Log-on Learning

Michael Jonas:

As online education continues to grow, says Bill Tucker, the managing director of Education Sector, a Washing­ton, DC, think tank, we need to strike a balance that encourages innovation while also holding schools and companies accountable for results. "I want the sector to have the space to grow," says Tucker, who specializes in education technology and virtual school issues. "At the same time, it would be foolish or naïve just to think, 'OK, let everybody do what they want and it will just naturally get better.'"

When it comes to full-time virtual schools, the state is now trying to figure out how to strike that balance. Mitchell Chester, the state's education commissioner, says he thinks there is "a small percentage of the population for whom this mode of learning would be beneficial." But he says he is "very uncomfortable" with the provision of the 2010 reform law that allows districts to decide on their own to open virtual schools that enroll students statewide. The Green­field-based school is "a statewide school with no role for the state," he says.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at April 16, 2012 3:40 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas