School & District Management

Report Estimates Cost of Virtual Education

By Katie Ash — January 17, 2012 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The per-pupil cost of educating a student through virtual education is significantly less, on average, than the national average for brick-and-mortar schools, a paper from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute says.

The report also says that fully virtual programs are less expensive, on average, than blended-learning programs, which combine face-to-face and online learning, but the paper does not address whether student outcomes are equal.

The fourth in a series of papers called Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning, it found that virtual schools spend about $5,100 to $7,700 for each student, compared with $7,600 to $10,200 for blended-learning programs, and $10,000 per student for regular brick-and-mortar schools.

However, the authors of the paper, Tamara Butler Battaglino, Matt Haldeman, and Eleanor Laurens, all of whom work for the Parthenon Group, a Boston-based global strategy advisory firm, caution readers against settling on a price tag for online learning because of how widely the cost of such education varies from program to program. The cost of online learning also does not take into account student outcomes, say the researchers, who gathered data from public documents as well as in interviews with entrepreneurs, policy experts, and school leaders.

Some e-learning experts not involved in the Fordham analysis also expressed notes of caution about drawing conclusions from it.

“A careless reading of the report will lead some policymakers and educators to believe that online and blended should be pursued with cost-savings goals front and center,” said John Watson, the founder of the Evergreen Education Group, a Durango, Colo.-based organization that researches online learning.

“A closer reading reveals that such an approach will overlook the need for an initial investment of time and resources, leading to poor outcomes,” he said. “I’m concerned that policymakers will focus on what appear to be the bottom-line numbers, ... without acknowledging the numerous caveats that appear throughout.”

The paper identifies five cost drivers that outline the way different types of schools allocate resources: labor, content acquisition and development, technology and infrastructure, school operations, and student-support services.

While more than half of regular schools’ financial resources typically go toward labor costs, virtual schools can often reduce those costs by increasing the pupil-teacher ratio or by reducing teacher salaries by hiring only part-time teachers or paraprofessionals, says the report.

A version of this article appeared in the January 18, 2012 edition of Education Week as What Is the Cost of Virtual Ed.?

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by Boys Town
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Substitute Teacher Staffing Simplified: 5 Strategies for Success
Struggling to find quality substitute teachers? Join our webinar to learn key strategies to keep your classrooms covered and students learning.
Content provided by Kelly Education

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management What the Research Says Four Ways to Stop Teacher Turnover From Hamstringing School Improvement
Staffing instability can unravel the social fabric of schools, experts say, unless leaders work to keep connections strong.
6 min read
Woman of color exiting out of a door.
iStock/Getty Images Plus
School & District Management Spooked by Halloween, Some Schools Ban Costumes—But Not Without Pushback
Schools are tweaking Halloween traditions to make them more inclusive to all students.
4 min read
A group of elementary school kids sitting on a curb dressed in their Halloween costumes.
iStock/Getty
School & District Management Schools Take a $3 Billion Hit From the Culture Wars. Here’s How It Breaks Down
Culturally divisive conflicts in schools have led to increased legal and security costs, as well as staff time spent on the fallout.
4 min read
Illustration of a businessman with his hands on his head while he watches dollars being sucked down into a dark hole.
DigitalVision Vectors
School & District Management Opinion The Blind Spot More Educators Need to Recognize
A simple activity in a training session caused a chain reaction that strengthened an educator's leadership for decades to come.
5 min read
Screen Shot 2024 10 29 at 9.19.10 AM
Canva