| The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Blended Learning Policies |
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When online learning was in its infancy, most states were on relatively equal playing fields in terms of allowing for blended learning, meaning education programs that combine online learning with learning in brick-and-mortar schools. No state expressly forbade blended learning, and that left space for schools and students to begin experimenting.
But as online learning has matured, a wider variance is emerging among policy environments. Some states are downright prohibitive of the main policies that are optimal for the development of blended learning, others have proactively carved out friendly policies, and most are somewhere in the middle.
Policies Hindering Blended Learning
The worst states for potential blended learners are those with a double whammy of negatives. First, they do not provide any route for students to earn credits online if the students' districts say no. This policy omission deters students from engaging in the most common form of blended learning, the self-blend, which is when students choose to take one or more online courses on their own while also attending a brick-and-mortar school.
Second, some states prohibit chartering or other mechanisms that provide relief from the standard swath of education statutes that impede the operation of blended schools. Nebraska is one state that lacks both a statewide online program (except a small pilot) and a charter law. South Dakota is another. It has a small statewide consortium of approved supplemental course providers, but districts can refuse student requests to participate, and it has no charter law.
Schools in these states can certainly set up a blended-learning operation, as it is rare for policies to exist that restrict schools or districts from setting up some form of blended learning. With that said, students are not guaranteed to have this access, and regulations often restrict how student-centric the new models can be.
Source: THE Journal
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The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Blended Learning Policies