Terms and Definitions for K-12 Online Learning
29
Table 3. Enjoyment of Former School versus Current School Placement
62
Table 4. Comparison of Absences from School
75
Table 5. Comparison of Math GPAs
76
Table 6. Comparison of Language Arts GPAs
77
Table 7. Comparison of Science GPAs
78
Table 8. Comparison of Risk Factors
79
Table 9. Comparison of Economic Status, IEP Status, and Gender
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
x
List of Figures
Figure 1. Informed Consent Verification
55
Figure 2. Child’s Gender
56
Figure 3. Parent Education Level
57
Figure 4. Grade First Enrolled in Cyber School
57
Figure 5. Grade Most Recently Completed in Cyber School
58
Figure 6. Post-Graduation Plans
58
Figure 7. Local Public School Attended
59
Figure 8. Feeling Safe at School
60
Figure 9. Friends at School
60
Figure 10. Enjoyment at KCASD School
61
Figure 11. Enjoyment in Cyber School
61
Figure 12. Experienced Academic Problems
63
Figure 13. Experienced Problems with Others
65
Figure 14. Knowledge of KC Cyber Academy
68
Figure 15. Importance of High School Diploma
69
Figure 16. Importance of Extra-curricular Activities
69
Figure 17. Importance of Butler County Area Vocational Technical School
70
Figure 18. Importance of Driver Education Program
70
Figure 19. Importance of Flexible Schedule
71
Figure 20. Preference on Method to Receive Additional Information
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xi
Abstract
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.
Keywords: rural Pennsylvania schools, cyber school students, online education,
student-teacher relationships, professional development
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
CHAPTER I
Introduction
Reflection/Overview
This action research study explored the reasons why parents enrolled their children
in an external cyber school. First, parents of students that have exited our school system
and then subsequently enrolled in an external cyber school were surveyed to determine
what factors contributed to their decision. Secondly, demographic data that existed on
students that were once actively enrolled in the school system, but later left to attend an
external cyber school were analyzed for common characteristics and patterns. Lastly,
through the review of literature, "best practices" associated with offering and providing
online instruction to K-12 students in the public-school setting were identified based on the
existing research.
Due to the different data types contributing to this study, the focus was placed on
triangulating the data sources to build confidence with the accuracy of the results of the
study (Hendricks, 2017, p. 135). The information learned from this study was shared with
the administrative team, the board of school directors, and teachers. The findings were used
to identify realistic changes that could be made in the programming and operation of the
KC Cyber Academy that would lead to improvements that meet the needs of students.
Financial Implications
The cost to the school district over the years has spent hundreds of thousands of
dollars per year for students that attended an external cyber school. Thus, Karns City Area
School District created the KC Cyber Academy several years ago to attempt to minimize
the number of students leaving the school system to attend an external cyber school. From
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the time of its inception, the KC Cyber Academy has since evolved to provide online credit
recovery and enrichment courses to students who desire to take classes that were not
offered by the traditional school. The goal of this study was to look at what could be
learned about the reasons KC students leave our school system for an external cyber school
even though they have an option to take online courses locally through the school district.
It was anticipated that this study would identify reasons why parents made the
decisions they did regarding their child's education. It was also expected that considerations
as to how to improve and expand the KC Cyber Academy would surface. With potential
changes, it would be expected that funding from the school district would be needed to
implement any changes effectively. In order to justify the funding, two separate fiscal
budgets were produced, each reflecting a distinct path that would add instructional support
to the current KC Cyber Academy program that would enhance the Academy's ability to
help students. This information was provided to the Board of School Directors for their
input and consideration.
The primary justification of requesting the funding for this project was supported by
the fact that the KC Cyber Academy demonstrated its ability to retain some students from
leaving the school system for an external cyber school, and the school district saved money.
A secondary factor was that with improvements that would be made to the KC Cyber
Academy, all students that would take courses through it would receive educational
benefits from the program.
With what was learned by conducting this action research project, practical
recommendations were identified that the school district could use to improve its online
curriculum platform so that it could provide quality online classes to the students.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Ultimately, the online programming that the home school offered to students should be
more valuable than what was available to students from an external cyber charter school.
The KC Cyber Academy provides the student a Karns City diploma, access to participate in
extracurricular activities, access to "in-person" contact with teachers and other staff as
needed, and the ability of students to take vocational-technical classes. With enhancements
and appropriate marketing of our program, our program could provide students that have
desired an alternative educational path a quality option that they can use to meet their needs
without uncoupling themselves from our school and community. The findings that would
be uncovered from this action research would serve as a basis to lead a discussion within
the school district with the administrative team and teachers. The results will be used to
craft a plan of improvement that can be implemented in the next school year. If such an
outcome can be accomplished, the students, the school, and the local community will
benefit from the improvements to the local educational offerings and a reduction in costs to
the school system.
The general public does not understand the negative financial impact that external
cyber school has on their local school districts. The loss of students causes a significant
economic impact on the school system due to the loss of revenue that follows the departing
student when they enroll in an external cyber school. This cost is often difficult to budget
for because the departure of students can take place at any time throughout the school year,
and for any reason, as is permitted under the current cyber charter law in Pennsylvania.
During the 2018-2019 school-year, a total of forty-five Karns City Area School
District students were enrolled in one of the external cyber schools for at least part of the
school year at an overall cost of $487,041 to our school district. The cost equated to the
value of almost six (6) mills of property tax that left the school district in the form of tuition
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payments to external cyber schools. Framing the cost another way, this would be more than
one and a half times what would be generated by a property tax millage increase to the
index. This transfer of money from the public school to an external cyber school is legal. It
will continue unless the school system develops meaningful ways to reduce the loss of
revenue by decreasing the number of students that leave the system to enroll in a cyber
school.
Desired Outcomes
This project was designed to identify the potential strategies that the school system
can implement to enable it to meet the needs of its students. A survey was created and
administered to parents to obtain their viewpoints. Parent participation in the survey was
voluntary, and informed consent was obtained from everyone that participated in the study
as outlined in (Mertler, 2019, p. 46). The data collected was interpreted with the goal of
revealing the root causes as to why parents made the choice they did for their children and
what factors may have influenced them to keep their children enrolled in the school
district's KC Cyber Academy. Understanding the reasons why parents made the choice that
they made will help the school system select the proper options to implement to improve
the KC Cyber Academy.
With this study, it was desired that this project would help save the school system
money, and at the same time, improve the course delivery options available to the students.
If accomplished, the students and the taxpayers will benefit in the long run. The research
questions to follow will serve to guide me as I seek solutions that could reduce the number
of students leaving my school system to enroll in external cyber schools.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Research Questions
1. Why do parents choose to enroll their child(ren) in an external cyber school instead of
our school district's own cyber academy program?
2. What does the school district's data on students that leave the system to enroll in an
external cyber school indicate about these students as compared to those that stay
enrolled in the school system?
3. What are the best practices for the design and operation of online cyber classes for K12
students?
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
CHAPTER II
Review of Literature
Introduction
This literature review explored the body of existing research to identify and better
understand some of the reasons why students and their parents may choose a cyber school
to accommodate their educational needs even if their home school offers an online
programming alternative. The focus of the project was to identify practical ways that a
traditional public school district can identify and implement to improve upon their online
curriculum platform so that they may provide quality online classes to their students.
Ultimately, the online programming that the home school offers students should be of more
value than what is available to them from an external cyber charter school to keep students
from leaving to pursue external options. If such an outcome can be accomplished, the
students, the school, and the local community will have benefited from improvements to
the local educational offerings and a reduction in costs to the school system. With that, the
journey began with a look at a problem that many small rural school districts currently face.
Current Challenges and Concerns
One of the challenges that traditional public schools in Pennsylvania face is the loss
of students to cyber school. Even though school districts offer their own online cyber
courses to students, some students continue to migrate from the home school system to an
external cyber school when the traditional model of education delivery does not meet their
needs. The loss of students has a significant financial impact on the school system due to
the loss of revenue that follows the departing student when they enroll in an external cyber
school. This cost is often difficult to budget for because the departure of students can take
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
place at any time throughout the school year, and for any reason, as is permitted under the
current cyber charter law in Pennsylvania.
The current situation is very much a problem for the Karns City Area School
District, where, for example, during the 2018-2019 school-year, forty-five (45) students
were enrolled in external cyber schools for at least part of the school year. As such, it cost
the school district over $487,000 in lost revenue that was ultimately deducted from the
school district's state subsidy payments and transferred to external cyber schools. In
Pennsylvania, this is how cyber schools are funded under the terms of the state's charter
cyber school law, which requires the funding to follow the student. It does not matter
whether the student chooses to attend their district school, a charter school, or one of the
cyber charter schools within the state. Students in Pennsylvania are permitted to enroll in
cyber charter schools at no cost to their family, and cyber schools advertise this fact
routinely and aggressively to attract students. Unfortunately, people do not understand
where the money truly comes from, and that tends to contribute to a degree of apathy
around the problem and its impact on the traditional public school.
Under Pennsylvania's Charter Cyber School Law, the school district of residence is
responsible for providing payment to the cyber charter school regardless of whether the
student has even ever been enrolled in the school district. That is, a student is permitted to
enroll directly into an external cyber school without ever first trying their home school
district's school or online program. Every school district is required to annually calculate
and publish a cyber school tuition rate that is based on a formula established and provided
by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). Each school district must calculate
their cost for regular education students and a separate and more expensive cost for special
education students that the school district is responsible for paying the cyber school if a
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
resident student enrolls. Complicating things is that the cost paid to cyber schools varies
significantly from school district to school district because the tuition rate is not based on
the actual costs incurred by the cyber school to educate the student. The cyber tuition rate
is based on what school districts spend to educate their students, which is why it varies.
The variance in the amount of the payments that different school districts make to
the same cyber school is one of the items cited as a reason why Pennsylvania's Charter
Cyber School Law needs to be reformed. If for no other reason other than the financial cost
to taxpayers, this topic warrants being discussed openly by elected state officials. Most
recently, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf publicly proposed making several changes to
the state's charter cyber law. Pennsylvania taxpayers spent $1.8 billion on charter schools
during the 2018-2019 school year, including more than $500 million on cyber schools. The
rising cost of charter schools is draining funding from traditional public schools, which has
forced cuts to classroom programs and has caused property taxes to increases (PDE, 2019).
The governor's proposal could save school districts an estimated $280 million a year by
better aligning charter school funding to the actual cost spent educating a student in a cyber
setting. The plan would set a limit on online cyber school tuition payments and applies the
special education funding formula to charter schools, as it does for traditional public
schools.
Despite costing Pennsylvania taxpayers $1.8 billion last year, cyber schools have
little public oversight and no publicly elected school board. The for-profit companies that
manage many cyber schools are not required to have independent financial audits as is
required of traditional public schools. "There are high-quality charter schools, but some of
them, especially some cyber charter schools, are underperforming," said Governor Wolf.
"The inequities are not fair to students in charter schools or the children in traditional public
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
schools. It's time for change" (The Office of Pennsylvania Governor, 2019). On average,
Pennsylvania charter schools have not improved student test scores in reading as compared
to traditional public schools, and they have performed worse in math, according to a 2019
Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) study from Stanford University
cited by Wolf (The Office of Pennsylvania Governor, 2019).
The Stanford study also found that the academic situation was worse among the
state's cyber charters, which dramatically underperform compared to public schools.
Governor Wolf plans to propose several pieces of legislation, including one that would
impose a moratorium on new cyber charter schools and cap student enrollment at lowperforming cyber schools. These changes would require legislative approval, and that
would be a long shot at this time due to the current political climate. Therefore, it would be
prudent that school districts take steps to address the loss of their students to cyber charter
schools.
In addition to financial costs, traditional public schools must be prepared to work
with students who return from a cyber school to their home school district at any time.
Often, when students do return, they are behind in their academics. Students that are behind
must receive remediation opportunities that help them overcome any curriculum gaps that
exist. Therefore, the home school needs to be prepared to dedicate additional resources
such as tutoring or remediation courses to bridge the differences that exist. In a CREDO
2019 study, little changed in the academic progress of Pennsylvania online charter school
students since the CREDO 2015 study. Online charter schools registered weaker learning
gains in both reading and math as compared to the average traditional public school across
both studies. Furthermore, there has been no substantial academic improvement of
Pennsylvania's online charter sector across these two studies (CREDO, 2019).
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
The fact the cyber schools lag behind their public school peers provides an
academic reason for school systems to be motivated to determine viable strategies to reduce
the number of students that leave the local school system for an external cyber school.
Offering students that consider an external cyber school for their education, an alternative
to the traditional school day schedule might motivate some to stay. School systems should
also reach out to the parents of students that have left the system to attempt to recruit the
students back. Even if the effort is unsuccessful, the school system might be able to
ascertain why the students left in the first place. This information would contribute to
making strategic improvements to the school's online programming options leading to the
development of a quality in-house cyber school program that meets the needs of the
students and would be a step in the direction needed to stem student loss. If this can be
accomplished, it would make a positive difference for the students' education and the
school.
A Brief History of Charter Cyber Schools with a Pennsylvania Focus
The first charter school in the United States opened in Minnesota in 1992 and
helped to create what has become a viable option for students who otherwise attend
traditional public schools. Because charter schools and cyber schools are approved public
schools, they can and do receive tax dollars to cover operational costs. However, unlike
traditional K-12 public schools, cyber schools are not governed by publicly elected school
boards and, in most cases, are managed by boards that are privately appointed. In contrast
to traditional public schools, most charter cyber schools are operated as a for-profit
enterprise, overseen and accountable only to individual charters that define each school's
mission and educational purpose (Mann, Kotok, Frankenberg, Fuller, & Schafft, 2016).
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Charter schools have continued to grow in number since the creation of policies that
established these schools in the early 1990s. As of 2018, there are more than 7,000 charter
schools throughout 43 states and the District of Columbia, educating approximately 3.2
million students per year (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 2019). These
schools are made of both brick and mortar schools and online cyber schools. The desire for
school choice has driven the expansion of charter schools as an alternative to the traditional
public school and has enabled them to operate with less regulation than traditional public
schools.
Charter and cyber schools in Pennsylvania are authorized under the state's Charter
School law, known as Act 22, which was initially passed in 1997 and later became part of
the Pennsylvania School Code. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education:
The Commonwealth's charter school system is intended to improve pupil learning,
increase learning opportunities for all pupils, encourage the use of different and
innovative teaching methods, provide parents and pupils with expanded choices in
the types of educational opportunities that are available within the public school
system, and hold the schools established under this act accountable for meeting
measurable academic standards and provide the school with a method to establish
accountability systems (PDE, 2019).
For almost the three decades, federal and state policies have enabled and promoted
the growth of charter schools. Cyber schools have evolved out of the charter school
movement as a result of the technology needed to make remote learning possible. Cyber
schools have since become more readily available, enabling learning opportunities to take
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place in offsite locations from anywhere that access to the Internet can be attained
(Berends, 2015).
As a state, Pennsylvania has a significant number of students who attend rural
schools and has a considerable number of students who participate in cyber schools. The
enrollment patterns of students attending cyber schools in Pennsylvania differ somewhat
across geographic regions. Overall, a higher percentage of rural students attend cyber
schools than do students from urban areas. In some instances, it is thought that rural
students attend cyber schools in higher numbers due to the lack of other options to them in
their local community. When enrollment data was analyzed at the student-level,
considering demographic characteristics, the data indicated that in contrast to traditional
public schools, cyber schools attract students from a variety of areas, but rural students
exhibit a higher likelihood of attending cyber schools than do suburban or urban students
(Mann et al., 2016). The implications of findings in relation to educational equity, cyber
school performance, and the fiscal impacts of cyber schools on the budgets of small school
districts was significant for Pennsylvania school districts, and there is little doubt that their
existence if hurting some Pennsylvania school districts (Mann et al., 2016).
According to PDE (2019), during the 2018-2019 school year, there were 15
approved cyber schools in operation in Pennsylvania, and they educated approximately
39,000 students according to data published by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Enrollment in Pennsylvania's cyber schools has often been comprised of a higher
percentage of students from poorer school districts, who have gravitated toward the cyber
school option (Mann & Baker, 2019). As a result, the loss of funding when students leave
the traditional public school more heavily impacts some of the school districts least able to
bear the loss of revenue. This trend jeopardizes the quality of public education because the
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
school districts losing the highest percentage of students to cyber school competitors are the
ones already struggling the most with funding. In some cases, as a result of parents
enrolling their child in a cyber school, the traditional public school has been negatively
impacted because the cyber school siphoned off revenue which added stress to traditional
public school's budget (Molnar, Huerta, Barbour, Miron, Rankin-Shafer, & Gulosino,
2015).
Proponents of cyber schools have argued that competition will force schools to
become better and more adaptive in their approach to education. This belief falls short
because traditional public schools were never formed or designed for direct competition
with cyber schools. The mission of the traditional public school was to meet the needs of
society by educating the masses. Public schools must educate all students within its
boundary, even while dealing with competition from cyber schools. Indeed, both traditional
schools and cyber schools may compete for the same students, but they are not competing
under the same set of operational rules and regulations. The discrepancy in how the state
allows each of these two forms of education to operate prevents the traditional school from
being able to compete equally with the cyber school schools.
The traditional public schools in Pennsylvania operate under a state accountability
system that has evolved over many decades. It measures individual school performance
against criteria determined by state policymakers and holds each school accountable for
increasing student performance (Gemin, Pape, Vashaw, & Watson, 2015). However, a
single system does not accurately measure all schools. Among the problems is that these
systems do not adequately assess schools with high rates of student mobility. Although
cyber schools face these same issues, they have less of an impact on cyber schools because
the cyber school is not held to the same level of accountability as the traditional public
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
school. Therefore, the traditional school must look inward and reflect on what it can do to
offer its students what they need and, more importantly, want so that students do not choose
to leave the school system for alternative options.
As enrollment in Pennsylvania's cyber schools has increased, so has the criticism of
their operation. The Pennsylvania Department of Auditor General, Eugene DePasquale
(2012), and DeJarnatt (2013) have both suggested that there is a lack of fiscal oversight and
accountability with Pennsylvania's cyber schools. Auditor General DePasquale
recommended that Pennsylvania establish a uniform state tuition rate for students that
attend cyber schools based on cost and not budgeted amounts. If a consistent cyber tuition
rate were to be established, it would likely save school districts money because it would
reduce the amount that flows from traditional public schools to cyber schools. Therefore, it
is a point of contention for cyber school advocates who view any attempt to change
Pennsylvania's charter school law as nothing more than an attempt to limit their operations
and reduce parental options for their children's educational opportunities.
Although the Auditor General's comments were critical on the operational controls
that are in place for Pennsylvania cyber schools, it has done little to erode the overall
political support that exists for cyber schools as currently structured. Many Pennsylvania
elected officials believe that cyber schools offer parents a legitimate choice and therefore
continue to provide support for their operation and the current funding mechanism.
Furthermore, Pennsylvania cyber schools appear to operate much like many of the other
cyber schools from across the country, and when similar concerns with cyber charter school
oversight have been raised nationally they have led to little change (Huerta, Gonzalez, &
d'Entremont, 2006; Hasler-Waters, Menchaca, & Borup, 2014).
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In addition to oversight concerns, there are some signs of a willingness to have a
real discussion as to the overall effectiveness of current cyber schools. A growing area of
research is beginning to show that students enrolled in cyber schools perform lower on
standardized tests and other state-mandated tests than do their peers enrolled in traditional
schools (Miron, Horvitz, & Gulosino, 2013). Before reports of ineffectiveness from
mainstay media sources, cyber enrollments were continually increasing in many school
districts in Pennsylvania. However, as the media stories questioning cyber school
performance have increased, Pennsylvania school districts with more educated parents
realized a decrease in student enrollment in cyber schools. The same was not the same for
those with less-educated parents and fewer resources as they continued to see an increase in
enrollment (Baker & Mann, 2019). This comparison has challenged the belief that cyber
schools hold the answer to what was wrong with traditional public schools.
This review did not settle the argument of which one was better than the other
academically or otherwise, as that would require a more thorough exploration of that area
of literature. Instead, it served as a point of discussion and an attempt to undercover why
might parents and students select a cyber school instead of a traditional school. What
factors existed for a parent to choose the cyber school over the traditional school for their
child's education? If a parent had any doubts about their decision, what swayed them to
make the decision that they make? The factors that influenced a parent's decision-making
process that lead to the actual choice to enroll in an external cyber school were an essential
outcome of this study to address the problem.
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Reason Parents Choose to Enroll their Child in an External Cyber School
Are there common reasons why parents choose to enroll their children in a cyber
school instead of their traditional local public school? According to Ahn (2011), an online
option provides an alternative to the traditional schedule that a school district offers and
serves unique, niche populations of students. Ideally, being able to identify how the cyber
school can or are perceived at meeting the student's needs could lead to information that
can be used to improve upon the school's current online platform that it operates for online
classes.
Whatever the motivations for parents and students in choosing a cyber charter
school, they appear to seek an alternative to their traditional schooling experience. In some
instances, Ahn (2011) found that students may have had previous issues with low
achievement or social considerations such as bullying, employment, or health
considerations, which influenced them to choose an alternative setting.
According to Gemin et al. (2015), hundreds of thousands of students are attending
full-time online cyber schools that provide their entire education. Many of these students
were once homeschooled, but by enrolling in a cyber school, they have become public
school students. Other students are attending cyber schools due to medical or behavioral
issues, are engaged in sports or a job, or have not been academically successful in the
traditional public school and are seeking a different mode of instruction. Most full-time
online schools are charter or cyber schools that enroll students from across entire states, but
a growing number are now being run by school districts that enroll students from within
their school district boundary.
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Today, millions of students are taking supplemental online courses with many of
these for credit recovery. Other students are taking advanced, honors, or dual enrollment
online courses that may not be available in the traditional school setting. While, others are
taking courses that are offered at their traditional public school but online during a study
hall, or over the summer, in order to gain additional scheduling flexibility. There are
significant differences, though, to the extent the student's enrolling school supports the
online courses. In some schools, the student was provided with a room to work in, a
computer, and a monitor who is often a teacher who can assist if needed. At the other end
of the spectrum, some students take online courses through a cyber school from their home
with minimal support from the school (Gemin et al., 2015).
Cyber schools provide a way for the students to complete their academic work from
home and with the potential for increased parental guidance if parents wish to be involved
in the learning. According to Huerta et al. (2006) and supported by Gemin et al. (2015),
families who would typically homeschool their children may find cyber schools as an
appealing education option because it provides homeschooling with a packaged curriculum.
It is crucial to examine the unique role parents play in K-12 online learning, their
impact on student achievement, and how they engage in their students' learning to better
understand what motivates parents to select this option for their child (Borup, Stevens, & HaslerWaters, 2015). To date, there would appear to be limited research that exists which examines
the role of parental involvement in the K-12 online learning environment, and thus, little is
understood about the parents who enroll their children in cyber charter schools.
Furthermore, there does not seem to be specific demographic profiles of parents whose
students attend a cyber school that could be used in a predictive nature (Borup, Stevens, &
Hasler-Waters, 2015).
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Characteristics such as the parent's educational background and life experiences are
thought to contribute to the decision-making process that is used by parents when they
decide on their child's educational setting. The American Community Survey (ACS) is one
source of data that can be used to obtain information on the income and educational
demographics of residents of geographic areas such as a school district (Julian, 2012). This
data source was used to determine the percentages of adults residing within Pennsylvania
school districts with a bachelor's degree or higher degree and compared to the number of
Pennsylvania students that attend cyber schools from those same areas. When reviewing
information from the 2013-2014 school year, Mann and Baker, (2019), found that in 496 of
the 500 school districts, there was a relationship that showed the many rural school districts
had lower percentages per capita of adult residents that had obtained at least a bachelor's
degree. Mann and Baker (2019), also found that the same school districts had a higher
percentage of costs for students that attended a cyber school. This could imply that this is
some relationship between a parent's educational level in rural communities and the
likelihood they would select a cyber school as their child's educational provider. This is a
topic that warrants additional research in order to determine if the relationship can shed
light on the reasons why a parent's educational background plays a part in the decision
parents may make for their child's educational programming.
Whatever the reason, students in cyber schools may differ from their peers in
considerable ways if for no other reason than they are seeking some sort of a substitute to
the typical public-school experience that most students still experience. Attempting to
identify factors that motivate parents and students that influence them to want to leave the
regular school setting and attend a cyber school setting will be helpful in identifying and
understand what can be done to retain additional students from leaving.
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It is apparent that students and parents are, in most cases, looking at the option of
attending a cyber school as an alternative to the status quo. Whether or not the choice is
made for a positive or a negative reason, it is lawfully available and is easily utilized.
Therefore, the traditional public school will need to learn to adapt and implement strategies
that minimize the loss of students to external cyber schools or continue to lose significant
amounts in funding.
In the last twenty years, the number of parents and students choosing an online or
cyber option of learning has increased, but there are signs that, as of recently, the number of
students attending cyber schools has started to level off (Gulosino & Miron, 2017).
Research indicates that while some of the available online and cyber school analyses focus
on online schooling in general, little is known about whether online learning and blended
schools are serving the general cross-section of the K-12 student population representing
the same composite of student that is attending the traditional public school system (Gill et
al., 2015; Pazhouh et al., 2015). It would, therefore, be important for additional research
related to online and blended schools to examine whether all students are appropriately
served. Also, further study needs to take place to determine if students are successful in the
placement that they have chosen, especially since little is known on the public benefits of
online schooling in the K-12 setting (Gulosino & Miron, 2017).
Educationally, although students who are highly motivated may be able to do well
in an online environment, those who have struggled academically in the traditional public
school setting may continue to struggle online (Hasler-Waters & Leong, 2014). Several
meta-analysis studies that were reviewed on student performance found no significant
difference in achievement or positive effects in online student performance compared to
their brick-and-mortar counterparts (Bernard et al., 2009; Cavanaugh, 2001; Cavanaugh et
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al., 2004; Tamim et al., 2011). However, an important caveat of these online studies was
that the findings were focused on blended online instruction with in-person contact and
concentrated in higher education rather than elementary or secondary schooling. Thus, the
comparison may not be representative of the results related to full-time online schools for
K-12 students.
In 2015, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), published the
first nationwide data and analysis of K-12 virtual charter schools as well as their impact on
students' academic growth in 17 states and Washington, D.C. (Woodworth, Raymond,
Chirbas, Gonzalez, Negassi, Snow, & Donge, 2015). In this report, overall, students
attending virtual charter schools showed lower performance as compared to students from
traditional public schools in reading and math. A limitation of the study is its sole focus on
full-time cyber charter schools and did not include data on students who have taken online
courses in a blended school environment. Surprisingly, for a rapidly growing field such as
cyber and blended schools, the body of research regarding the impact on academic
performance remains largely unexplored (Molnar et al., 2015).
Parental Involvement
Parental involvement in schools is recognized as being a beneficial factor that
contributes to the experience that the student has in school and increases the connection for
both student and parent to the school. Schools, students, and parents all derive specific
benefits from parental involvement (Epstein, 2001; Fan, 2001; Henderson & Mapp, 2002;
Jeynes, 2005). Research shows that children receive the greater benefit, the earlier the
parent involvement process began. Additionally, benefits can be derived for students at all
grade levels regardless of gender or racial status of the children (Jeynes, 2005). In
traditional schooling environments, teacher outreach that includes practices such as parent-
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teacher meetings, regular progress updates, and consistent exchange of learning materials
between the home and school results in improved student performance (Jeynes, 2005).
Research about parental involvement in K-12 online schools is limited, but what
does exist explains that it can have a positive impact on the connection parents and students
have with the school (Black, 2009; Liu, Black, Algina, Cavanaugh, & Dawson, 2010).
Black (2009) maintains that parents who have students in an online school environment can
have a positive influence on the achievement of their students, but encourages further study
to determine perceptions and the roles of parents of students in cyber schools. Parents of
cyber schooled students reported that cyber schooling empowered students who did not fit
in traditional settings (Liu et al., 2010). Furthermore, full-time online schools often partner
with parents to oversee and support students who are completing their education in an
online environment.
Though parents play a significant role in educating students who school online, the
research is nearly silent on their roles. Epstein (2001) discusses family, school, and
community partnerships and how they can benefit student learning. The model of
overlapping family and school spheres describes the type of cooperation that must be
present in any school setting for students to succeed (Epstein, 2001). At the center of
Epstein's model are three separate but overlapping entities: school, family, and community.
External forces help determine how much each entity overlaps and how strong one or
another is in the relationship. The forces determining the overlap of school, family, and
community are:
• age, grade level of the student, and time
• experience, philosophy, and practices of the family
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• experience, philosophy, and practices of the school
• experiences, philosophy, and practices of the community (Epstein, p. 163)
Applying Epstein's research to the online educational setting, full-time, online
schools that partner with parents can increase the overlap in the school and family spheres,
which should, in turn, positively affect the success of students. This partnership also serves
as a basis to build the level of satisfaction that parents and students have with their school,
which should further the feeling of being connected to the school.
Learning why parents and students view the option of cyber schooling as favorable
to the prospect of remaining in the traditional education setting, will shed light on what can
be done differently and better to retain and recruit students that otherwise leave for external
cyber schools. With my action research, parental options will be sought and utilized
through a survey instrument to determine their views and opinions of the traditional public
school and the external cyber school setting that their child was or is in for their schooling.
According to Beck, Maranto & Lo (2013), there are significant differences in
parental and student levels of satisfaction across demographic groups of students and
significantly higher satisfaction among special education students in the cyber school
environment. Some students indicated that they did not feel connected to their home
schools before the decision to transfer to a cyber school. The lack of connectedness
contributes to the feeling of being unattached and enabled deciding to leave their school
easier because they felt somewhat removed from their school environment. With this
feeling of disconnectedness with the school, comes discontentment, which contributed to
the desire to make a change.
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How do parents resolve the differences as to how effective each setting will be in
helping their child achieve? If the student is unhappy in the current setting, does that
automatically equate to lower achievement? Conversely, if the student is happy in their
setting, will it equate to higher achievement? Most of the existing research that exists was
conducted on students within the traditional educational setting. Several decades of
research have supported that children perform better and attain higher academic
achievement in traditional school settings when parents are involved in their education
(Hasler-Waters, Menchaca, & Borup, 2014; Fan & Chen, 2001). Further, parental
engagement in traditional settings is related to greater academic achievement in terms of
both grades and standardized test performance (Cheung & Pomerantz, 2011).
Thus far, there has been limited research on the educational background of
parents of Pennsylvania cyber school students, and the influence their educational
background has on decision-making related to their reason for selecting a cyber school
for their child's education. One might expect that parents with higher levels of education
would better understand the options that are available to them and the impact of the
decision when considering the choice they make for their children's education. It would
be expected that parents with higher levels of education would be more involved in their
child's education.
Additionally, in a study by Hoover-Dempsey, Walker, Sandler, Whetsel, Green,
Wilkins, & Closson, (2005), self-efficacy was identified as a motivator of parental
involvement in their child's education. In this study, self-efficacy was defined as the
belief in one's ability to act in a way that produced the desired outcome that was
connected to the goals one would pursue. In the case of parents, it would suggest that
parents have goals for their involvement in their child's education. Furthermore, parents
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with a high level of efficacy tended to make positive decisions about participation,
whereas parents with a low level of efficacy tended to be involved to a lesser degree
(Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005).
Parental efficacy was also shown to be a predictive indicator of whether or not
parents monitored and supervised their children's activities. Parental monitoring of
schoolwork was shown to have a positive effect and was helpful for students who took
online courses. Furthermore, parents who regularly assisted and motivated their children
who were taking online courses were able to help the student persevere with their work.
Parent involvement was shown to lead to a higher likelihood of success and achievement
for the student. Importantly, the effects of parental efficacy also held true across
differences in the socioeconomic status of the families (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005).
The research that this action study explored focused on providing insight and
understanding of the reasons why parents made their decision to enroll their children in a
cyber school. The reasons parents reported, along with what was learned from the review
of literature, helped identify several traits that the cyber students had in common with
each other. Parents that were surveyed and the data collected were analyzed to determine
findings that helped the school system make informed decisions on its existing online
programming.
Parent-Teacher Partnerships
Educators and parents play critical roles in the educational success of students in
both traditional and online school settings. The parent-teacher expectations, roles, and
relationship in an online environment, however, differs from that of the traditional school
setting. Research finds that the role of the teacher in an online environment was
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significantly different from that of the role of the teacher in the traditional public school
setting (Hasler-Waters & Leong, 2014; Barbour, 2009). Being a good classroom teacher
does not automatically translate into being a good online teacher (Davis & Roblyer, 2005).
Therefore, when teachers prepare to teach online courses, it should be expected that they
will require and need to be provided the appropriate training to be effective in this new role.
Archambault and Larson (2015) found that K-12 teachers that teach online can face
challenges such as lack of receiving timely feedback on their instruction from their students
that would often be experienced in the live setting by their face-to-face counterparts.
In a cyber school, the teacher was not the sole provider of instruction, as many may
think, and changes have resulted in their traditional role of just presenting information to
facilitating the information (Hasler-Waters & Leong, 2014). While they were a central
component in the support for students, cyber school teachers relied heavily on the parents
to partner as co-educators. Hasler-Waters and Leong (2014) explored the overlapping roles
that teachers and parents shared as co-educators in supporting students in cyber charter
schools. Parents that were involved in their child's cyber education became learning
coaches and assumed the responsibility for helping to manage their own children's
education and academic progress. Teachers were then able to focus on being content
experts, facilitators, and ensuring student mastery of content.
Getting parents to be more involved required making them aware of opportunities
and by inviting them to participate in their child's learning. Invitations from teachers and
others from within the school setting significantly increased the chances that parents would
participate in some manner and increased their opinions within the school environment
(Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005). According to Borup et al., (2013), the interaction between
high school-aged students enrolled in online charter schools and their parents was viewed
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positively and motivated students to want to learn. Although parents did not fully
understand the impact that their involvement had on their student's learning or fully
understood the motivational value of their involvement on their children, the results had a
positive effect (Borup et al., 2013). It would be important that more research was conducted
in this area to understand better how to effectively persuade parents to be more involved in
their children's schooling in both the traditional public school and the cyber school settings.
Online Learning
The literature around online learning programs for K-12 students originated from
the mid-1990s and builds upon research and practice from the K-12 distance education era
(Cavanaugh, Barbour, & Clark, 2009). While K-12 online programs have evolved and
grown over the past decade, the amount of published research on why online learning was
selected as a method of learning over the traditional education pathway has not
significantly been explored. The current literature on online learning included practitioner
reports and quasi-experimental studies, both published and unpublished, but contained
limited research studies (Cavanaugh et al. 2009). Themes throughout the literature included
steady growth and a focus on the benefits, challenges, and broad effectiveness of K-12
online learning. Also, newly developed standards for K-12 online learning have emerged in
descriptions of effective practices.
Table 1. contains the national standards for online teaching that was published by
the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL). These standards reflect
what online teachers should be able to do for evaluation purposes and were designed to
provide quality guidelines for online teaching (iNACOL, 2011, p. 4-16). At their core,
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these standards represent the competencies that instructors should be able to demonstrate
when teaching online courses to students.
Table 1. National Standard for Quality Online Teaching, Version 2
Standard A - The online teacher knows the primary concepts and structures of effective
online instruction and is able to create learning experiences to enable student success.
Standard B - The online teacher understands and is able to use a range of technologies,
both existing and emerging, that effectively support student learning and engagement in
the online environment.
Standard C - The online teacher plans, designs, and incorporates strategies to encourage
active learning, application, interaction, participation, and collaboration in the online
environment.
Standard D - The online teacher promotes student success through clear expectations,
prompt responses, and regular feedback.
Standard E - The online teacher models, guides, and encourages legal, ethical, and safe
behavior related to technology use.
Standard F - The online teacher is cognizant of the diversity of student academic needs
and incorporates accommodations into the online environment.
Standard G - The online teacher demonstrates competencies in creating and
implementing assessments in online learning environments in ways that ensure the
validity and reliability of the instruments and procedures.
Standard H - The online teacher develops and delivers assessments, projects, and
assignments that meet standards-based learning goals and assesses learning progress by
measuring student achievement of the learning goals.
Standard I - The online teacher demonstrates competency in using data from
assessments and other data sources to modify content and to guide student learning.
Standard J - The online teacher interacts in a professional effective manner with
colleagues, parents, and other members of the community to support students' success.
Standard K - The online teacher arranges media and content to help students and
teachers transfer knowledge most effectively in the online environment.
To some degree, the introduction of online learning was borne from the
development and public release of the Internet. Dabbagh and Bannan-Ritland (2005)
defined online learning as "an open and distributed learning environment that uses
pedagogical tools, enabled by the Internet and Web-based technologies, to facilitate
learning and knowledge building through meaningful action and interaction" (p. 15).
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According to a study by Dabbagh and Bannan-Ritland (2005), there are four key
components of online learning, and they include pedagogical models, instructional and
learning strategies, and pedagogical tools.
Pedagogical models are views about teaching derived from learning theory and
enable the implementation of specific instructional and learning strategies (Dabbagh &
Bannan-Ritland, 2005). Instructional strategies are the plans and techniques that the
instructor uses to engage and facilitate learning (Jonassen, Grabinger, and Harris, 1991).
Instructional strategies are the means through which pedagogical models are put into
practice.
Learning technologies such as asynchronous and synchronous communication tools,
such as email and chat, and multimedia technologies, such as video, and animation, enabled
the implementation of these strategies (Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005). With Internet
connectivity, these learning technologies have evolved to form online learning
environments that facilitated collaborative activities, and information sharing, to which
students can experience learning anytime (Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005).
Online learning also may be referred to as e-learning, cyber learning, web-based, or
remote instruction. The advantages of online learning included accessibility, convenience,
and flexibility (Killion, 2000) as well as financial benefits in the form of increased
efficiency and increased student enrollment. According to Khan (1997), a well-designed
online learning program has the potential to provide numerous features conducive to
learning and instruction that can address pedagogical, technological, organizational,
institutional, and ethical issues. In reference to Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences,
Khan (1997) stated that the flexibility provided in online learning increased the potential
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29
for all intelligences to be represented and cultivated regardless of the physical location of
the student.
According to Hasler-Waters et al. (2014), online learning is categorized into four
types of educational delivery methods such as:
•
virtual schooling
•
cyber schooling
•
online charter schooling
•
blended learning
Although sometimes used interchangeably, each of these terms represents different
pathways to deliver online courses. Table 2. provides a working definition that describes
the practice each method generally represents (Hasler-Waters et al., 2014, p. 306).
Table 2. Terms and Definitions for K-12 Online Learning
Term
Virtual Schooling
Cyber Schooling
Online Charter Schooling
Blended Learning
Practice
Supplemental online learning; sometimes
identified as a la carte
Full time online learning, with little to no brick
and mortar schooling experiences; sometimes
identified as flex model
Full time online learning with brick and mortar
practices; sometimes identified as enriched
virtual
Primarily brick and mortar based schooling
with some online work; sometimes identified
as rotational
Online schooling provided students with access to online educational opportunities
that fulfilled a need in the educational system by giving students access to learning.
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Research by Cavanaugh et al. (2004) identified factors that influence the success of a
distance education program; these factors include:
• Abilities and disabilities of the student
• Quality of the teacher
• Demands of the content
• Design of the distance learning environment
A characteristic that sets successful distance learners apart from their traditional
classroom-based counterparts was their autonomy and need for greater student
responsibility in their learning (Cavanaugh et al. 2004). Students in the K-12 setting
needed instruction to be scaffolded, and online school teachers must be capable of helping
students acquire the skills of autonomous learning, including self-regulation.
A second characteristic that differentiated successful online learners from
unsuccessful online learners was an internal locus of control, leading students to persist in
the educational endeavor (Cavanaugh et al. 2004). The research found that older students
had developed a more internal locus of control than younger students. Effective online
programs for K-12 learners needed to include frequent teacher contact with students and
parents, lessons that were divided into short segments, and regular feedback provided on
the student's progress (Cavanaugh et al. 2004).
Design and operation of online courses
A decision that must make regarding the online course was whether classes would
be asynchronous or have synchronous components. Asynchronous communication was
defined as the exchange of messages, not requiring the simultaneous presence of the sender
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and the receiver (Haythornewaite & Bregman, 2004). In other words, the students and
teachers were able to communicate with each other, but not in real-time. Examples of
asynchronous communication would be e-mail, discussion boards, and blogs to exchange
ideas and materials. With asynchronous communication, there was found to be a delay
between when one participant made a comment and when another participant replied to that
comment, even if both were online at the same time. What was nice about asynchronous
communication was that it allowed participants the ability to communicate with each other
while still being able to take advantage of the "anytime, anywhere" aspect of online
learning. With this mode, participants did not need to be on their computers at the same
time to engage in discussions of content, which research has found to be a significant
selling point for K–12 students (Journell, 2010; Tunison & Noonan, 2001).
A potential downside to asynchronous communication was that for students who
desired or even needed immediate feedback, they could be disappointed. For example,
when students posed a question or comment on a discussion board and received no
response for hours or even days, it could be frustrating to the student and created a feeling
of not being connected to the class. Moreover, there was no guarantee that asynchronous
posts would be read at all, especially if replies were not required, or students felt as though
there were too many posts to read (Journell, 2010).
Activities such as talking with others in chat rooms, on instant messenger programs,
or even via video-conferencing would be examples of synchronous communication. The
apparent downside to synchronous communication was that it took away from some of the
flexibility provided by online learning because the participants would need to be engaged
with each other at the same time. Students who took online courses primarily because they
wished to fit their academic responsibilities around work and personal needs may find
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synchronous requirements restrictive or even impossible to meet their needs based on the
time allotments.
The need for flexibility was a major item to be considered when districts decide on
the format of their online curricula, but it should not be the only consideration. Research
has found that synchronous communication offers teachers and students benefits. The
environment was more authentic and closer to what students would find in a traditional
classroom situation. Discussions were productive, and the conversation moved at a much
faster pace. Similarities to face-to-face conversations promoted a sense of community
among students, and students could receive immediate feedback on ideas (Hrastinski, 2008;
Journell, Beeson, Crave, Gomez, Linton, & Taylor, 2013; Mabrito, 2006).
There were also limitations to synchronous communication. Students could find the
speed of synchronous conversations challenging, especially for those that were slow at
typing. Students who required time to compose an answer or response may find that the
pace caused them to fall behind (Hou & Wu, 2011). One tool to help mitigate that problem
was to use synchronous video software. This type of software allowed users to simulate
face-to-face classroom experiences using microphones and webcams so that users would be
able to see and hear each other in real-time.
Combining synchronous and asynchronous communication methods may be
desirable, depending on the content that was taught. Teachers that incorporated a balance
between the two modes of communication when they planned the structure of their online
courses allowed students to reflect on issues while still maintaining some of that "anytime,
anywhere" component of online learning. They were also able to provide regular
opportunities for synchronous communication to increase the sense of community among
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students and allow for immediate feedback on assignments or discussions related to
content.
An ideal balance would be something like having one synchronous chat session per
week, held at a consistent time. Teachers could use that opportunity to explain upcoming
assignments and discuss issues about content. Too many synchronous class meetings,
however, would probably restrict students' flexibility and disrupt the reason that many of
them chose to take online classes in the first place. If synchronous sessions were limited to
one or two per week and held at consistent times, students should be able to plan and better
able to work around them. The way teachers structure a balance of their instruction will
help determine the learning management system they need to implement their pedagogical
vision.
The teacher must also develop skills that foster interaction and communication with
and between students during the online learning experience. This requires the teacher to use
pedagogical techniques that draw on and integrate the available online tools needed to
support student collaboration and knowledge acquisition (DiPietro, Ferdig, Black, &
Preston, 2008). Teachers that have the knowledge to use technology that was available to
them effectively were better at assisting their online students in accessing the information
needed that contributed to learning remotely.
An additional component of online learning for students in the K-12 setting was the
need for parent involvement. Teachers need to decide how they can most effectively
engage and contact parents, and vice versa, if there are concerns about a student's
performance in an online course. Establishing a channel of communication between the
teacher and the parent of the online student increased the likelihood that the student were
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successful. It was also important that the school developed policies that allowed parents to
meet face-to-face or through web-based meeting sessions with their children's teachers if
that was needed. These types of policies were needed to reinforce the importance of
parental involvement in students' success in online courses. Recent research suggested that
parental involvement may be even more critical for online students than those in face-toface classrooms because of time students spend learning at home without the direct
guidance of the teacher (Liu, Black, Algina, Cavanaugh, & Dawson, 2010). Parental
involvement was thereby very important, and schools should do their best to allow online
parents to play an integral part in their children's education.
As noted earlier, the differences in types of online learning can be attractive to
different types of learners. Working to determine the best format and most supportive
venue for students can impact the choice that they make for their education. Traditional
public schools that offered students the choice of taking online classes from home or during
the school day when at school may find that these options retain and attract students that
were in external cyber schools.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Creating the best means to educate every student will require school personnel to
think beyond the normal bounds of the educational delivery by which they received their
education. Online schooling and cyber schools provide an alternative to traditional schools.
They may be an appropriate option for some students, but the evidence suggests that online
cyber schools do not always do well with the atypical student that attends these schools. In
most cases, academic benefits from online cyber schools were the exception rather than the
rule. Online cyber schools did, however, provide maximum flexibility for students with
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schedules that did not fit the traditional public school setting. This could be a benefit or a
liability as flexibility required discipline and maturity to maintain high standards. Not all
parents can provide the direction and support needed for online schooling, and that was a
drawback to this venue of learning. It would be beneficial if there were an objective way
that permitted online cyber schools to screen students to ensure their programs are a good
fit for potential students' needs before enrolling them in their school.
There was evidence that some cyber schools had been able to produce consistent
academic benefits for students, but most cyber schools did not. The tradeoff has been
"increased flexibility for less accountability," and the balance has been left to each cyber
school to establish for themselves. States should examine the progress of existing online
programs before allowing more cyber schools to operate. Online schools have the potential
to serve significant numbers of students with practically no physical restraints on
expansion. As such, mechanisms that have typically played a role in regulating the growth
of brick-and-mortar schools such as facility construction and limited student populations do
not exert the same pressure on online schools. Without these natural constraints, online
schools have the potential to expand more rapidly than traditional schools. This makes it
important for school districts to advocate that online cyber schools demonstrate positive
outcomes for students before being allowed to grow.
With this action research, the possible root causes or reasons why parents from the
school district choose to enroll their children in an external cyber school as opposed to
continuing with the traditional public school's online program were sought. Determining
these reasons was beneficial to understanding what if, anything that the traditional public
school can do to improve the school district's online program. Much of the research thus far
on parental satisfaction has focused primarily on the traditional school setting rather than
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
the online setting. Additional research is needed in the area of why parents want their
child(ren) to leave the school system to seek a cyber school for their educational
programming.
As the opportunity to choose among the various school options continues to be
encouraged through state and federal legislation, traditional public schools will need to be
able to provide compelling information on the value of their school system to diverse
stakeholders. Traditional public schools need to evaluate factors that can inform their
pursuit of improving school operations and performance. One way would be to find out
what parents are thinking by administering satisfaction surveys that would obtain input
from school stakeholders who might otherwise be disenfranchised with their school
experience. Satisfaction surveys could be an important step in a strategy of the traditional
public school to begin to hold themselves accountable to their educational consumers, both
from an internal and external perspective. The information collected would, at the very
least, provide some guidance on what students and parents like about their school and what
they dislike.
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CHAPTER III
Methodology
Introduction
One of the challenges facing traditional public schools is the loss of students to
external cyber schools. This is true in the state of Pennsylvania, where parents have
educational choices and are able to enroll their children in any one of Pennsylvania's public
cyber schools. The problem is complex and has serious implications on traditional public
schools because students can leave at any time, without any reason, and at no direct
financial cost to their family. Traditional public schools must cover the cost of the student's
tuition to attend the cyber school and are negatively impacted by the loss of students
because the funding they would otherwise receive goes to the cyber school for tuition
payments. Therefore, traditional public schools must explore ways to make their
educational environments more appealing to their students if they wish to retain them.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this action research study was to explore a practical and meaningful
project that would identify reasons why parents would choose an external cyber school
placement for their child's education over their school district's online course offerings.
With this action research study, parents who have chosen to cyber school their children
were surveyed, and their responses analyzed to identify areas of focus that would lead to
opportunities for improvement of the school system’s online platform. These improvements
would then be used to help the school district’s KC Cyber Academy become a more viable
option for students who would otherwise choose an external cyber school over the
traditional model for their educational needs. A guiding assumption was that a benefit of
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the study was that by improving the school district’s online course offerings, the school
district would see fewer students migrate to an external cyber school. This will lead to a
favorable financial impact, and the students educated in the traditional public school would
also benefit from the additional educational options available to them as a result of the
improvements.
The cost to the school district for students that attended external cyber schools was
over $400,000 annually since the 2015-2016 school year. Thus, the Karns City Area School
District (KCASD) was motivated to create the KC Cyber Academy during the 2016-2017
school year as an alternative to external cyber schools. The Academy’s intended goal was
to reduce the number of school district students leaving the school system to attend an
external cyber school. From the time of its inception, the KC Cyber Academy has
continued to evolve, but it has not been evaluated to see how it can be improved to be even
more valuable. The Academy now provides online credit recovery opportunities to students
who are behind in their studies and enrichment opportunities to students who desire to take
a course that is not offered in the traditional school schedule. However, the underlying goal
of this study was to better understand the reasons KCASD students leave the school system
for an external cyber school when they have a similar in-house option available to them
through the school district.
It was anticipated that this study would identify reasons why parents made the
choices they did regarding their child’s educational placement. It was expected that by
analyzing parental responses to a survey, reasons why parents made the decision that they
did, could begin to be identified, and generalizations could be made. This would provide a
set of realistic considerations that could factor into how the KC Cyber Academy could be
improved and even expanded.
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Realizing that enacting changes would require approval and funding from the
school district, the Board of School Directors were informed and shown that this was
beneficial to the school district and its students. The primary justification for requesting the
funding was supported by the KC Cyber Academy’s ability to reduce additional students
from leaving the school system to attend an external cyber school, saving the school district
money. A secondary benefit would be that when improvements are made to the KC Cyber
Academy, all students that take courses through it will receive the educational benefits.
External cyber schools have advantages over traditional public schools because they
can operate under flexible rules and with minimal oversight. Cyber schools throughout
Pennsylvania receive their revenue from the traditional public schools and do not need to
seek approval for expenditures from elected governing boards. Therefore, unlike public
schools that need to raise local property tax rates to obtain additional revenue when needed,
cyber schools do not need to navigate such a politically challenging process.
Unaware, the general public does not understand the financial impact on their local
school system when students enroll in an external cyber school. The loss of students has an
immediate impact on the school system due to the loss of revenue that follows the departing
student when they enroll in an external cyber school. This cost can be difficult to budget for
because the departure of students takes place throughout the school year, and for any
reason, as permitted under the current cyber charter law in Pennsylvania.
During the 2018-2019 school year, forty-five (45) KCASD students were enrolled
in an external cyber school for at least part of the school year at the cost of $487,041 to our
school district. The expense equated to almost six (6) mills of property tax leaving the
school district in the form of tuition payments to external cyber schools. Framing the cost
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another way, it was more than one and a half times what could be generated if the school
district raised the property tax millage to the index. This transfer of money from the public
school to an external cyber school was legal and will continue unless the school system
develops creative and effective ways to decrease the number of students that leave the
system to enroll in a cyber school.
Under Pennsylvania’s Charter Cyber School Law, the school district of residence is
responsible for providing payment to the cyber charter school regardless of whether the
student has previously been enrolled in the school district. With the law, students are
permitted to enroll directly into an external cyber school without first participating in their
home school district’s school or online program. Each school district must calculate and
publish a charter school tuition rate based on a formula established and provided by the
Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). School districts calculate the rate for regular
education students and a separate and more expensive rate for special education students
that each school district is responsible for paying the cyber school if a resident student
enrolls. Further complicating matters, the price paid to cyber schools varies significantly
from school district to school district because the tuition is based on budgeted numbers and
not the actual cost incurred by the cyber school to educate the student.
The variance in the amount of the payments that different school districts pay to the
same cyber school was an item cited as a reason that Pennsylvania’s Charter Cyber School
Law needs to be reformed. If for no other reason other than the financial impact on the local
taxpayers, this topic has now begun to be discussed openly by elected state officials. Most
recently, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf publicly proposed making several changes to
the state’s charter cyber law. Pennsylvania taxpayers spent $1.8 billion on charter schools
during the 2018-2019 school year, including more than $500 million on cyber schools.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
“The rising cost of charter schools is draining funding from traditional public schools,
which has forced cuts to classroom programs and has caused property taxes to increases”
(The Office of Pennsylvania Governor, 2019). The governor’s proposal would save school
districts an estimated $280 million a year by aligning charter school funding to the actual
cost spent educating a student in a cyber setting. The plan would set a limit on online cyber
school tuition payments and apply the same special education funding formula to charter
schools, as it does for traditional public schools.
Despite costing $1.8 billion last year, cyber charter schools have little public
oversight and no publicly elected school board. The for-profit companies that manage
charter schools are not required to have independent financial audits as required of
traditional public schools.
“There are high-quality charter schools, but some of them, especially some cyber
charter schools, are underperforming,” said Governor Wolf. “The inequities are not fair to
students in charter schools or the children in traditional public schools. It’s time for
change” (The Office of Pennsylvania Governor, 2019). On average, Pennsylvania charter
schools have not improved student test scores in reading compared to traditional public
schools, and they have performed worse in math, according to a 2019 Center for Research
on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) study from Stanford University cited by Wolf (The
Office of Pennsylvania Governor, 2019).
The same study also found that the academic situation was worse among the state’s
cyber charters, which dramatically underperformed compared to public schools. Governor
Wolf stated he planned to propose several pieces of legislation, including one that would
impose a moratorium on new cyber charter schools and cap student enrollment at low-
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
performing cyber schools. These changes would require legislative approval, and that
would be a long shot at the current time. Therefore, it would be prudent that school districts
take steps at the local level to address the loss of their students to cyber charter schools.
In addition to financial costs, traditional public schools must be prepared to work
with students who return from a cyber school to their home school district at any time.
Often, when students return, they were behind academically, and they must receive
remediation opportunities to help overcome any curriculum gaps that exist. The additional
needs require the home school to be prepared to provide additional resources such as
tutoring or remediation courses to bridge the differences that exist. In a CREDO 2019
study, little changed in the academic progress of Pennsylvania online charter school
students since the CREDO 2015 study. Online charter schools register weaker learning
gains in both reading and math as compared to the average traditional public school across
both studies. Furthermore, there has been no substantial academic improvement of
Pennsylvania’s online charter sector across these two studies (CREDO, 2019).
This provides an academic reason for school systems to be motivated to determine
viable strategies that reduce the number of students that leave the local school system for an
external cyber school. Offering students that may consider an external cyber school, an
alternative to the traditional school day schedule might motivate some to stay. School
systems could also reach out to students that have left the system to recruit them back. Even
if the effort is unsuccessful, the school system might be able to ascertain why they left in
the first place. Making strategic improvements to the school’s online programming options
by developing a quality in-house cyber school program that meets the needs of the students
would be a step in the direction needed to stem student loss. If this can be accomplished, it
would make a positive difference for the students and the school.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Setting and Participants
In this study, the active participants were parents of students who currently attend or
attended an external cyber school and resided in the KCASD within the last four years.
These parents became the population group for an online survey that was conducted. The
KCASD can be described as a small rural traditional public school that spans parts of
Armstrong, Butler, and Clarion Counties in western Pennsylvania. The school system
operates two, K-6, elementary schools and one, 7-12, junior/senior high school that
combined provided educational services to approximately 1,325 students. The demographic
information used in and obtained from the study on parents and students that attended the
school district will be provided in the results section of the report.
The parents selected to participate in the study all resided in the school district and
had at least one child who was enrolled in an external public cyber school at some point
after August 1, 2016. The participant group included parents of students who may have
ultimately returned to the traditional educational setting from an external cyber school. The
student demographic data collected from the survey instrument was compared to the
demographic information available on students that continued their studies within the
traditional model. All data used in the study had personal and identifying characteristics
removed so that it was anonymous to the reviewer, protecting the identity of both the
parents and students.
The study plan was discussed and shared with the administrative team, key teaching
staff, and the Board of School Directors of the school district, who ultimately approved the
study before it commenced. The parties understood that the study was in partial fulfillment
of the requirement of the researcher’s doctoral degree and that the identities of all
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
participants would be kept anonymous. Upon the completion of the study, all data collected
were destroyed.
Intervention/Research Plan
This action research design was based on a constructivist assumption that
“individuals seek understanding of the world in which they live and work” (Creswell, 2003,
pg. 9). In this case, as the researcher, I wanted to learn more about the reasons why parents
make the decisions that they do in order to determine if there would be any viable changes
that the school district could consider making that would reduce the number of students that
leave the school system. With the goal of the inquiry to explore why parents made the
educational decisions that they did for their children when considering a cyber school, an
online survey instrument was created to obtain parental feedback. Before conducting any
data collection, IRB approval, and a letter of cooperation from the high school principal
who assisted in pulling anonymous student data from the school district’s student data
warehouse, edInsight by On Hand Schools were obtained (Appendix C & D). Any data
collected from parents and students was devoid of identifying characteristics and was used
by the researcher to review solely for the purposes of the study. Parents that voluntarily
participated in the survey electronically signed the consent form (Appendix A).
Research Design
The methodology used for this study was a non-experimental research design using
descriptive research and triangulation of data. According to Mertler (2017), “the purpose of
descriptive studies is to describe and interpret the current status of individuals, settings,
conditions, or events” (p. 95). With this study, a baseline understanding was needed to help
appropriately inform the researcher and the school system as to what the root cause of the
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
problem(s) was in order to formulate reasonable and practical solutions. The nonexperimental design was chosen because a cross-sectional sample of parents was surveyed
from the relevant population to address answers to research question one. With research
questions two and three, and due to the different data types contributing to this study, I
focused on the importance of triangulating the data sources to build confidence about the
accuracy of the results of the study (Hendricks, 2017, p. 135).
The research questions used to guide this action research were:
1. Why do parents choose to enroll their child(ren) in an external cyber school instead
of our school district’s own cyber academy program?
2. What does the school district’s data on students that leave the system to enroll in an
external cyber school indicate about these students as compared to those that stay
enrolled in the school system?
3. What are the best practices for the design and operation of online cyber classes for
K12 students?
Methods of Data Collection
In order to obtain answers to the research questions, multiple forms of data
collection were utilized. Although the primary data collection tool used was a parental
survey, existing school district student data, and a review of information on similar studies
were reviewed to help address the questions. The surveying of parents of students that
enrolled in an external cyber school was the focus of this study because it offered an
authentic way to obtain the opinion of parents as to why they made the decision that they
did. Prior to this survey, no previous effort was attempted by the school district to obtain
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
parent input, and therefore we did not have any credible information as to the reason(s)
parents left our school system for an external cyber school.
The parent survey found in Appendix B was provided to the population group of
110 unique families. Each family had the opportunity to voluntarily complete and submit a
response that would be included in this study. The participants were not offered any
incentive for their participation in the survey, nor did they face any negative impact for
choosing not to participate in the study.
The informed consent was shared with the survey population group twice. It was
initially mailed to all participants, and then it was also embedded in the online survey
instrument. By inserting the informed consent within the online survey and requiring a
response as question one on the survey, approval was able to be recorded for all
respondents that submitted a response. With the mailing of parental survey invitations, it
was explained to respondents that their information would be treated with strict
confidentiality. No data was collected that would or could identify any participant at any
time during the study.
The survey instrument was administered by using Google Docs to create an online
form to collect responses and was available to authorized respondents on a secure server.
The potential respondents were provided a generic four-digit code that they entered to gain
access to the online survey instrument. This was done only to contain responses to those
from the intended population group. Of the 110 possible respondents, 22 or 20% of the
invitations were returned unopened, and 17 or 15.5 % of the respondents submitted a
response to the survey. The information will be analyzed and explained in a later section of
the report.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
An answer to research question two was sought by reviewing existing student data
contained in the school district’s student database called edInsight. Demographic data that
was reviewed on students that left the school system to enroll in an external cyber school
was compared to demographic data on a similar-sized random set of students that remained
in the traditional public school setting. The random selection of students from the school
district in grades 3-12 from the school district was taken to determine if there was a
difference in the number of IEPs, the number of students at the poverty level, in Title 1, the
number of absences, attendance percentage, grades, or risk score as compared to the group
of students that departed the school district to attend a cyber school. The data was
compared with a statistical test to determine if the differences were significant. All data that
was provided to the researcher was done so without any personal identifying
characteristics.
Finally, research question three was addressed through the review of the literature
on the topic. This approach was used to determine if any solutions to the problem of losing
students to external cyber schools were studied previously and whether viable solutions
could be generalized to help the KC Cyber Academy improve upon its current operation.
This included a review of the online platform software currently being used to deliver the
online programming.
Role of the Researcher
Researchers are not without bias. I have worked in the traditional public school
setting since 1997 and have served as a classroom teacher, principal, and superintendent of
a school system. My experience leads me to the belief that being connected to the school
was essential to the outcome a student has with their academic success. I strongly believe
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
that the online model will not replace the traditional model of education in the K-12 setting,
but it does have its place. Research indicates that online learning was just as effective as
traditional schooling when appropriately structured (Cavanaugh et al., 2004). As an
educator, the level of the student, teacher, and parent engagement were all important
ingredients to the result. My role in this research was that of an observer, trying to analyze
and assemble information that enabled the KCASD to make its KC Cyber Academy better
next year for all students.
Validity
In order to ensure a high level of confidence in the survey results, measures were
taken to ensure that surveys were provided to only parents that meet the study criteria as
being defined as a KCASD resident that has or once had a student enrolled in an external
cyber school since August 1, 2016. The invoices from external cyber schools were used to
determine the names of the parents that were mailed the invitations to participate in the
study. These participants were provided with an access code to enable participation in the
survey.
A small pilot of the survey instrument was conducted with several school
administrators and teachers to verify its online functionality and to check for respondent
understanding of the questions asked. Several questions were modified slightly based on
feedback received from the small pilot of the tool, but this is an area that could be improved
upon if another survey were conducted in the future.
Limitations
There are limitations to every study. One such limitation is that the site for the
research was small and familiar to the researcher. As an administrator, my position is one
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
of authority within the school system, and assurances had to be made to the participants, so
they understand that what they share will not reflect on their child in any way and that their
participation was strictly voluntary. Although this was provided and steps are taken to
ensure the privacy of the participants, I believe the participation rate in the survey was
somewhat lower than it would have been if it were conducted by a guidance counselor or
no administrator.
The small sample size of 110 parents and the overall response rate of 15.5% is also
a limitation of this study and requires taking a cautious approach to drawing significant
conclusions. The results collected were important, and were the first attempt to truly
capture the thoughts and beliefs of the parents who permitted their child to depart our
school system for an external cyber school.
Methodology Summary
The information learned from this study was shared with the administrative team,
the Board of School Directors, and teachers. It will be used to identify realistic changes that
can be made in the programming and operation of the KC Cyber Academy that would lead
to improvements that meet the needs of students.
With what I learn by conducting this action research project, I will identify practical
recommendations that my school district can use to improve its online curriculum platform
so that we may provide quality online classes to our students. Ultimately, the online
programming that we as the home school offer our students should be more valuable than
what is available to them from an external cyber charter school. We will provide the student
a Karns City diploma, access to participate in extracurricular activities, access to “inperson” contact with teachers and other staff as needed, and the ability of students to take
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
vocational-technical classes. With these enhancements and appropriate marketing of our
program, I believe that as the superintendent of the Karns City Area School District, we can
provide students that have desired an alternative educational path a quality option that they
will find meets their needs without uncoupling themselves from our school and community.
The findings that were uncovered from this action research will be used by me to lead a
discussion within the school district with the administrative team and teachers. The results
will be used to craft a plan of improvement that can be implemented in the next school
year. If such an outcome can be accomplished, the students, the school, and the local
community will have benefited from improvements to the local educational offerings and a
reduction in costs to the school system.
COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on this Study
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the field of education. Late
in the day on Friday, March 13, 2020, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf ordered all public
schools closed in the Commonwealth for an initial two-week period due to concerns of the
COVID-19 virus. The timing of the announcement was late in the day and caught many of
us in education off guard. Had we known earlier in the day that this was to take place, we
could have prepared differently. Students that needed a device such as a Chromebook at
home could have been provided one to taken one with them when they departed for the day.
Instead, we missed this opportunity to distribute the technology that we did have to students
when they left school that day.
Governor Wolf’s initial announcement of a two-week closure of schools, was since
expanded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in conjunction with the
Pennsylvania Department of Health to require public and private schools closed for the
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
remainder of the 2019-2020 academic term. With the prospect of schools closed due to the
COVID-19 concerns, the need to focus on providing education to students in a remote
manner became paramount. As the school district worked on creating its Continuity of
Education plan, the most likely format became moving the traditional method of
educational delivery to an online format of delivery where possible. The KCASD took steps
to quickly assess the needs of families and adapted by loaning devices, helping secure
Internet access for students without a connection and provided training to teachers on the
use of the various resources that were available to assist with their online instructional
delivery.
I genuinely think that although the desire was to return to some sense of normalcy,
which included a return to students attending the traditional school setting, the attitudes and
beliefs of students, parents, and teachers toward online learning has been forever changed.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the focus of developing and improving online
learning at KCASD. We have confronted the challenges that remote learning has posed by
adapting, and we have accomplished more in a few months than we would typically have
been able to achieve in a year. Out of necessity, teachers and administrators were immersed
in the use of Google classroom and other online resources.
The data collection for this study was completed prior to the closure of schools that
COVID-19 caused. Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic did not directly impact my study
as it was completed prior to the disruption caused by the virus. However, it has likely
impacted the beliefs of students, parents, and educators alike on the concept of online
learning. It would be interesting to look at the parental beliefs in a post-COVID-19 era now
that their local school district has provided most of its educational programming via an
online format from mid-March until early June.
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CHAPTER IV
Data Analysis and Results
Introduction
There was a need for additional research in the area of K-12 online education to
understand why parents and students chose this format over the traditional school
pathway of education (Black, 2009; Cavanaugh et al., 2009). Most of the research in the
area of online education has been conducted in the post-secondary arena or on large cyber
schools (Black, 2009; Liu et al., 2010). This action research study looked at determining
the factors that influenced why parents chose a cyber school educational placement for
their child over the traditional public school placement. The study focused on a small
rural school district and was designed to identify practical information that can be used to
make educational improvements that will benefit students. The research questions
guiding this action research were:
1. Why do parents choose to enroll their child(ren) in an external cyber school
instead of our school district’s own cyber academy program?
2. What does the school district’s data on students that leave the system to enroll in
an external cyber school indicate about these students as compared to those that
stay enrolled in the school system?
3. What are the best practices for the design and operation of online cyber classes for
K12 students?
This section reports the results obtained through the investigation of the reasons
that parents chose an external cyber school for their child’s placement even though the
local school district has a similar existing option. The section: (a) describes the report
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
findings from a parental survey on why parents choose to enroll their child(ren) in an
external cyber school instead of our school district’s cyber academy program; (b)
describes the report findings on what the school district’s data on students that leave the
system to enroll in an external cyber school indicate about these students as compared to
those that stay enrolled in the school system, and (c) describes the findings from the
literature review that were identified as best practices for the design and operation of
online cyber classes for K12 students.
Summary of Sample and Survey Factors
Detailed information regarding the survey and methods utilized for data collection
are found in Chapter three. As a summary, this study employed an online survey
instrument that was constructed to sample the parents of students that resided in the
school district and that were enrolled in various external cyber schools for at least part of
the year during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years. The online survey
instrument was built with Google Docs, and 110 parents were provided a survey link
through a mailing with a request to participate. The survey completion rate was 14.5%,
which included 16 parent participants. This was a lower number of responses than was
expected but was nonetheless helpful at obtaining valuable input into reasons parents
enroll their child in an external cyber school instead of the school district’s online
program.
A possible theory as to the low response rate was that the sample population has a
higher mobility rate as compared to that of the school district population. When
information was mailed to parents informing them of the survey, there were 20.9% or 23
survey invitation mailings that were returned by the post office for reasons such as “not
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
deliverable as addressed,” “unable to forward,” and “vacant.” This could be an indication
that this population changes their place of residence more frequently than do the parents
who have children that remain in the public school setting. The school district’s student
information system was used to calculate a three-year average parent mobility rate of
7.2% for students that remained within the school system, indicating that there was a
higher address change rate for students enrolled in cyber schools.
Although some survey invitations were returned as unable to be delivered, it
provided an opportunity for the school system to cross-check the address records on
external cyber students. In doing so, two students were removed from the school district’s
cyber bills due to having moved out of the school district without notifying their cyber
school where they were enrolled. This finding enabled the school district to recover
$11,888.10 from a cyber school that it was not obligated to pay. Most of the other
discrepancies with mailing addresses were able to be resolved, and the school records
were updated.
Research Question 1
While there has been a growing body of educational research in the field of online
education, there continues to be limited research that contributes to the reasons parents
from small communities chose online learning for their child over a traditional
educational experience. Research question one addressed this gap when it asked: Why do
parents choose to enroll their child(ren) in an external cyber school instead of our school
district’s cyber academy program? The online survey that was administered to the parents
of students that were enrolled in a cyber school produced data that provided insight into
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
why parents made the decision they did. The results of this parent survey represented
authentic data that was collected from this population.
Upon accessing the survey, each respondent was asked to review and confirm the
consent to participate in the online survey. Figure 1 indicated that 100% of the
respondents confirmed their understanding and agreement of the informed consent and
were then able to proceed with completing the online survey. The survey participants
were informed that all data collection was done anonymously, and participants were free
to discontinue their participation in the survey at any time and without any negative
ramifications to them or their child.
Figure 1. Informed consent notice was provided to the participants and acknowledged in
the initial question of the survey.
In survey question two, the gender results revealed that the children of the
respondents were 68.8% male and 31.3% female. This relationship was comparable to the
gender composite of the sample population group of cyber school students that were
surveyed, which was 71.8% male and 28.2% female. However, the gender reported does
represent a discrepancy when compared to the gender statistics on the students that
remain in the traditional school system. The student cohort that stayed in the public
school system was 47.9% male and 52.1% females based on an average of 1,325
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
students. The data indicated that a higher than expected rate of male students departed the
school system than did female students to attend an external cyber school, and this would
warrant a closer look as to why this would occur.
Figure 2. Identifies the gender of the students in external cyber schools, as reported by
their parents.
Most of the respondents, 14 of 16 or 87.5%, were comprised of parents that had
earned a GED or High School diploma, as noted in Figure 3. Only 1 of 16 or 6.3% of the
parents responded having earned a bachelor’s degree. According to Mann & Baker
(2019), there was a relationship that showed many rural school districts in Pennsylvania
had lower percentages of per capita of adult residents that had obtained a bachelor’s
degree level of education. The results to this survey question agreed with Mann &
Baker’s findings.
Looking deeper at the data from the 14 respondents, all reported that obtaining a
high school diploma was very important to them as a parent. Of the other two
respondents, one had an associate’s degree and rated a high school diploma as very
important. In contrast, the other respondent had a bachelor’s degree and rated a high
school diploma as of only medium importance to them.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Figure 3. Identifies the highest level of education for the parent who participated in the
survey.
Figure 4 shows what grade the children of the respondents first enrolled in a cyber
school. Most of the parents, 14 of 16 or 87.5%, reported that their child first attended an
external cyber school sometime when their child was enrolled in the school district’s
secondary school building, which was comprised of grades 7-12. Of note, 12 of 16 or
75% of the students departed the school system when the student would have been in
junior high school, with eighth and ninth grades representing the highest number of
student departures.
Figure 4. Identifies the grade level of students when parents first enrolled them in a cyber
school.
In Figure 5, the data was mixed but showed that the grade level showing the
highest return rate was that of eleventh grade, where 5 of 16 or 31.3% of the students
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
returned to the public school setting in that grade. Anecdotal information suggested this
trend was accurate because some students in an external cyber school enroll in the public
school setting again near the end of their educational career to be able to graduate from
the public school, thereby earning a high school diploma.
Figure 5. Identifies the grade level that students most recently completed.
In question six, almost a third (31.3%) of the parents reported that their child
would likely pursue higher education, such as college. However, most parents, 13 of 16
or 81.3%, said that their child would likely pursue a job upon completing their high
school level of education. These responses do not necessarily mean that the parents do
not value higher education, but they do indicate that parents have a greater appreciation
for the pursuit of employment.
Figure 6. Identifies what parents reported as the likely plan(s) for their child after they
graduated from secondary school.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
In question seven, the data indicated that grade levels that the administration
should focus their efforts on the most. By monitoring students who were more likely to
consider cyber-school, staff could be prepared to provide them with more help and if
need be information on the KC Cyber Academy if necessary. Twelve of the 16 parents
reported that they first enrolled their children in a cyber school when their child was in
seventh or eighth grade. These grade-levels would seem to deserve more attention so that
we may keep students either in the traditional instruction pathway or transition them into
the KC Cyber Academy as opposed to them enrolling in a cyber school.
Once the students reached their junior year of school, the data suggested that they
continue in the traditional setting. Thus, it would not necessarily be as important to focus
attention on cyber-school for upper-grade level students as it is on the junior high-grade
levels.
Figure 7. Identifies the school within the Karns City Area School District (KCASD) that
the student most recently attended if enrolled before departing to a cyber school.
In Figure 8, the data from parental responses suggested that parents felt their child
was safe while attending KCASD. Therefore, safety was not likely a significant concern
for parents. The responses were on the positive side of the scale and thus may not have
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been a substantial contributor to the decision to leave the public school to enroll in an
external cyber school.
Figure 8. Identifies the parental responses indicating how safe they believed their child
was when attending his/her KCASD school.
In Figure 9, the data suggested that the lack of friends may not be a significant
contributing factor as to why parents to switch their children to cyber school.
Figure 9. Identifies parental responses indicating whether their child had friends while
attending his/her KCASD school.
In Figure 10, the data suggested that the students that departed the public school
setting reported not enjoying the school they last attended. This conclusion was supported
by 9 of 15 of the parents, or 60%, who indicated that their child did not like attending
school when enrolled at KCASD. The other 6 of 15 parents choose what would be
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considered a neutral rating for the question. No parent reported that their child enjoyed
attending school.
Figure 10. Identifies parental responses indicating whether their child enjoyed school
while attending his/her KCSAD school.
In Figure 11, the data suggested that cyber-students enjoyed the current setting
more than the traditional setting they left. The result was not surprising since one would
expect the decision to depart the previous setting for another would be the result of some
desire for change. The response to this survey question was significant based on the
results of the t-test (Table 3). It was noteworthy to point out that the overall increase in
the survey ratings reflected a one-point change on the scale. If increased enjoyment were
a side effect of simply changing to cyber-school, a more significant increase might have
been observed based on the student and parent’s experience.
Figure 11. Identifies parental responses indicating whether their child enjoyed school
while attending his/her cyber school.
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62
The results in Table 3 confirmed that there is a relationship between responses to
questions ten and eleven that with the change in placement being more positive than the
former placement for the students involved. As noted by the t-value and the p-value, there
was a significant difference in enjoyment of school ratings after the change in placement
was made, t(46) = -6.75, p = 1.37E-05, for the parents reported that students who enrolled
in an external cyber charter school (M = 3.36, SD = 0.06) being higher when compared to
the sample of 14 students who remain enrolled in the Karns City Area School District (M
= 2.36, SD = 0.06).
Table 3: Enjoyment of former school versus current school placement
t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means
Enjoyment in KCASD
Enjoyment in Cyber
Placement
Mean
2.36
3.36
Variance
0.25
0.25
14
14
Observations
Pearson Correlation
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
0.38
0
13
t Stat
-6.75
P(T<=t) one-tail
6.86E-06
t Critical one-tail
1.77
P(T<=t) two-tail
1.37E-05
t Critical two-tail
2.16
In Figure 12, these data indicated that schoolwork was a problem for students, and
that was a part of the reason they ended up attending a cyber school. Homework was
identified by 14 of 15 or 93.3% of the parent respondents as a problem for their child. It
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
could be that the amount and type of schoolwork expected were too much or did not
resonate with the students. In the future, determining more about this area could clarify
the impact that it had on the parent’s decision to enroll their child in an external cyber
school.
In a follow-up question on the survey, parents were asked an open-ended question
that directly asked for comments regarding academic problems that existed while
attending the traditional public school. The responses to this question clarified some of
the thinking around the degree that schoolwork influenced the decision to leave the
public school setting.
Figure 12. Identifies parental responses indicating which items their child experienced
academic problems with while attending his/her KCASD school.
In question thirteen, parents were asked an open-ended question about problems
with academics. The responses that parents provided were reported as submitted without
edits. The comments suggested that issues with homework can be grouped into two
categories. The uselessness of the homework itself was identified by 8 of 13 or 61.5% of
the respondents as a problem, and the amount of homework assigned was identified by 6
of 13 or 46.2% of the respondents as a problem. The only comments related to content
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
difficulty placed the blame on the teacher for not teaching the material well enough as
opposed to suggesting that the material is too difficult. The responses that follow
reflected what parents stated about problems with academics.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Some teachers gave too much work.
The work was not related to what teachers tested. Teachers rarely graded the
homework and did not give much if any feedback.
The classwork was mostly busywork. Teachers seemed to enjoy giving lots of
work but didn’t want to explain why it was needed. My daughter fell behind
and then didn’t want to go to school.
The work seemed to be unrelated to what was needed to learn the material.
The teachers gave too much work that seemed just to be busywork. Teachers
didn’t seem to care about some kids.
Too much busywork that didn’t relate to anything.
Too much work and not enough teaching
Too much busy work!
Schoolwork was too much for my child. He did not want to go to school and
cyber school was really the best option.
The work was just busy work and was not valuable. Too many worksheets.
Not Applicable
The teacher’s homework was just busy work and did not relate to what was
tested.
There is too much work and not enough teaching to help students.
Some teachers need to do a better job of teaching the material so that students
can actually learn.
In questions fourteen and fifteen, parents reported responses to problems with
individuals in the school setting focused mostly on the teachers. Issues or concerns with
another student were reported by 9 of 16 or 56.3% of the respondents, whereas 14 of 16
or 87.5% reported there were problems with the teacher at their child’s school. Parents
indicated such things as teachers had favorite students who were not punished, and
teachers ignored “bad” behavior in general. Five parents felt that the teachers did not care
about the students, while two other parents felt teachers had mistreated their child. Two
negative responses referenced an administrator. The comments parents stated were
somewhat surprising as often anecdotal comments from parents through casual
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
conversation would seem to lead you to believe that problems were mostly with peers and
not employees. Therefore, the data that parents provided indicated that problems with
employees were more of a concern than problems with their child’s peers.
Figure 13. Identifies parental responses indicating whether their child had problems with
others in the KCASD school setting.
In question fifteen, parents were given the opportunity in an open-ended question
to share if their child experienced problems with other individuals while attending his/her
KCASD school. The responses that follow reflected what parents stated without edits.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kids picked at each other and nothing was done to stop it.
Some teachers left some kids get away with whatever they wanted but punished
other kids.
Teachers expected students blindly be able to do all of the busy work without
their help. If a student fell behind they were left behind.
Teachers didn’t seem to care about some kids.
Teachers let some kids do what they wanted and punished others. They played
favorites and that lead to problems between kids.
Teachers treated my son as he was a bad kid even though he wasn’t.
The teachers did not seem to care about my child
Teachers do not seem to care about some students that need extra help.
The principal would not help me and actually encouraged me to consider cyber
school for my son.
My son did not get along with his teacher. She was mean to him.
Not Applicable
Schoolwork was hard for my son. He got in trouble from teachers and principal
and stopped wanting to go to school.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
•
•
•
My child was bullied and teacher had favorites.
Teachers have favorites and kids pick on each other with anything being done
to stop it.
Some teachers didn’t seem to like their job or care about the students. Some
teachers did care but seemed to be afraid of the teachers that didn’t care and
were afraid to speak out publicly about the problem.
In question sixteen, the parents were able to share the reasons why they chose to
enroll their child in a cyber school. This question went to the heart of the study and
provided parents an opportunity to be specific with any of the reasons that contributed to
why they enrolled their child in a cyber school. Despite the free-response format, patterns
still emerged. Six of the 16 or 37.5% of the responses referenced the parent having grown
tired of fighting with their child about going to school or that they reached a general
feeling that there was no other choice. Two more referenced not wanting to continue to
deal with problems and the student not wanting to go to school. Another two referenced
needing a fresh start, and one other response involved needing a change to due
unhappiness. In each of these groups of responses, one could argue that the parents did
not state that cyber-school was a better option than the public school; they just viewed it
as a necessary alternative to traditional school. These eleven parents may still believe that
traditional school could be a suitable option and thus could have been persuaded to keep
their children in the traditional setting with some type of intervention.
Of the remaining five responses, only two gave reasons that would suggest a
cyber-education program was superior to a traditional program. One references “busy
work” associated with traditional education and the other references being better able to
tailor coursework to the student’s ability and interest. Two others involve teachers in
what would be described as a personality conflict. The final response referenced
relocating and not enrolling in the traditional setting due to the move. While more
66
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
challenging to persuade, these parents might be persuaded to stay in or return to
traditional education if a personal connection could be made.
In question sixteen, parents were asked to share the reasons why you chose to enroll
your child in a cyber school. Changes were made to the transcription of a couple of
responses by removing the personal names of employees that were mentioned by the
parent. The changes were identified by underscoring the text in the specific
responses. The personal names used were substituted with the person’s job category,
such as student, teacher, principal, etc. and only to protect the individual’s identity.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
My daughter did not want to go to school and I got tired of fighting her about
it.
I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
I had no choice but to get my daughter out of the school. She didn’t want to go
and I was then being fined for attendance. I was told by the principal that I
might as well enroll my daughter in cyber school because she wasn’t going to
make it at KC.
It gave my son a fresh start.
I wanted to avoid the problems and this was the only way I could think of to
help my daughter.
I wanted him to have a fresh start and a chance to succeed.
My child needs an education and does not need to do busywork
It was the only option I had to help get my son to be able to graduate.
I got tired of fighting the battle of trying to get my son to go to school.
To get away from the teacher. I just have not switched my son back to the
school system.
We moved after the beginning of the school year. Both of my sons chose to try
cyber-school rather than enroll in a new school right away.
I didn’t want to continue dealing with the problems and the principal wouldn’t
help us.
My student did not want to go to school and his grades were low.
To get away from the problems and help my kid be happy
I wanted my child to avoid certain teachers.
Student-to-teacher ratio and the tailor-ability of courses to meet the student’s
learning style and interests.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
In question seventeen, all but one parent indicated that they were unaware of the
KC Cyber Academy option for their child. This suggested that the school system did not
engage the parents and students that were considering leaving the school system in
sharing information regarding their options before a decision was made to enroll in an
external cyber school. Discovering this provided an opportunity for the school district to
reach out to these families in an effort to attempt to recruit students back to the home
school and reduce costs to the school district.
Figure 14. Percentage of parents reporting awareness of the KC Cyber Academy as an
option to Cyber School.
Figure 15 represents that 13 of 16 or 81.3%, of the parents reported that it was
important for their child to earn a high school diploma. The same number of parents
reported in question six that their child would likely pursue a job after graduation. Since
earning a high school diploma or equivalent is a minimum precursor to obtaining a job,
the responses to the two questions seem plausible and complementary. In the future, it
would be of interest to see if the school district’s curriculum could be shaped to be more
supportive of delivering workforce-related instruction and skills that prepare students for
obtaining a job. Doing so would perhaps help these students see greater value in the
educational opportunities a traditional school setting can offer. While this can be
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
challenging in the current high-stakes testing era of education, improvement in this area
could have a substantial impact on these students.
Figure 15. Indicates the importance parents placed on their child earning a high school
diploma from a public school such as KCASD.
In questions nineteen through twenty-one, the data collected provided insight into
potential selling points when trying to convince students and parents to stay in a
traditional school or at least take advantage of KC Cyber Academy. In all three questions,
parents responded that it was important for their children to have the opportunity to
participate in extra-curricular activities (Figure 16), access to the Butler County Area
Vocational-Technical School (Figure 17), and the school district’s behind the wheel
driver education program (Figure 18). Thus, access to these three items could be used to
possibly persuade students and parents to maintain enrollment with the traditional school
plan or in the KC Cyber over an external cyber-education.
Figure 16. – Indicates the importance parents placed on their child being able to
participate in extra-curricular activities.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Figure 17. Indicates the importance parents placed on their child being able to attend the
Butler County Area Vocational Technical School (BCAVTS)?
Figure 18. Indicates the importance parents placed on their child being to take a driver
education class that enables him/her to earn a driver’s licenses from an onsite instructor.
Figure 20 shows how parents rated the importance of a flexible schedule for their
child. Eight of 16 or 50% of the parents selected a neutral rating, but all the other eight
respondents selected positive ratings for the question. Cyber-schools not affiliated with
the school district have a distinct advantage of flexible scheduling, and this was an area
that the public school sector would need to adjust to compete better. The responses,
however, indicated that this was not as important to the parents as their children being
able to participate in extra-curricular activities and participate in driver education.
Therefore, it appeared that parents valued how their child felt about the school experience
more than the need for a flexible schedule.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Figure 19. Indicates the importance parents placed on their child having the opportunity
to have a flexible schedule to complete their educational requirements.
In question twenty-three, parents were asked to identify the best way for them to
obtain additional information on the school district’s online program. The responses
indicated that parents seemingly preferred a self-discovery method of receiving more
information that allowed them to maintain the ability to pursue additional information on
their own rather than with a phone call that would enable two-way communication.
Publicizing and promoting of the KC Cyber Academy was needed and essential so that
parents and students were at least aware of it as an option.
Figure 20. – Indicates the method of how parents would like to receive additional
information on the KC Cyber Academy.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Summary of Results for Research Question 1
With the results from the survey, insight into the reasons parents enrolled their
child in an external cyber school, and what the typical cyber student looks like for our
school district started to take shape. The average cyber school student was male, departed
the school system sometime in junior high, likely intended to join the workforce after
graduation, has a dislike toward schoolwork, and lived in a household with a parent that
has a GED or high school diploma. The student and the student’s parents were not aware
that the school district offers an online option to take classes and therefore viewed an
external cyber school as the only option as an alternative to the traditional public school
pathway.
Looking closer at the open-ended responses to the question on the survey that
asked parents to share why they chose to enroll their child in a cyber school, a pattern
was noticeable. The responses were grouped into two categories. One category
representing responses that implied that the cyber school might be “better” than the
traditional school and another that represented the respondents felt they had “no other
choice” but to select a cyber school as an alternative. In taking the responses from
question sixteen, they were arranged into the two categories.
The first group represented the responses that indicated that parents felt that a
cyber school option was better than the traditional setting. In this grouping, 5 of 16 or
31.3% of the parents may have felt that cyber school was better than the traditional public
school setting. The five parental responses representing the “better” group follow.
•
•
I wanted my child to avoid certain teachers.
Student-to-teacher ratio and the tailor-ability of courses to meet the student’s
learning style and interests.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
•
•
•
My child needs an education and does not need to do busywork
To get away from the teacher. I just have not switched my son back to the
school system.
We moved after the beginning of the school year. Both of my sons chose to try
cyber-school rather than enroll in a new school right away.
The second group represented 11 of 16 or 68.6% of the parent responses that
indicate parents felt they were “out of options” or just did not know of any alternatives
other than a cyber school placement for their child. The eleven parental responses
representing the “no other choice” group follow.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
My daughter did not want to go to school and I got tired of fighting her about
it.
I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
I had no choice but to get my daughter out of the school. She didn’t want to go
and I was then being fined for attendance. I was told by the principal that I
might as well enroll my daughter in cyber school because she wasn’t going to
make it at KC.
It gave my son a fresh start.
I wanted to avoid the problems and this was the only way I could think of to
help my daughter.
I wanted him to have a fresh start and a chance to succeed.
It was the only option I had to help get my son to be able to graduate.
I got tired of fighting the battle of trying to get my son to go to school.
I didn’t want to continue dealing with the problems and the principal wouldn’t
help us.
My student did not want to go to school and his grades were low.
To get away from the problems and help my kid be happy
Looking at the parent responses provided some hope that if parents were
provided options within the traditional school setting for their child, some might decide to
keep their child enrolled with our school system. Offering parents a choice is essential
and can lay the groundwork for creating a stronger sense of a connection to the school.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Research Question 2
The review of the school district’s student databases helped address research
question two by asking: What does the school district’s data on students that leave the
system to enroll in an external cyber school indicate about these students as compared to
those that stay enrolled in the school system? The school district has contracted with
edInsight OnHand Schools (edInsight) for the use of its student data management tool
since the 2011-2012 school year. The data used for this analysis was pulled and provided
to the researcher in an anonymous format, as was agreed to prior to the onset of
conducting the study.
Data set one represented data on twenty-four students that were once enrolled in
the school system for which information existed within the edInsight database on students
who departed the school system and enrolled in an external cyber school. This group
represented the experimental group for this study. The second data set was created from a
random selection of twenty-four students from the same edInsight database to serve as
the control group. The selection process was based on assigning each student a number
and then using the website www.random.org to generate the twenty-four numbers that
were then used to pull the student data for the control group.
A comparison of student absences, math GPA, language arts GPA, science GPA,
economic status, or free and reduced lunch eligibility, IEP status, and gender was made
between the two groups. A comparison of the risk factor that was generated by edInsight
based on a matrix that takes into consideration the types of absences (excused,
unexcused, and suspensions), two years of grades, and two years of standardized test
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
75
results were also analyzed. Data on each variable were compared to determine if any
variance was significant between the two data sets.
In Table 4, the number of absences from school was compared between the
former KCASD student group who were in cyber students and the current KCASD
student group. As noted by the t-value and the p-value, there was not a significant
difference in attendance rates, t(46) = -.51, p = .61, despite the number of days absent for
the students who enrolled in an external cyber charter school (M = 5.67, SD = 3.97) were
lower when compared to the sample of 24 students who remained enrolled in the Karns
City Area School District (M = 6.29, SD = 4.46). This was somewhat surprising but
informative.
Table 4: Comparison of Absences from School
Attendance t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming
Equal Variances Student
Cyber
Students
Mean
Variance
Observations
Pooled Variance
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
t Stat
KCASD
Students
5.67
6.29
15.80
19.87
24
24
17.83
0
46
-0.51
P(T<=t) one-tail
0.31
t Critical one-tail
1.68
P(T<=t) two-tail
0.61
t Critical two-tail
2.01
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
76
When math GPAs, as shown in Table 5, were analyzed, there was not a
significant difference in math GPA rates, t(45) = .04, p = .97, despite the math GPA for
the students who enrolled in an external cyber charter school (M = 2.70, SD = 3.25) were
slightly higher when compared to the sample of 23 students who remained enrolled in the
Karns City Area School District (M = 2.70, SD = 1.00).
Table 5: Comparison of Math GPAs
Math GPA t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming
Equal Variances
Cyber
Students
KCASD
Students
Mean
2.71
2.70
Variance
1.80
1.02
24
23
Observations
Pooled Variance
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
1.42
0
45
t Stat
0.04
P(T<=t) one-tail
0.49
t Critical one-tail
1.68
P(T<=t) two-tail
0.97
t Critical two-tail
2.01
When language arts GPAs, as shown in Table 6, were analyzed, there was not a
significant difference in language arts GPA rates, t(45) = .04, p = .97, despite the
language arts GPA for the students who enrolled in an external cyber charter school (M =
2.83, SD = 2.02) being lower when compared to the sample of 23 students who remained
enrolled in the Karns City Area School District (M = 2.86, SD = 1.14).
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
77
Table 6: Comparison of Language Arts GPAs
Language Arts GPA t-Test: Two-Sample
Assuming Equal Variances
Cyber
Students
KCASD
Students
Mean
2.83
2.86
Variance
1.42
1.07
24
23
Observations
Pooled Variance
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
1.25
0
45
t Stat
-0.07
P(T<=t) one-tail
0.47
t Critical one-tail
1.68
P(T<=t) two-tail
0.94
t Critical two-tail
2.01
When science GPAs, as shown in Table 7, were analyzed, there was not a
significant difference in science GPA rates, t(45) = .90, p = .37, despite the science GPA
for the students who enrolled in an external cyber charter school (M = 3.17, SD =
1.21) being higher when compared to the sample of 23 students who remained enrolled in
the Karns City Area School District (M = 2.87, SD = 1.22). In all, after analyzing the
math, language arts, and science GPAs, the data was unexpected because it was
previously thought that grades would be an indicator that influenced whether a student
left the school system for a cyber school.
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
78
Table 7: Comparison of Science GPAs
Science GPA t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming
Equal Variances
Cyber
Students
KCASD
Students
Mean
3.17
2.87
Variance
1.10
1.48
24
23
Observations
Pooled Variance
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
1.29
0
45
t Stat
0.90
P(T<=t) one-tail
0.19
t Critical one-tail
1.70
P(T<=t) two-tail
0.37
t Critical two-tail
2.01
In Table 8, the risk factor rating was evaluated to determine if there would be any
difference between students in each data subset. The risk factor rating itself was a
measure calculated by the edInsight data program on each student and was based on
assigning points to various types of student absences, grade ranges, and performance on
standardized tests. The higher the rating, the more “at-risk” the student was with
academic problems. This rating allowed teachers and administrators to keep an eye on
students that need additional attention. Therefore, looking at the risk factor rating for this
study was desirable to see if it could be an indicator that might show any correlation that
could be used to predict a student that might consider a cyber school over the traditional
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
79
public school setting. Upon review, the t-value and the p-value indicate there was not a
significant difference in risk factor ratings, t(46) = .68, p = .50, despite the risk factor for
the students who enrolled in an external cyber charter school (M = 27.4, SD = 20.1) being
higher when compared to the sample of 24 students who remained enrolled in the Karns
City Area School District (M = 23.6, SD = 18.2).
Table 8: Comparison of Risk Factors
Risk Factor Rating t-Test: Two-Sample
Assuming Equal Variances
Cyber
Students
Mean
Variance
Observations
Pooled Variance
Hypothesized Mean Difference
df
KCASD
Students
27.38
23.63
402.85
332.70
24
24
367.77
0
46
t Stat
0.68
P(T<=t) one-tail
0.25
t Critical one-tail
1.68
P(T<=t) two-tail
0.50
t Critical two-tail
2.01
In Table 9, data represented characteristics that were reported as the mean for
each variable, along with the difference between the two groups. The cyber school group
reported higher means in the areas of economic status, IEP status, and gender designation
of being male. With a small sample size, it would be cautioned not to generalize that this
data accurately described all cyber school students in this setting. Instead, it would be
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
80
appropriate to explore this area in more depth in order to determine the validity of what
seems to be a difference in the too comparable data sets.
Table 9: Comparison of Economic Status, IEP Status, and Gender
Cyber School
Students
n = 24
KCASD Students
Change
Free/Reduced Lunch
45.8%
33.3%
+12.5
IEP Status
25.0%
12.5%
+12.5
Female
45.8%
54.2%
-8.4
Male
54.2%
45.8%
+8.4
n = 24
Source: KCASD edInsight OnHand Schools
Summary of Results for Research Question 2
Before completing the review of the available data that existed within the student
database containing demographic information on students, it was expected that certain
data would show enough of a difference for cyber students as compared to traditional
public school students that would be significant. If so, these data would serve to provide a
clue as to what characteristics could be discretely monitored and that help predict the
likelihood that a student would depart the school system for an external cyber school.
Unfortunately, of the characteristics looked at in this study, none proved to show enough
significance to be used in the manner that was originally hoped. The data from this
research question does, however, start to show a pattern in the characteristics for a
potential cyber student but not with enough validity to make solid predictive decisions on
who would likely depart and who would not.
IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Research Question 3
The review of the literature helped address research question three by asking:
What are the best practices for the design and operation of online cyber classes for K-12
students? The literature around online learning programs for K-12 students originates
from the mid-1990s and builds upon research and practice from the K-12 distance
education era (Cavanaugh, Barbour, & Clark, 2009). Themes throughout the literature
included steady growth and a focus on the benefits, challenges, and broad effectiveness
of K-12 online learning. Also, newly developed standards for K-12 online learning have
emerged in descriptions of effective practices.
Table 1 contained national standards for online teaching published by the
International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL). These standards reflect
what online teachers should be able to do for evaluation purposes and were designed to
provide quality guidelines for online teaching (iNACOL, 2011, p. 4-16).
Table 1. National Standard for Quality Online Teaching, Version 2
Standard A - The online teacher knows the primary concepts and structures of
effective online instruction and is able to create learning experiences to enable student
success.
Standard B - The online teacher understands and is able to use a range of
technologies, both existing and emerging, that effectively support student learning and
engagement in the online environment.
Standard C - The online teacher plans, designs, and incorporates strategies to
encourage active learning, application, interaction, participation, and collaboration in
the online environment.
Standard D - The online teacher promotes student success through clear expectations,
prompt responses, and regular feedback.
Standard E - The online teacher models, guides, and encourages legal, ethical, and
safe behavior related to technology use.
Standard F - The online teacher is cognizant of the diversity of student academic
needs and incorporates accommodations into the online environment.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
Standard G - The online teacher demonstrates competencies in creating and
implementing assessments in online learning environments in ways that ensure the
validity and reliability of the instruments and procedures.
Standard H - The online teacher develops and delivers assessments, projects, and
assignments that meet standards-based learning goals and assesses learning progress by
measuring student achievement of the learning goals.
Standard I - The online teacher demonstrates competency in using data from
assessments and other data sources to modify content and to guide student learning.
Standard J - The online teacher interacts in a professional, effective manner with
colleagues, parents, and other members of the community to support students’ success.
Standard K - The online teacher arranges media and content to help students and
teachers transfer knowledge most effectively in the online environment.
Effective online programs for K-12 learners will need to include frequent teacher
contact with students and parents, lessons that were divided into short segments, and
regular feedback provided on the student’s progress (Cavanaugh et al. 2004). Entities
that plan to operate an online program need to determine if the online program will offer
asynchronous or have synchronous classes. Each style has benefits, but with the age of
the students in K-12 and their needs, a model that permits synchronous instruction
permitting timely and frequent feedback will likely be more effective in delivering new
instruction than an asynchronous program. Ideally, the program would have some of both
components where it combines synchronous and asynchronous instructional methods.
Teachers who incorporate a balance between the two when they plan the structure of their
online courses enable students to have time to reflect on their learning but also provide
regular opportunities for synchronous communication can increase the sense of
community among students (DiPietro, Ferdig, Black, & Preston, 2008). This can allow
for opportunities for immediate feedback on assignments or discussions related to content
that was delivered and mirror the traditional style of learning but with the flexibility of
the online or remote learning platform.
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IMPROVING THE KC CYBER ACADEMY
An additional element of online learning for students in the K-12 setting was the
need for parental involvement. Teachers need to engage and contact parents, and vice
versa, if there were concerns about a student’s performance in an online course.
Establishing an open channel of communication between the teacher and the parent of the
online student increased the likelihood that the student was successful. The research
suggested that parental involvement maybe even more important for online students than
those in face-to-face classrooms because of time students spend learning at home without
the direct guidance of the teacher (Liu, Black, Algina, Cavanaugh, & Dawson, 2010).
Educators are starting to accept that when learners have some control over their
learning environment, they are more successful (Cavanaugh et al., 2013). In many online
courses, students were permitted the ability to have an increased level of control, which
in turn increased the level of engagement and ownership in their learning. More online
courses are now moving toward individualized learning plans and concept mastery rather
than discrete tasks such as homework and worksheets. Courses that assessed a student
and dynamically provided content that fit the student’s learning needs were considered
most effective and contributed to learning (Curtis, 2013).
Summary of Results for Research Question 3
Characteristics of successful online experiences were ones with two-way
communication between the teacher and student, parental involvement in a way that
supported the experience, had defined expectations of the student, provided frequent
feedback opportunities, and were flexible. Students must be self-motivated, engaged,
willing to participate and be accountable for their learning. Parents should be available to
monitor, mentor, and motivate their children as they complete their work.
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Research has found that synchronous communication offered teachers and
students benefits. The environment was more authentic and closer to what students would
find in a traditional classroom situation. Discussions were productive, and the
conversation moved at a much faster pace. Similarities to face-to-face conversations can
promote a sense of community among students, and students could receive immediate
feedback on ideas (Hrastinski, 2008; Journell, Beeson, Crave, Gomez, Linton, & Taylor,
2013; Mabrito, 2006).
Conclusion
In Chapter IV, a summary of the findings from data collection methods employed
in the study to learn more about the reasons parents chose cyber learning for their child
and what a school system can learn about these reasons so that it may better compete and
retain students in their online program. There were some statistically significant
relationships between the variables of economically disadvantaged status, education of
the parent, student grade level, and gender of the student. Although no simple, definitive
profile of the typical student who leaves the traditional education setting was developed,
there were characteristics that surfaced for the parents and their children who attend
cyber schools as compared to the average student who stays enrolled in the public school
setting.
In the case of the parents, a majority of the sample population was looked at in
this study could be described as being less educated, felt like they had no other choice but
to enroll their child in a cyber school, were unaware of the KC Cyber Academy option,
and valued their child earning a high school diploma. The typical student that ended up
transitioning to a cyber school could be described as more often than not, a male in grade
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7-9, from an economically disadvantaged household, had a dislike toward homework and
schoolwork, and reported liking the change once they switched to the new school.
It was clear that although there were some objective characteristics that can help
the school system be more observant to the student that might struggle in the traditional
setting and consider cyber school, cultivating relationships that help anchor the student to
the school played a significant role in keeping them enrolled in the school system.
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CHAPTER V
Conclusions
Introduction
Although the Karns City Area School District has operated the KC Cyber
Academy for several years, it has been underutilized as a resource to effectively recruit
external cyber school students back to our school system. When first established, the
option was used as an effort to reduce the number of future students that would leave the
school system and ignored the students that had already left. Overlooking the problem
was the result of internal uncertainty on how best to address the problem of students
leaving the school district and its effect on the system’s budget.
Initially, I was looking to creating an online option that permitted students to take
classes that our school system offered without restriction, much like that of what an
external cyber school permits and provides for its students. Unfortunately, our teacher
association and some board members were concerned that this would lead to accelerating
the number of students leaving the school system and thus preferred a more narrowed
option. Therefore, we built our program predominately to help retain the students that
were deemed at risk and focused our efforts there with the programming.
In the first year, the program was helpful in educating five students that very well
would have left for an external cyber school or, worse, dropped out of school altogether.
As a school system, we felt good about our initial efforts, but we failed to bring back any
students that already left the school system. We also did not have a real sense of why
students or their parents were deciding to leave our school district. Knowing the reasons
why students left became essential to identifying what we needed to do differently to
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bring them back. This, coupled with the sheer cost of tuition paid to external schools per
year, brought about a new sense of urgency to the problem.
As mentioned in the onset of this study, during the 2018-2019 school-year, a total
of forty-five Karns City Area School District students were enrolled in an external cyber
school for at least part of the school year at an overall cost of $487,041 to our school
district. This loss in revenue could be used to help provide our students with more
opportunities if it could somehow be recaptured and keep within the school district.
Parental Survey and Reasons that Parents Enroll their Children in Cyber School
The desired outcome of this study was to understand why parents enroll their
child in a cyber school rather than keeping the student in the school district. Learning
about the reasons contributing to the decision would help us be able to identify changes
to our program that would make it an attractive alternative to a cyber school. A parental
survey was used to obtain feedback that could be used to determine why parents made the
decision they do. The survey instrument contained a mix of closed-ended and open-ended
questions that parents could answer. This provided me with an opportunity to use
quantitative and qualitative methods to gain a better understanding of the issue.
Appendix B contains a copy of the survey instrument that was used to probe
parents of students that enrolled their child in an external cyber school to obtain their
viewpoints. In total, I provided information on the online survey to 110 parents via a
mailing that contained the required privacy notices on the survey, my intention for
conducting the study, and information on how the participants could access the survey
link to complete the survey. Although the survey completion rate was only 14.5%, the
results helped provide factual data from the parent’s perspective. During the process of
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mailing the surveys, I received 20.9% or 23 survey invitations in return mail by the post
office for reasons such as “not deliverable as addressed,” “unable to forward,” and
“vacant.” I reviewed the information with the business office, and we were able to
determine that at least two students had moved from our school district to a neighboring
school district. Correcting this resulted in reducing the number of external cyber school
students from forty-five to forty-three and lowered our cyber school cost by over
$11,000. The high non-deliverable rate and low participation rate indicate that this
population group is transient and not as attached to the school district as families of
students that remain in the school district.
In analyzing the responses, it is telling that some patterns surfaced from the
parent’s responses. Parents that responded to the survey reported that by a 2:1 margin or
specifically, 68.8% to 31.3% that their child’s gender was male, which indicates that
more males leave our school system than do female students for an external cyber school.
This relationship was verified by reviewing the gender of all students that were enrolled
in an external cyber school and finding that 71.8% were male and 28.2% female. Further
analysis of the student body shows that it is almost equally divided, with 47.9% male and
52.1% female. The responses indicated for student gender provided validation that
respondents were representational to the population group as a whole and that male
students are more prone to leave our school system than female students.
Although only 1 of 16 or 6.3% of the parents reported having earned a bachelor’s
degree, all respondents indicated that they valued their child obtaining a high school
diploma. The data on the educational level of the parents complements the findings from
a study by Mann & Baker (2019), which reported many rural school districts in
Pennsylvania had lower percentages of per capita of adult residents that had obtained a
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bachelor’s degree level of education. Even though most of the parents 14 of 16 or 87.5%
did not earn more than a high school diploma, they valued education and wanted their
child to finish school and at least earn their diploma.
Another trend that surfaced from the data was that 14 of 16 or 87.5% of the
respondents reported that their child first attended an external cyber school sometime
when their child was in grades 7-12, which would be our school district’s secondary
school building. In particular, 12 of 16 or 75% of the parents reported that their child
departed the school system when they would have been in junior high school with eighth
and ninth grades seeing the highest rate of departure. This information warrants us taking
a closer look at these grade levels to determine if there are additional resources needed to
help reduce the number of these students leaving our school system in junior.
Parents shared that their child was more likely to pursue a job post-graduation as
compared to the option of pursuing additional schooling, with l3 of 16 or 81.3% making
such selection. Therefore, our school system should review its career readiness plan to
verify that students have access to meaningful opportunities that prepare them with the
skills that lead directly to employment. Parents also reported that their children liked the
change in educational placement with the data showing that the change to the cyber
school was determined to be significantly positive.
Surprisingly, parents reported that schoolwork or, more specifically, homework
was a problem area for their child. The open-ended responses that parents provided
indicated that the homework assigned was either unrelated to what was being taught,
being just busywork, was rarely graded, and of little value to the learning process. All 15
responses to the question were negative in some way about the quality or volume of the
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homework assigned by the teachers. It was clear from the responses that teachers could
benefit from some training in the area of how to select fewer but high-quality homework
problems that support the content being taught. Until this happens, there will continue to
be a disconnect between what is taught and what is assigned as homework as there is no
expectation this pattern changes on its own without intervention. This problem not only
contributes to students leaving our school system but holds students back from reaching
their educational potential. Working with teachers through professional development in
this area presents an opportunity to benefit all students by enabling teachers to provide
targeted assignments that translate into meaningful outcomes.
I also asked parents two questions that probed whether their child had any
problems while attending the school district. I expected to find that bullying or issues
with peers would be identified as the highest-rated problem for students by parents. The
data, however, surprised me with 9 of 16 or 56.3% indicating there were problems with
classmates, and 14 of 16 or 87.5% indicating there were problems with teachers. It was
not expected that problems with teachers would rank as the highest item selected by the
parents. The parental responses make it apparent that staff training in the area of how to
build positive relationships with students could be beneficial. Creating supportive
relationships between teachers and students would help students feel connected to their
school.
It is possible that some teachers are unaware of their impact on their students.
Simply sharing and discussing the data from this study with the teaching staff is a good
first step. The awareness of the problem could lead to changes in interactions and a
reduction in the feeling that teachers show indifference to certain students and ignore the
behaviors of some students while disciplining others. Additionally, negative behaviors
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should decrease by building positive relationships that create mutual respect. Working
collaboratively and helping teachers become aware of the impact they can have on their
students could be an important step taken to help reduce the number of students that
depart our school system for a cyber school.
The survey revealed that more parents felt they were out of options when making
the decision to enroll their child in a cyber school than thought the cyber school was
better than the traditional school setting. Frustratingly, one parent indicated that a school
principal told her that she might as well enroll her child in a cyber school because “she
wouldn’t make it at KC.” This response did not help the student, the parent, or the school
system and exemplified the need for further discussion on how best to address stressful
situations.
The survey also reported that 15 of 16 or 93.8% of the parents were unaware that
the school district provided an alternative option to its traditional educational model
through the KC Cyber Academy, enabling students to take online classes. Creating a
professional-looking brochure that can be shared with information on the KC Cyber
Academy option would be a simple step to ensure students and parents are at least aware
of the option.
Comparison of Student Demographic Data
The second question in this study addressed the identification of patterns from
demographic data that might surface from reviewing student data that the school district
had on students that left the school system for a cyber school with data on students that
stay with the school system. A review of the school district’s student information
database edInsight enabled data to be pulled and provided to the researcher in an
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anonymous format. The edInsight system had demographic data such as student
absences, math GPA, language arts GPA, science GPA, economic status based on free
and reduced lunch eligibility, IEP status, gender, and a risk factor that was generated by
edInsight on twenty-four students that left the school system and subsequently enrolled in
an external cyber school.
A control group was selected with twenty-four students that were randomly
selected to test for relationships between the variables mentioned to see if any patterns
started to develop that would describe the typical student that departs for a cyber school.
Interestingly, variables such as attendance, math GPA, language arts GPA, science GPA,
and edInsight’s Risk Factor showed no significant difference for students that left the
school system and from those that stayed in the school system. Although the sample size
was small, it provided an objective comparison based on data.
Data on variables such as economic status, IEP status, and gender showed
differences between the two groups. The pattern that developed shows that most students
that enrolled in an external cyber school were from economically disadvantaged
households, had an IEP and were male. This profile is supported by the data but should
not be relied on a definitive without further study that involves a larger sample size and
differentiation of degrees within each variable. For example, although attendance rates in
either group did not show as significantly different in this study, specific types of
attendance should be explored further to determine if there is a correlation. The same
could be said about looking at more closely at discipline infractions to determine if a
correlation exists with specific infractions and consequences that were assigned.
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The third question in this study focused on whether the review of the literature
would identify the best practices for the design and operation of online cyber classes for
K-12 students? The literature around online learning programs for K-12 students
originates from the mid-1990s and builds upon research and practice from the K-12
distance education era (Cavanaugh et al., 2009). Themes throughout the literature include
steady growth and a focus on the benefits, challenges, and broad effectiveness of K-12
online learning. Also, newly developed standards for K-12 online learning have emerged
in descriptions of effective practices.
School districts that can create well-designed online and blended courses and
offer students guidance along with explicit instructions, so they know how to “get
started” with their work can address the void that currently exists in a school operated
online program. In addition, providing assessments, instructional materials, interactions,
and technology that align with measurable learning objectives will assist students with
success. Ensuring these components work together can become a struggle for districts
and organizations to create their own courses. Therefore, the design of online classes and
the operation of an in-house online program will require a team effect with a realist
vision.
It could be that it is necessary to purchase online courses from a commercial
provider and use them for the curriculum or seek permission to adapt their course content
to match the existing school district curriculum than the development of one’s material
from the start. With the current nationwide challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, an
immediate and intense focus has been placed on online learning. Almost every school
district in the country was confronted with the need to provide some form of online
learning to students during the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Therefore, there is no
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doubt that the concept of online or remote learning is in for a transformation where it will
become a legitimate part of the traditional public school’s educational offering. It will be
improved and will become an acceptable method of K-12 delivery.
Limitations of this Study
There are several study limitations that should be considered when interpreting
the data and recommendations from this study. First, the participation rate of the parents
in the survey was 14.5%, with 16 of the total 110 parents participating. Care was taken to
encourage the parents to participate, and with more time, additional follow up reminders
would have been sent to remind and explain the importance of obtaining their views.
Even though the response rate was somewhat low, the data suggest that the parents that
did respond do represent the population group.
Secondly, although obtaining the views of the parents was informative to this
study, it would also be desirable to engage the students directly to obtain firsthand
responses to the questions to better understand the reasons why students leave the school
system and enroll in a cyber school program. The vulnerability of student participation in
a research study must be weighed and carefully protected, and, in this case, their opinions
could serve as a crosscheck to the opinions of their parents.
Thirdly, when comparing the data on students that left the school system to the
data on those that remained with the school system, the sample size of the group that
departed was small at only twenty-four. Therefore, the comparison was made by
constructing a randomly selected equal size group of twenty-four from the data on the
students that stayed enrolled in the school system. With a larger set of data, the ability to
drawn additional and stronger conclusions may develop.
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Lastly, when conducting the review of literature, it was realized that most of the
current research on online learning has occurred in the higher education arena or has
focused on the academic performance of students in cyber schools as compared to
students in K-12. Limited research has occurred on the specific reasons why students
gravitate to cyber schools from rural public school settings, and therefore generalizing
should be done with caution.
Financial Implications
The cost of students attending external cyber schools is significant to the school
district exceeding $480,000 per year and will continue unless efforts are made to stem the
departure of students. During the survey portion of the study, it was discussed the school
district was charged tuition for part of a school year for two students that no longer
resided in the school district. This matter was reconciled, and the school district
recovered a little more than $11,000 that it may otherwise never became aware of without
this study. This discovery has led to a process of verifying the physical addresses of the
cyber school students to ensure that they still reside at the address listed on the billing
invoice.
The cost of creating promotional materials for the KC Cyber Academy to share
with parents and students of our school district would be nominal at under $2000. The
money needed for this has already been recovered by recruiting two students back to the
school system that were previously in an external cyber school. After the mailing of the
parental survey forms, one parent reached out, asking for information on our internal
program. The material that we had lacked eye appeal but was informative, and along with
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talking with the parent was enough for her to decide to enroll her students in the KC
Cyber Academy.
Additional money will be needed to be able to expand the course offerings and to
provide personal support for our online classes. The expanded course offerings would be
scalable and are currently purchased from a third-party vendor on a per-student or perclass basis. Therefore, the school district’s financial exposure would be limited to the
actual cost of content purchased and only when needed. Increasing the personal support
to students using our teachers in this setting would be a valued added expense and come
at an additional cost unless instructional time can be scheduled during the regular
workday. Realistically, to provide adequate support, some supplemental payment would
need to be negotiated with the professional staff association for time worked beyond the
contracted day to work with KC Cyber Academy students. I would anticipate that, at
minimum, $15,000 be allocated for supplemental payments for content area teachers to
offer help and support to students outside of the teacher workday.
Funding for professional development for the teachers will also be needed but
could be incorporated into the overall existing professional development budget because
the skills needed are now universally important for all teachers in the system to acquire.
The cost of expanding the KC Cyber Academy would be estimated to be approximately
$17,000 plus an additional $20,000 in online content costs if twenty students enrolled in
the program. Assuming the plan and allocation would be approved by the Board of
School Directors and twenty external cyber school students participated, the school
district would need to possibly spend $57,000 to be able to reduce expenses in cyber
tuition by approximately $200,000 for a net savings of over $140,000.
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Future Direction and Recommendations
The Karns City Area School District created the KC Cyber Academy several
years to help keep students from leaving for an external cyber school placement. The
intentions were good, and the online programming expanded to include support for
students needing remediation and enrichment opportunities. However, the KC Cyber
Academy was never effectively promoted as a viable option to external cyber schools in
part because there was a concern from some that too many students would choose the
online option over the traditional school day.
There has been very little positive associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, but it
has emphasized the need for quality online learning in the K-12 setting. What was
unthinkable in February 2020 became a reality in March 2020, with public schools closed
in Pennsylvania and across the country. Unable to operate schools in the traditional sense,
online learning became the only way to move forward with education. Our school system
embraced the challenge and continued with the KC Cyber Academy for students enrolled
in it and used Google Classroom as a method to deliver instruction to as many other
students remotely as we could with the devices that we had on hand.
The pandemic forced our system to adjust, and we accomplished what would
normally have taken years to occur in a matter of months. We undertook immediate
planning steps to bolster our ability to offer online content by purchasing additional
Chromebooks so that every student would have their own device to use for the 2020-2021
school year. Parents have been surveyed to find out which homes do not have Internet
access, and we are exploring options such as hotspots and expanding our building Wi-Fi
access to parking lots for drive-up access to download and upload schoolwork in the
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future. Probably as important as anything else, the attitudes of the teachers has changed
from being somewhat resistant to online learning to one of acceptance.
Teachers now understand that if we do not offer a quality option and experience
for our students that meet their needs, students will leave and enroll in external cyber
schools. Through open and honest dialogue, they now realize the financial cost to the
school system when students leave. The decline in enrollment and the cost has finally
been associated directly with the scale of the operation and how it could negatively
impact teaching positions if we fail to make needed changes. Some staff have taken the
initiative and suggested that the school district discuss a staff run online program.
With the need for change and improvement growing out of the pandemic’s
closures of schools, an opportunity presents itself to work collaboratively with the
teaching staff to build a better online program for our students. A memorandum of
understanding will be sought with the Karns City Education Association that will codify
the use of our staff to provide online learning even beyond the current pandemic. We can
proceed with promoting it as a viable option and use our teaching staff to engage students
interactively. Professional development will be offered and be required in the areas of
online instruction and teaching techniques to make the experience easier for teachers and
consistent for students. All teachers and administrators will engage in dialogue on how to
build genuine relationships with students and parents that demonstrate they are valued
and establish a sense of connectedness to the school.
Future Studies and Research
This study identified some of the reasons why students leave our school system
for and external cyber school and provided information on potential changes that would
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help improve our KC Cyber Academy. Additional studies should focus on a more indepth look into the effect specific types of student absences from school and specific
discipline infractions to determine the impact these variables have on the decision parents
make regarding their child’s education. Although this study did not reveal a definitive
profile for the student that is most likely to leave the school system for a cyber school, it
confirmed the characteristics that start to describe the student who does. In this study, the
characteristics of the student that left the school system pointed to that student being a
male in grades 7-9, with an IEP, and who qualifies for a free or reduced lunch.
These traits deserve a closer look to determine why they fit the pattern of a typical
cyber student from our school district. A future study could focus on one of these
categories to further identify interventions that the school could implement to reduce the
likelihood of the student departing. Lastly, a study looking at the connectedness that
students have with their teachers and school would be beneficial. It is apparent that most
students that left our school system for an external cyber school did so because they
became disenfranchised more so than thought the cyber school was better at providing
education.
Summary
This action research project helped identify some of the reasons parents remove
their children from our school system from the perspective of parents. It revealed
potential changes that the school system could make to its KC Cyber Academy to
enhance the experience of its students while saving the school district money. The study
refuted a misconception that students that left the school system did not do as well in
school academically as those that stayed. In fact, prior to leaving the school system, the
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students obtained similar grades to other students, they missed a similar number of days
of school per year, and they had a similar number of discipline infractions per year as
their peers.
The sharing of the results of the study with the administrative and teaching staff is
just the beginning of the next step in the process of revamping our online learning
program. Providing professional development to the teachers on how to plan, prepare,
and teach online classes will be ongoing and prioritized. The professional development
offered will support and underpin our current efforts of providing remote learning as a
result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately, education has fundamentally
changed due to the pandemic, and we need to strengthen our online offerings.
Further, collaborating with the teachers to establish a more positive learning
environment will lead to students wanting to stay in their home school. Improving the
school environment will increase the quality of education provided to students and will
decrease the loss of revenue the school district spends on cyber school tuition for
students. The changes that can be made in the upcoming school year should be positive
for the school system and its students.
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Appendix A
Informed Consent Form
TITLE OF STUDY
How can the Karns City Cyber Academy be Improved?
Informed Consent Letter
Dear Parent of a current or former Cyber School Student,
I am writing to you today as the Superintendent of the Karns City Area School District
and as a doctoral student at the California University of Pennsylvania. I want to invite
you to participate in a voluntary study that will help me better understand the reasons that
you chose to enroll your child in a cyber school. Your responses will be used to help
make improvements to our educational programming.
Purpose of Study and Contact Information
The purpose of this research project is to identify the key reasons why parents choose to
enroll their child in an external cyber school program as opposed to enrolling them in the
school district’s own cyber academy program. The project will be conducted by me and
has been approved by the California University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review
Board. This approval is effective 10/15/19 and expires on 08/15/20. If you have any
questions, I may be contacted at 724-756-2030 x 1021 or by emailing me at the following
email address: RIT2335@calu.edu I will conduct this study under the direction of Dr.
Peter Aiken, my faculty advisor at California University of Pennsylvania. His email
address is Aiken@calu.edu.
Participation is Voluntary
Your participation in this research study is voluntary, and there is minimal risk from your
participation. If you decide to participate in this research survey, you may withdraw at
any time. If you choose not to participate in this study or if you withdraw from
participating at any time, you will not be penalized. If you participate in the survey and
submit your responses, you are providing your consent for your data to be used in this
project. No monetary value is provided for participation in the study.
What will you be asked to do?
The procedure involves completing an online survey that will take approximately 5-7
minutes. Your responses will be confidential, and I will not collect identifying
information such as your name, email address, or IP address. The survey questions will
be about your general background, your child’s interests, your knowledge of online
learning options, and the reasons why you made the choice that you made for your child’s
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learning. You will have the opportunity to provide comments during the survey if you
wish.
What happens to the data and who has access to it?
All data is stored in a password protected electronic format. The survey will not contain
information that will personally identify you. The results of this study will be used for
scholarly purposes that will lead to improvements in our school district’s educational
programming and shared with California University of Pennsylvania representatives. All
online survey responses will be deleted after the study is completed.
Steps to complete the Parent Cyber School Survey
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Please go to the school district’s webpage which is www.kcasdk12.org
Hover on the “For Parents” tab
Click on the “Parent Cyber School Survey” tab
Click on the word “Survey” to open the survey
The password for the survey is 2020
Your opinions truly matter! Thank you for your consideration in participating in this
study. If you completed this survey by February 7, 2020, it would be most helpful.
Respectfully,
Eric Ritzert
Consent will be accepted & signed online when you open survey
I have read this consent form, and I understand that my participation is voluntary and that
I am free to withdraw at any time, without giving a reason. I also understand that
returning the surveys associated with this study is an indication of consent to use the data
collected from the surveys.
Institutional Review Board Approval
This action research project has been approved by the California University of
Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board, effective 8/15/19 and expiring 8/14/20.
Participant's signature ______________________________ Date __________
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Appendix B
Online Parent Survey Instrument
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Submit
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Appendix C
Internal Review Board Approval
Institutional Review Board
California University of Pennsylvania
Morgan Hall, 310
250 University Avenue
California, PA 15419
instreviewboard@calu.edu
Melissa Sovak, Ph.D.
Dear Eric,
Please consider this email as official notification that your proposal titled
“How can the KC Cyber Academy be improved (Proposal #18-083) has been
approved by the California University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review
Board as amended.
The effective date of approval is 8/15/19 and the expiration date is 8/14/20.
These dates must appear on the consent form.
Please note that Federal Policy requires that you notify the IRB promptly
regarding any of the following:
(1) Any additions or changes in procedures you might wish for your study
(additions or changes must be approved by the IRB before they are
implemented)
(2) Any events that affect the safety or well-being of subjects
(3) Any modifications of your study or other responses that are
necessitated by any events reported in (2).
(4) To continue your research beyond the approval expiration date of
8/14/20 you must file additional information to be considered for continuing
review. Please contact instreviewboard@calu.edu
Please notify the Board when data collection is complete.
Regards,
Melissa Sovak, PhD.
Chair, Institutional Review Board
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Appendix D
Student Data Anonymity Verification Letter
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