Dive Brief:

• The new in-depth Stanford University study is the most comprehensive to date, and found 70% of online charter students had fallen behind peers.
• Overall, the shortfalls equate to "losing 72 days of learning in reading and 180 days in math during the typical 180-day school year." 
• The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools said the new report should be "a call to action for authorizers and policymakers."

Dive Insight:

Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes studied 158 online schools across 17 states and the District of Columbia. They found that one of the biggest challenges facing cyber charter principals was student engagement. Class size was also found to be substantially larger than that of traditional schools, with 33% of online charters offering self-paced instruction without any other option. "Online charter schools place significant expectations on parents, perhaps to compensate for limited student-teacher interaction," noted Mathematica, one of the study's partner institutions. 

The Virginia company K12 Inc. and Maryland's Connections Education L.L.C. are two for-profit education management firms responsible for running nearly 50% of American cyber charters.

Accountability is an ongoing problem with cyber charters, and in Pennsylvania, lawmakers previously introduced legislation aimed at implementing compulsory attendance. For the last three years, the state has not allowed any new online charters to open.