A new survey intended to evaluate online-learning policies and practices from coast to coast reveals significant growth in state and district support for this instructional model at the K-12 level. At least 25 states now lead statewide online-learning initiatives, according to the survey, which is a dramatic increase from the 15 states driving programs only a year ago.

For the annual survey, conducted by e.Republic's Center for Digital Education (CDE) and titled "Online Learning Policy and Practice Survey: A Survey of the States," education officials from 44 states provided insight into the status of online learning in their states.

The results were released Nov. 16 in conjunction with the International Association for K-12 Online Learning's (iNACOL's) annual Virtual School Symposium, taking place in Austin, Texas, this year.

"Online learning remains one of the most powerful and transformative mediums for U.S. education," said Marina Leight, CDE's vice president of education. "This year's review of policy revealed some exciting changes among the states. We applaud the policy makers across the nation who are driving the creation of new programs, and commend the leaders with already-existing programs who continue to ensure online learning is a top priority."

The survey highlights state approaches to online education by looking at key areas such as program offerings, funding, policies, enrollment trends, course offerings, K-20 ventures, teacher licensing, and reform efforts. It also ranks the success of state online-learning initiatives and serves as a benchmark for other states and their programs.

According to the CDE, the rankings reflect the online-learning vision, policies, programs, and strategies that states have deployed in an effort to meet the needs of students.

The organization used iNACOL's definition of state-led online programs, which are programs created by state legislation or by a state-level agency, administered by a state education agency, and/or directly funded by a state appropriation or grant for the purpose of providing online-learning opportunities across the state.

Full-time online programs are defined as online-learning programs in which students enroll and earn credit toward academic advancement following the successful completion of the course. In addition, CDE defines statewide programs as those providing accessibility to students throughout the entire state.

The survey revealed that at least 27 states have statewide online-learning initiatives--two of the states have statewide programs in place that are not led by the state itself--and another four states have plans to implement online-learning programs soon.
 
For the second year in a row, CDE named Florida as the No. 1 state in online education. Its statewide program, the Florida Virtual School, boasts nearly 125,000 students and saw a 25-percent increase in attendance in the last year, according to the survey.