A recent study by Marty Lueken and Gary Ritter from the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform has found significant benefits for students attending the Arkansas Virtual Academy (ARVA).
ARVA is an online public charter school operated by the state, and 61% of ARVA students are eligible for free/reduced price lunch. Lueken and Ritter longitudinally compared ARVA students that were in grades 3-6 in the 2008-2009 school year to a specially designed control group. Each ARVA student was matched and compared with two similar students from traditional public schools. The matched students were in the same grade, from the same district, and were of similar socioeconomic status, race, and gender. Most importantly, the matched groups of students all had similar levels of prior achievement as measured through literacy and math test scores. This factor was given the most weight in the research design because prior achievement has been shown to be the single most important predictor of future achievement.
So how did the ARVA students compare to their peers in traditional public schools?
The study found that ARVA students outperformed their comparison groups in math and literacy, and no statistically significant negative effects were found. ARVA students’ actually had slightly lower initial test scores at the beginning of the study than their comparison groups, so this effect is even more pronounced. Furthermore, economically disadvantaged students in particular (as determined by free/reduced price lunch eligibility) experienced even greater benefits: students receiving free/reduced price lunch at ARVA grew 8 percentile points more than their comparison group. This benefit of attending ARVA is even more dramatic when we consider that these students were actually compared to a mixed group of peers that were not all economically disadvantaged – even disadvantaged students at ARVA significantly outperform traditional public school students of higher socioeconomic status.
So next time you hear virtual school critics slamming digital learning, arguing student achievement at virtual schools is subpar, point them to this study.