Dive Brief:

• The Wyoming Department of Education's Distance Education Task Force has released new recommendations regarding cyber schools and distance education models in an effort to "better support traditional students and those who attend online schools."
• The new proposal encourages enabling students in traditional high schools to take single classes online, and students enrolled full-time in online schools to take single classes at traditional “brick and mortar” schools.
• Some 50% of districts in Wyoming believed students “would benefit from online offerings of advanced placement courses, additional world languages not currently offered in schools, credit recovery courses, and higher courses for gifted and talented students,” the Tribune Eagle reports.

Dive Insight:

The state’s new proposal, based on a 46-page task force report released two weeks ago on October 15, covers a lot of ground: part-time versus full-time virtual ed options, benefits and challenges for Wyoming students, how all students can equally access virtual learning option, and general recommendations.

Some of the new recommendations include the creation of an online pre-registration system, creating a separate system of virtual program performance reporting for assessment and accountability, requiring annual PD for virtual educators, and creating a “seat-time equivalency to measure student progress and funding.” The task force also recommended the creation of a new committee called “WAVE,” an acronym for ”Wyoming Advancement of Virtual Education,” offering a draft WAVE charter.

In other states, online K-12 efforts have hit roadblocks. The Ohio legislature has struggled to come to terms with questions around virtual student truancy and for-profit online learning programs in relation to Ohio Virtual Academy, and in Pennsylvania, similar concerns around accountability and cyber schools have been raised. In Oregon, class size has become contentious, reportedly topping 55 students at the state’s largest online schools, Oregon Connections Academy and Oregon Virtual Academy.