AUSTINTOWN, Ohio - More students are enrolling in online K-12 schools across Ohio but is this the right option for your child?
21 News spoke with an expert who says there are multiple factors to consider when making a decision.
"The not having to wake up at 6:00 a.m., 5:30 a.m. to being able to wake up whenever I want and knowing I can still get it all done, everything that needs to be done," said Anthony Hill, a senior at Austintown Fitch High School's online program "Falcon Pride Online."
Last school year, Anthony left the school's brick and mortar building for the district's cyber program.
"His grades have improved almost dramatically," said his dad, Rick Hill.
A research professor at Kent State University warns the online classroom isn't cut out for everyone.
"The kind of student that succeeds are the students who have good motivation, good time keeping skills, the kind that have good writing skills, computer literacy skills. Students who don't have those skills typically don't succeed in these online courses," said Rick Ferdig, Ph.D. KSU Research Professor at the Research Center for Educational Technology.
Ferdig said parents also need to look into the type of program.
In Ohio there are about 25 e-community schools, which are basically charter schools. Some are self paced for each child and others have 25 to 30 kids who are taking the course from the same start date to end date. There are programs in which every student has to be logged on at the same time and others that don't. Plus there are blended approaches.
Some districts have conversion schools. Austintown Local Schools, which has open enrollment, doesn't have a conversion school but has still started an online program with their own teachers.
Austintown Local Schools Director of 21st Century Learning, Janet Polish, said "We saw the need that we were losing a lot of our students to other online schools. So instead of losing these students we said why don't we still do it ourselves even without the grant to support us."
A concern for some parents with kids making the switch to online schools is the opportunity to be participating in extracurricular activities but students at Austintown Fitch who go to school online, have that chance.
"When students are online they're not just sitting in front of the computer. They may be in front of the computer but they may have to go out and do an activity with others in the neighborhood, with others on field trips to museums with other students and so forth," said Ferdig.
He said these students are gaining 21st century learning skills for college courses and professional development in the workplace, a chance to take more of a variety of courses and to meet diverse students online.
Another important factor to make it a successful experience is parents, according to Ferdig.
"The parents do have an important role and that can be both a pro or a con depending on the amount of time."
It's the only time of your life to go to school dances, which Anthony still plans to do. "I plan on going to senior prom" and then to Kent State University to major in journalism.
Report cards by the Ohio Department of Education on each of the e-community schools can be found at http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=115&ContentID=50598&Content=110382
Austintown's online program is counted in the school district's report card.
