{
  "id": 3815354,
  "title": "Virtual school enrollment has doubled in recent years, following pandemic-era surge",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/virtual-school-enrollment-has-doubled-in-recent-years-following",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-27T20:29:44.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Chalkbeat",
    "slug": "chalkbeat",
    "url": "https://www.chalkbeat.org/2026/08/27/virtual-school-enrollment-has-surged-since-pandemic-new-federal-data-shows/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Virtual school enrollment in the United States has doubled in recent years, increasing from about 300,000 students in 2019-20 to nearly 600,000 in the 2024-25 school year. This represents about 1 in 80 public school children, a twofold rise since before the pandemic. The growth reflects the expansion of school choice, with more families opting their children out of traditional schooling for online education, often using public funding.\n\nThe surge in virtual schooling began in the 2020-21 school year during the pandemic, as families believed stand-alone virtual schools would be superior to makeshift online programs set up by traditional school districts. However, concerns about the quality of virtual schools, including lower academic progress and graduation rates, have largely faded from the national discourse as digital schooling has grown rapidly.\n\nA majority of fully virtual students are enrolled in charter schools, with two companies, Stride and Pearson, accounting for a significant portion of virtual enrollment. Stride, in particular, reported over 240,000 virtual students in public and private schools through its K12 program. Many school districts have also launched their own online options.\n\nAccording to recent federal data, 1.6% of high school students and 0.8% of elementary and middle school students were in fully virtual public schools. However, Chalkbeat's analysis suggests these figures may be underestimates, with potentially 3% of Indiana students in virtual schools in 2024. Cross-state comparisons should be interpreted cautiously due to differences in response rates and program structures.\n\nStudies prior to the pandemic have found that students in virtual charters often make less academic progress and graduate at lower rates compared to their peers in traditional schools. Critics argue that students who learn remotely may also perform poorly on in-person state assessments due to unfamiliar testing environments rather than poor instruction quality. Patrick Wolf, a University of Arkansas professor, suggests that existing research may not adequately account for the unique characteristics of students opting into virtual schools when assessing educational quality.\n\nFor those prioritizing test scores, online schooling may not be the best option for most students, as their performance in traditional settings may be lower than expected. Parents should consider these factors when deciding on virtual education for their children.",
  "summary": "Chalkbeat Ideas is a section featuring reported columns on the big ideas and debates shaping American schools. Data analysis by Kae Petrin. Remote learning during the pandemic was a nightmare for some students, but others have stuck with it, new data shows. Just over 600,000 public school students attended fully virtual schools in the 2024-25…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}