According to an article by Chalkbeat, public school enrollment dropped this past year in many states. With public schools announcing their 2020-21 school year plans, some parents and guardians opted to send their children to cyber school. Two main reasons why students were enrolled in cyber vs. public school this past year is due to a fear that sending students to the physical classroom could lead to the spread of COVID-19 to older family members, and/or feeling as though public schools weren't fit to educate students to the same extent in a hybrid/online format.
Although a godsend for families in certain circumstances, cyber schools have proved to be detrimental to public school funding and more importantly to student learning. The majority of public school districts are funded on a per-pupil basis. At the start of the new fiscal year, many states require school districts to submit an official enrollment count to determine their funding for the subsequent year in state aid. This provides a loss for low-income school districts who already face tight budgets, which are largely based on state aid vs. property tax. Also, national evaluations revealed that cyber students tend to score lower on year-end tests and also have lower growth in learning over time than public school students (Brookings article). Nonetheless, these online programs are not providing proficient academic results that students need for post-K-12 careers or higher education.
This school year was one of many hurdles for teachers to overcome. As discussed in earlier blog posts, teachers learned to get creative with video conferencing, instructional technologies, lessons, and assessments, as well as remaining flexible and working with constant change. Public school educators of all subject areas and grade levels worked incredibly hard this year, particularly by means of providing a great education under new circumstances.
Going forward, if public schools were to continue with an optional hybrid model of education, this could not only spike enrollment for students wanting to choose their means of instruction, but it also has the potential to incentivize cyber students to attend public school virtually. Now that public school teachers have learned to conduct hybrid classes with maximum student participation, and given that students are provided with continual access to the same technologies provided during the pandemic, there's no reason why schools can't offer courses virtually for interested cyber students. Being fully online in a public school classroom may be a better option than fully online instruction for some of these students, as they can feel part of the class by learning with them and collaborating in groups. This form of enrollment may also incentivize these students to join school clubs, activities, or sports, making them into well-rounded students, in which they may not feel inclined to participate in if they were enrolled in a cyber school. Overall, it's my wish that public school districts continue with their hybrid models of learning and promote them for the sake of incentivizing cyber-to-public school enrollment.
Sources:
https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/12/22/22193775/states-public-school-enrollment-decline-covid
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2019/06/24/do-cyber-charter-schools-harm-public-education-for-the-most-disadvantaged/
Image source: https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/learning.html2
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