12 Introduction Online learning is increasingly becoming a viable option for K12 students in the United States. As seen recently, schools were able to continue providing a learning environment through the usage of computers, the Internet, and World Wide Web in spite of the forced quarantined lifestyle resulting from the 2020 global pandemic. However, despite the advantage of anytime, anyplace, and anywhere approach to online or virtual learning, teachers, administrators, and parents remain skeptical about the effectiveness of teaching and learning online. Since its introduction to the K12 sector in the late 1990s, virtual learning has been received with a myriad of emotions, from zealous school reformers who believe that technology will revolutionize teaching and learning to more skeptical educators who believe that technology innovation is overly exaggerated and idealized, making it incompatible with the realities of a classroom. National reports on virtual school performance do not help in providing clarity either, strengthening the apprehension. As the number of virtual schools continues to grow exponentially since their first appearance in 1997, reports of their poor performance have also become prevalent. According to the National Education Policy Center, only 48.5% of virtual schools in the United States were rated as acceptable, and only half of virtual high school seniors graduated, compared to the 84% of traditional school students in the 2017-2018 school year (Molnar et al., 2019). Contrastingly, the research world of online learning paints a completely different picture. In the last 20 years, there has been enough research evidence to indicate that online delivery methods can be as effective as traditional in-person education. This drastic discrepancy between research data and the experience perceived by educational stakeholders is alarming. While there is no denying that technology has become a fundamental part of the current digital age, more research and understanding are needed on its effect on teaching and learning. The purpose of the current study was to explore and examined a broad conceptual understanding of states’ governing practices on K12 virtual education programs. Thirty-four states that offered virtual education programs during the 2017-2018 school year were examined. The results of the study showed that the current governing practices were largely focused on bureaucratic affairs of virtual education programs. Significant number of states failed to address and provide pedagogical guidelines to implementing virtual education programs. The Problem In 1998, there was only one virtual school, Florida Virtual School, with 77 students. Since then, the growth of publicly funded virtual schools has not slowed down. The latest publication of Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2019 by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) reported 501 publicly funded K12 virtual schools with a total enrollment of 297,712 students in the 2017-2018 school year (Molnar et al., 2019). While this number is only a drop in a bucket compared to over 56.5 million students in traditional schools, it is significant in that it represents a rapid growth, by 1,000%, in a short period of time (National Center for Education Statistics, 2018). A SNAPSHOT OF STATES’ GOVERNING PRACTICES ON K12 VIRTUAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS Judy Yi, EdD Journal of K-12 Educational Research 2021, VOL. 5, ISSUE 1 www.dbu.edu/doctoral/edd
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