As trend grows, so do criticisms

By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
CALCUTTA -- The Buckeye On-Line School for Success' physical presence is modest, just a small suite of offices in a shopping center amid a knot of gas stations, retailers and convenience stores north of East Liverpool.
But it has another existence. It lives in cyberspace, where it aims to thrive as part of a fast-growing -- though criticized -- segment of home-based education that permits pupils to learn online.
But these same learners also take government funding with them when they depart their public school districts for cyberschool.
Expansion
Buckeye is opening its electronic doors this fall as part of an expansion of the Western Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, which has been booming in nearby Midland, Pa., just east of the Ohio border.
Western Pennsylvania is the Keystone State's second-largest cyberschool.
Dr. Nick Trombetta, a founder and chief administrative officer of Western Pennsylvania, compared the explosive growth of his enterprise -- which started in 2000 with 525 pupils -- to that of a retail giant.
"You have this mom-and-pop cyberschool, now you're like Wal-Mart," Trombetta said.
By this fall, Western Pennsylvania will have nearly 3,000 pupils, he predicted.
Rick Wolfe, Buckeye's director, said he's hopeful that his enterprise will begin its first year with 200 pupils and grow from there.
Buckeye's enrollment, so far, draws heavily from Mahoning and Columbiana counties.
A former East Liverpool elementary school principal, Wolfe enthusiastically endorses online learning.
"They made a believer out of me," he said. "For some kids, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread."
Cyberschools allow pupils in kindergarten through 12th grade to get their diplomas by "attending" classes via the Internet.
Instead of occupying a desk in front of a teacher and chalkboard, pupils plant themselves in front of a home computer and communicate largely through their keyboard and a headset.
Some of the classes are taken in "real time," with teacher and pupils online at the same time. Credit also may be earned by learners doing assignments at their own pace.
The lure of online schooling is that it provides an alternative for pupils with illnesses, disabilities or schedules that don't fit conventional school hours.
Others choose the option because a traditional school atmosphere conflicts with their religious beliefs, or maybe they've been hazed, Wolfe said.
In the Youngstown school district, a mother recently enrolled her son in cyberschool after becoming frustrated with his being beaten up on the school bus.
Numbers
Ohio has 41 cyberschools totaling 12,550 pupils. Pennsylvania lists 11 online schools with a combined roster of nearly 9,000 pupils.
Most of the cyberschools are charter schools, meaning they are funded by taxpayers.
Public school pupils who attend charters bring with them the tax dollars that otherwise would have gone to their home school district.
In Ohio, the per-pupil figure is $5,058, which amounts to about $63 million leaving public schools to cyberschools. In Pennsylvania, each pupil takes $6,500, representing about $59 million that goes to online education.
Cyberschools use the tax dollars to furnish their pupils with the usual classroom fixtures of books and teachers. But they also supply them for free a computer, printer, fax machine, Internet access and technical support.
Pupils' progress is monitored by what Western Pennsylvania refers to as an "instructional supervisor." Tutors also are available.
Criticism
Cyberschools have their critics, however.
"Students aren't performing well" in some of them, said Dr. David Brobeck, superintendent of Salem schools in Columbiana County, where Buckeye is based.
The state placed Ohio's largest cyberschool, the nearly 4,700-pupil Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, on academic emergency status last year in response to low test scores.
Shaky scores also landed the TRECA Digital Academy on Ohio's academic watch list.
In cyberschools, "there's no way to know who's doing the work," Brobeck said.
Pupils also benefit more from face-to-face interaction with teachers in a classroom setting, he added.
"I would respond with the success of our students," 80 percent of whom go on to college, Trombetta said.
Another criticism is that cyberschool pupils suffer from not being with their peers regularly.
Parents considering cyberschool "need to look at social development," said J.C. Benton, an Ohio Department of Education spokesman. "They're not for everyone."
"Our kids are extremely involved in their community" through their church or other organizations, Trombetta said. Field trips also are arranged by the school.
Wolfe acknowledged that, in some instances, cyberschooling isn't a good idea. It takes self-discipline and plenty of parental involvement.
"This isn't PlayStation or Nintendo," Trombetta said, referring to the popular computer game systems.
Online education permits many pupils to learn at their own pace and to escape traditional school districts that might be failing through lack of adequate funding or other problems, Wolfe said.
A quality education shouldn't be determined by where a pupil happens to live, cyberschool advocates argue.
leigh@vindy.com