Report: Virtual School Students Trail "Brick-And-Mortar" Peers

The New York Times (1/6, Anderson, Subscription Publication) reports that according to a new report from the National Education Policy Center, "the number of students in virtual schools run by educational management organizations rose sharply last year...and far fewer of them are proving proficient on standardized tests compared with their peers in other privately managed charter schools and in traditional public schools. About 116,000 students were educated in 93 virtual schools - those where instruction is entirely or mainly provided over the Internet - run by private management companies in the 2010-11 school year, up 43 percent from the previous year," the report says. "About 27 percent of these schools achieved 'adequate yearly progress,'" as comparted with 52% of "privately managed brick-and-mortar schools."