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3) At least two conditions are compared;
4) Costs and outcomes are related using a single ratio for each model under study;
5) Other factors not related to the conditions being studied are controlled or held
constant.
The report also includes a review of ways that online learning might offer productivity
benefits compared with traditional place-based schooling. Unfortunately, a review of the
available research that examined the impact of online learning on educational productivity
for secondary school students was found to be lacking. No analyses were found that
rigorously measured the productivity of an online learning system relative to place-based
instruction in secondary schools. 2 This lack of evidence supports the call of the National
Educational Technology Plan (U.S. Department of Education 2010a) for a national initiative
to develop an ongoing research agenda dedicated to improving productivity in the education
sector. The evidence summarized in this report draws on literature that addressed either costs
or effectiveness. These studies typically were limited because they did not bring the two
together in a productivity ratio and compare results with other alternatives.
Given the limitations of the research regarding the costs and effects of online instruction for
secondary students, the review that follows also draws on examples and research about the
use of online learning for postsecondary instruction. While there are many differences
between higher education and elementary and secondary education (e.g., age and maturity of
students), postsecondary institutions have a broader and longer history with online learning
than elementary and secondary schools. The intention is to use the literature from higher
education to illustrate concepts that may apply to emerging practices in elementary and
secondary education. Findings from the studies of higher education should be applied with
caution to secondary education, as student populations, learning contexts and financial
models are quite different across these levels of schooling.
While rigorously researched models are lacking, the review of the available literature
suggested nine applications of online learning that are seen as possible pathways to
improved productivity:
2 Two research reports—an audit for the Wisconsin State Legislature (Stuiber et al. 2010) and a study of the Florida Virtual
School (Florida Tax Watch Center for Educational Performance and Accountability 2007)—include data about costs and
effects. These reports suggest that online learning environments may hold significant potential for increasing educational
productivity. Both found that online learning environments produced better outcomes than face-to-face schools and at a
lower per-pupil cost than the state average. However, these conclusions must be viewed cautiously because both reports
lacked statistical controls that could have ruled out other explanations of the findings.
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