Cyber Series

Policy Guide: Online and Blended Charter Schools

Charter schools create opportunities for educators to pursue new types of schools and innovative approaches to teaching and learning. One of the ways that charters are applying innovation is in the use of technology. Charter school authorizers increasingly face an array of charter proposals and schools that operate as cyber schools or that create blended learning environments. This Policy Guide examines the policy implications of this innovation.

Successfully Authorizing Blended Charter Schools

The third and final Issue Brief in this series is Successfully Authorizing Blended Charter Schools. Written by Public Impact, this resource aims to improve authorizer understanding and oversight of blended charter schools, which combine digital learning with instruction in brick-and-mortar locations. This brief begins with an explanation of the variety of blended charter school models, followed by a brief discussion of key issues for authorizer awareness and consideration in the blended charter school context, with attention to both initial approval and ongoing oversight. It then provides more specific guidance on evaluating proposals for blended charter schools. Finally, the brief provides general recommendations for overseeing and evaluating blended charter schools.

School Quality in the Cloud: Guidelines for Authorizing Virtual Charter Schools

This Issue Brief, authored by Margaret Lin, aims to improve authorizer understanding and oversight of online charter schools generally, with particular focus on strengthening authorizer practices in evaluating proposals for virtual charter schools. It provides guidance to authorizers in evaluating proposals for online charter schools – including identifying key application questions and review practices to evaluate virtual charter applicants’ plans and capacities. Lastly, the brief concludes with general recommendations for overseeing and evaluating online charter schools.

Key Questions for Reviewing Virtual Charter School Proposals

Use School Quality in the Cloud: Guidelines for Authorizing Virtual Charter Schools’ insert for key questions to consider when evaluating virtual charter school proposals. The insert is designed to help authorizers evaluate school quality and capacity in light of the distinctive attributes of virtual schooling.

An (Updated) Primer on Virtual Charter Schools: Mapping the Electronic Frontier

An (Updated) Primer on Virtual Charter Schools: Mapping the Electronic Frontier was originally written by Gregg Vanourek and updated by the Evergreen Education Group. This Issue Brief defines concepts in online learning, including full-time and blended learning. It also discusses recent trends in growth and governance of various types of online learning and virtual charter schools. Subsequent documents in this series will address specific adjustments to authorizer application and review processes, the emergence of and issues related to blended-learning environments that combine a brick-and-mortar setting with advances in technology, and policy issues associated with cyber schools and blended learning.

Authorizing Online Learning

By Susan Patrick, iNACOL and Tom Vander Ark, iNACOL

During this decade, American education will shift from print to digital, from flat and sequential content to engaging and adaptive, and from batch processing to personalized learning. There will also be a slow enrollment shift from traditional district-operated schools to schools and programs operated by organizations authorized under contracts or charter.

Quality Authorizing for Online and Blended-Learning Charter Schools

Authored by the Evergreen Education Group, Quality Authorizing for Online and Blended-Learning Charter Schools identifies key issues faced by authorizers of these types of schools.  This Monograph provides a preliminary scan of current authorizer practices related to online and blended learning.  The findings of this paper are based on in-depth interviews with seven authorizers with online and blended-learning charters in their portfolios.