A Washington state survey of 2008-09 online learning supplied by public schools found:
o Programs surveyed had 13,130 students (full-time equivalent 9,445); about 1 million students attend Washington’s public schools.
o Females account for 55 percent of online learners, while they comprise 48.5 percent of K-12 students statewide.
o Top self-reported reasons students enrolled online: 34 percent, course not available at school; 28 percent, make up failed credits needed to graduate; 16 percent, earn credits needed to graduate.
o Top subjects taken: language arts and social studies (23.1 percent and 20.1 percent), followed by foreign language and mathematics (14.7 percent and 14.4 percent).
A Washington state survey of 2008-09 online learning supplied by public schools found:
o Programs surveyed had 13,130 students (full-time equivalent 9,445); about 1 million students attend Washington's public schools.
o Females account for 55 percent of online learners, while they comprise 48.5 percent of K-12 students statewide.
o Top self-reported reasons students enrolled online: 34 percent, course not available at school; 28 percent, make up failed credits needed to graduate; 16 percent, earn credits needed to graduate.
o Top subjects taken: language arts and social studies (23.1 percent and 20.1 percent), followed by foreign language and mathematics (14.7 percent and 14.4 percent).
o For the complete survey, click here
o For the complete survey, click here
Evergreen Public Schools said a recent Washington state report overstates the dollars lost in the first year of its Internet-only learning program offered to students statewide.
State officials defend their estimate. But they also agree with the district that start-up costs were the chief culprit and that its iQ Academy could soon run in the black.
“We’re going to be break-even this year, there’s no question about that,” said Mike Merlino, Evergreen district financial director.
He said there might even be a small profit this school year, as much as $50,000.
Merlino said the district lost $280,000 in the 2008-09 school year, when it first offered online courses to hundreds of students.
That compares to a $494,000 loss estimated in a December report to state legislators compiled by the Digital Learning Department of the state’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Evergreen was among 10 districts asked to submit financial data for its program, out of 30 similar, tuition-free programs surveyed by OSPI. Six of those 10 districts lost money last school year, led by the Spokane district’s estimated $527,000 shortfall, the report said.
Two complications blur the findings, however.
Student online enrollment and financial data were supplied by different departments in most school districts. Not all the resulting discrepancies could be reconciled, OSPI notes.
OSPI then plugged enrollment figures into its own formula to estimate overall program costs and income, such as indirect staff costs and the per-student state education dollars that follow each online student a district registers.
The formula was an imperfect effort, researchers and Merlino were quick to point out.
Bottom line: No one’s very concerned about the losses.
“New programs, the wheels are square. It takes some time to make them round,” said Martin Mueller, OSPI assistant superintendent of student support. “I think that’s definitely the case for these digital programs … it’s going to take some practice,” he said.
Already, Evergreen is tweaking its contract with KC Distance Learning, a Portland-based firm that provides iQ Academy curriculum to several states, besides other programs. Evergreen holds the exclusive iQ Academy franchise rights in Washington.
Merlino said Evergreen and KC will adjust reimbursement rates for the rest of a five-year deal, now that the district has a clearer idea of staffing needs.
Anne Sturdevant, who directs the district’s iQ Academy and Home Choice Academy programs, oversees about 10 Evergreen-hired teachers (measured on a full-time basis) matched with the equivalent of 409 full-time students.
Some teachers lead students through an entire course schedule; other “brick-and-mortar” classroom instructors earn supplemental pay to teach an online Advanced Placement course to much smaller groups, she said.
Evergreen spends about $2 million, mostly for curriculum, to serve the 387 high-school and 157 middle-school students now enrolled in iQ Academy, Merlino said. He puts this year’s gross revenue at $2.1 million.
That revenue, in the form of per-student state money, stands to rise if Evergreen continues to attract nondistrict students. Right now, three-fourths of iQ Academy’s full-time students live elsewhere.
District leaders say they launched the program to give Evergreen students an alternate learning path, not to build a new profit center. Still, fear of losing students, and dollars, to competing online programs offered a strong motive.
“We’re not in it to make money; we’re certainly not in a position to lose money,” Merlino said.
Howard Buck: 360-735-4515 or howard.buck@columbian.com.
