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Virtual Schooling

Delivering flexible, high-quality learning options for students, families and educators—anytime and anywhere. 

About Virtual Schooling

Since 2008—when Julie Young won Pioneer’s Better Government Competition for her work at the Florida Virtual School—PioneerEducation has advanced digital learning through legislation and research. Our goal is to expand high-quality, accountable virtual education across the nation. Unlike leading states like Florida and Michigan, Massachusetts lags behind, even after a 2013 law authorizing growth. While more than 40 states offer full- or part-time digital programs, restrictive regulations have limited the Commonwealth to two online schools. Massachusetts schools were among the least prepared to meet students’ needs during the pandemic, exacerbating student learning loss.  

Pioneer’s new book and toolkit, Virtual Schools, Actual Learning: Digital Education in America (2025), edited by Julie Young, Julie Petersen, and Kay Johnson, distills decades of research and lessons from leading states to highlight how high-quality materials can strengthen learning across America’s diverse educational settings. 

December 15, 2022

Study Urges Massachusetts to Embrace Innovative School Models

A new policy brief from Pioneer Institute urges Massachusetts policymakers to encourage the proliferation and progress of non-traditional models that offer families creative, flexible, personalized and low-cost private education options.
January 11, 2022

Online and On Course: Digital learning creates a path for at-risk students

Digital learning, the use of computers and the internet to study courses taught in the classroom, is viewed by many educators as a breakthrough to helping those at-risk students stay in school and earn their diplomas. The flexibility afforded by digital learning, with students working on their own time at their own pace, is a way for students to meet the requirements of their courses while handling pressing responsibilities outside of school, problems at home or personal issues.  Yet parents should scrutinize digital programs closely. Their quality and effectiveness vary widely. Students are poorly served by point-and-click assessments with no engagement, virtual schools with videos instead of real teachers and programs without pacing and scheduling support.
January 11, 2022

Virtual Learning, Concrete Option: How virtual differs from remote learning during the pandemic

After schools closed in March of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students, families and teachers had to shift learning from in-class to online. But the switch to remote learning was hasty and disorganized in many school districts. Families struggled with the technology and coordinating schedules at home, while teachers tried to shift the in-person model to teaching through a computer. The dissatisfaction caused many families to believe that the remote learning they were experiencing was what takes place in full-time virtual schools. In fact the two are much different.  This report includes information on how to distinguish between questionable and quality virtual programs.
January 11, 2022

Virtual Learning Grows During COVID

Virtual learning in K-12 education continues to grow due to the health threat caused by coronavirus variants and the assistance this learning model can provide to at-risk students, according to two papers released today by Pioneer Institute.

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Meet the Experts

Jamie Gass

Jamie Gass

Director of PioneerEducation

Electricity Generation by State: 2023

How much electricity do states produce? In 2023, Texas generated twice as much power as Florida, the next closest state. At the other end of the spectrum, Vermont produced the least electricity and had the lowest per capita generation rate. Explore the data on US DataLabs! https://loom.ly/-trkbR4
#facts#electricitygeneration