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Expanded opportunities for school choice continue to grow as an instructionalalternative. This study focused on the fairly new option of virtual education forelementary and middle school students. The purpose of this research was to gather datafor the following research questions: How do parents perceive the institutional setting ofthe public school they left in favor of the Lawrence Virtual School (LVS)?, what sourcesof information do parents who chose LVS rely on in their decision making?, who hasinfluence on parents who chose LVS?, what are the interests of parents who chose LVS?,and what is the ideology about education of parents who chose LVS? The study used amixed methods approach to examine and evaluate the circumstances of parent decisionmaking in situations involving the transfer of a student from a traditional public school toLVS, a K-8 public virtual school available for students who reside in the state of Kansas.An online survey was administered to 1,000 parent participants and telephone interviewswere conducted with six parents. Results suggest that parents who have transferred theirchild from a traditional public school to LVS value a more active role in their child’seducation, the flexibility of time, and pace of learning offered at LVS. Parents indicatedthe importance of school choice in educating their individual children. Results alsorevealed parents' level of dissatisfaction with the lack of school support in meeting theirchild’s unique needs. Teachers were specifically viewed by parents, as not being able tomeet the academic and/or emotional needs of their child. All participants hadexperienced this lack of support in a traditional public school setting. This study hasimplications for positive change in virtual education for K -8 students and their families. |
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