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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Main Authors: Brett Drushal Taylor, Delores E. McNair
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Athabasca University Press 2018-02-01
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.
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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
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