Virtual School Startups: Founder Processes in American K-12 Public Virtual Schools
Traditional school districts do not have a lot of experience with virtual schools and have lost students to state and charter virtual schools. To retain students and offer alternative learning opportunities, more public districts are starting their own virtual schools. This study was an examination...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Athabasca University Press
2018-02-01
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Series: | International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3205 |
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author | Brett Drushal Taylor Delores E. McNair |
author_facet | Brett Drushal Taylor Delores E. McNair |
author_sort | Brett Drushal Taylor |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Traditional school districts do not have a lot of experience with virtual schools and have lost students to state and charter virtual schools. To retain students and offer alternative learning opportunities, more public districts are starting their own virtual schools. This study was an examination of foundational processes at three California virtual schools in traditional school districts. An analysis of the findings revealed that sites perceived the establishing founder, preliminary research, district support, teacher and staff selection, financial evaluation, and curriculum decisions as keys to the founding process. The analysis also led to surprising conclusions, including the need for virtual schools to constantly change and adapt and the focus in this study of organizations over technology. The findings have implications for traditional districts starting virtual schools. The study also indicates that changes in policy could reduce the need for organizational adaptation among virtual schools in traditional school districts. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-19T22:23:28Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-140d2cdbabc24591b0752efbfa09ee6e |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1492-3831 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-19T22:23:28Z |
publishDate | 2018-02-01 |
publisher | Athabasca University Press |
record_format | Article |
series | International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning |
spelling | doaj.art-140d2cdbabc24591b0752efbfa09ee6e2022-12-21T20:03:34ZengAthabasca University PressInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning1492-38312018-02-0119110.19173/irrodl.v19i1.3205Virtual School Startups: Founder Processes in American K-12 Public Virtual SchoolsBrett Drushal Taylor0Delores E. McNair1University of the PacificUniversity of the PacificTraditional school districts do not have a lot of experience with virtual schools and have lost students to state and charter virtual schools. To retain students and offer alternative learning opportunities, more public districts are starting their own virtual schools. This study was an examination of foundational processes at three California virtual schools in traditional school districts. An analysis of the findings revealed that sites perceived the establishing founder, preliminary research, district support, teacher and staff selection, financial evaluation, and curriculum decisions as keys to the founding process. The analysis also led to surprising conclusions, including the need for virtual schools to constantly change and adapt and the focus in this study of organizations over technology. The findings have implications for traditional districts starting virtual schools. The study also indicates that changes in policy could reduce the need for organizational adaptation among virtual schools in traditional school districts.http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3205virtual schoolK-12 online learningorganizational structuretraditional public school districtsfoundational processes |
spellingShingle | Brett Drushal Taylor Delores E. McNair Virtual School Startups: Founder Processes in American K-12 Public Virtual Schools International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning virtual school K-12 online learning organizational structure traditional public school districts foundational processes |
title | Virtual School Startups: Founder Processes in American K-12 Public Virtual Schools |
title_full | Virtual School Startups: Founder Processes in American K-12 Public Virtual Schools |
title_fullStr | Virtual School Startups: Founder Processes in American K-12 Public Virtual Schools |
title_full_unstemmed | Virtual School Startups: Founder Processes in American K-12 Public Virtual Schools |
title_short | Virtual School Startups: Founder Processes in American K-12 Public Virtual Schools |
title_sort | virtual school startups founder processes in american k 12 public virtual schools |
topic | virtual school K-12 online learning organizational structure traditional public school districts foundational processes |
url | http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3205 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT brettdrushaltaylor virtualschoolstartupsfounderprocessesinamericank12publicvirtualschools AT deloresemcnair virtualschoolstartupsfounderprocessesinamericank12publicvirtualschools |