New Research: Blended Learning and the Rise of Online Learning in K-12 Education

SAN MATEO, Calif.--()--In the best-selling education book “Disrupting Class,” the authors, Clayton Christensen, Michael Horn and Curtis Johnson predicted that by 2019, 50 percent of all high school courses will be delivered online. Today, co-author Michael Horn, executive director of Innosight Institute, and Heather Staker, a senior research fellow at Innosight Institute, released new research in conjunction with the Charter School Growth Fund and Public Impact, which expands on this prediction and documents the rise of blended learning.

Blended learning is defined as any time a student learns at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home and at least in part through online delivery with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace.

“U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently described a ‘new normal,’ where schools have to do more with less,” said Horn. “Blended learning will play a vital role, as school operators must rethink education’s structure and delivery with the new realities of public funding.”

Titled “The Rise of K-12 Blended Learning,” the research documents:

  • The six models of blended-learning programs
  • Profiles of two successful blending-learning schools - Carpe Diem Collegiate High School in Yuma, Ariz, and Rocketship Education, an elementary charter management organization with three schools in San Jose, Calif.
  • Description of the technology needed to support blended learning’s growth and improvement
  • Policy necessary to make blended learning transformational to personalize learning for each student

This paper is a summary version of a larger market survey of the emerging blended-learning market that will be released in the spring of 2011 and profiles 38 blended-learning organizations.

About Innosight Institute

Innosight Institute is a nonprofit/nonpartisan think tank based in Mountain View, Calif. whose mission is to apply Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen’s theories of disruptive innovation to develop and promote solutions to the problems in education.

About Charter School Growth Fund

The Charter School Growth Fund invests philanthropic venture capital in the nation's highest-performing charter school operators to dramatically expand their impact on underserved students.

About Public Impact

Public Impact is a national education policy and management consulting firm based in Chapel Hill, N.C. which helps education leaders and policymakers improve student learning in K-12 education.

Contacts

Stern + Associates
Laura Moss, 908-276-4344 x218
laura@sternassociates.com

Contacts

Stern + Associates
Laura Moss, 908-276-4344 x218
laura@sternassociates.com