LANSING – Students in online programs are more likely to fail a course than are students in a traditional classroom, a report by the Michigan Virtual University released Tuesday said.

The report found that the number of virtual education programs is expanding in the state, but there are still disparities in the numbers of students in those programs and in the abilities of students to succeed in those programs, Joe Friedhoff, who conducted the research, told the State Board of Education.

The report found that those students taking at least one online course were passing only 57 percent of those courses, compared to students taking no online courses passing 89 percent of their courses.

But the report showed that those in online courses tended to be lower achieving students overall, passing only 71 percent of their traditional classes as well.

“On average, the virtual learners are underperforming compared to their non-virtual learner counterparts,” Friedhoff said.

But he said the data also showed broad disparity in those course passage rates.

Among the 76,122 students who took at least one virtual course in 2013-14, 37,489 passed all of those courses and 22,959 failed all of those courses.

“The potential for online learning is real,” Friedhoff said. “The problem is it’s not realized at present. Too many of them are underperforming. Too many are taking online courses and showing no success.”

But he said the state and districts need to develop better ways to track those students and be sure the courses are meeting their needs.

“There were 2,500 students who took six courses and failed every one of them,” he said. “At what point does your policy kick in and say we’re going to try something else.”

“Cyber schools always struck me as being a lot like libraries,” board member Richard Zeile (R-Dearborn) said. “There are some kids you can send to the library and they can educate themselves. Most kids need some supervision. That’s what cyber schools do not provide is supervision. The funding has to provide for that supervision and support.”

Among the factors in the online course success rate is that an inordinate proportion of lower-income students are taking them, and not necessarily the higher-quality courses, he said.

“The students in poverty tend to be getting the cheaper solutions,” he said. “There are different products in the marketplace and students in poverty tend to be being steered to lower cost, lower supported products.”

MVU has developed guides for both parents and students to provide more information about online learning that include some ways to measure a student’s preparedness for those classes. Mr. Friedhoff said the intent was not to steer students away from online courses, but to show them and their parents the additional supports they might need to be successful.

He said some 64 percent of students in online courses are low-income compared to 48 percent overall.

Online courses also do not appear to be following the expected pattern, Mr. Friedhoff said. Rather than trending toward advance placement and courses not available at the local school, he said students tend to be taking the standard courses needed for graduation.

The two courses with the highest enrollment were ninth grade English and algebra 1, he said.

He said there is also a broad gap in school experience with the programs. He said schools generally have more than 100 course enrollments or fewer than 10, with few schools between those two points.

Board President John Austin (D-Ann Arbor) said the board would need to, in the coming months, review its recommendations on online education policy.

ENERGY CURRICULUM: The board also saw an initial presentation Tuesday on a new curriculum to prepare students to work in the energy industry.

The cluster would allow for courses in a variety of energy-related careers, but would initially focus on line workers, officials said. The program would expand as schools demanded the additional subjects.

Officials said the program would still require graduates to meet the state’s credit requirements in addition to the career-focused courses.

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