A Comparison of Participation and Performance With Student Enrollment Status in Two Public Online K-12 Charter Schools, Using Extant Data

Abstract

In order to understand withdrawal rates in online K-12 schools, it is vital to have detailed documentation of these rates and to describe characteristics of the students who withdraw compared to the students who remain enrolled. Once these characteristics are known schools can develop programs and/or policies that support students who are at risk of withdrawing.

This study was a descriptive analysis of (a) attendance, (b) lessons completed, (c) participation, (d) teacher-student communication, and (e) overall performance percentage comparing the means between the enrolled student population and the withdrawn student population using extant data. Four of the five variables, (a) attendance, (b) lessons completed, (c) teacher-student communication, and (d) overall performance percentage, were significant at the p < .01 level. Upon analysis, the results of average lessons per day were not reportable due to problems with the data. The Enrolled group had significantly higher means in the following variables: (a) attendance, (b) lessons completed, (c) teacher-student synchronous contact, and (d) overall performance percentage.