A proposed virtual charter school based in Teaneck has led to a roiling debate about academic rigor and oversight of a new breed of schools where laptops replace most in-person interactions with teachers and classmates.
Education researchers say these full-time cyber schools are so new there is scant independent evidence on their outcomes for students. The founder of the proposed Garden State Virtual Charter School says he aims to provide a high-quality option for children statewide whose lives don’t fit the traditional school setting, but skeptics argue much is lost when students attend all their classes sitting at home.
Even so, virtual public schools are growing fast. Evergreen Education Group, a consultant, estimates 250,000 students in K-12 attend them full time nationwide, up 40 percent in the last three years. At least 27 states had at least one full-time virtual school last year, and most were charters. Two virtual charters are slated to open in September in New Jersey.
It is common these days for students in regular schools to take some courses online, but virtual schools present their full curriculum via computer, with Web conferencing, e-mails and videos. Some, such as the Garden State Virtual Charter proposal, require a parent or other “learning coach” to supervise children at home, while promising face-to-face tutoring by teachers when students struggle.
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