Chris Kotterman Deputy Director, Policy Development &
Government Relations, ADE Online Schools in Arizona: An
Overview
Slide 2
Arizona Online Instruction (AOI) Formerly known as TAPBI
(technology assisted project-based instruction), was created by the
Legislature in 1998. Both district and charter schools may offer
AOI. District schools must be approved by the state board of
education, while charters must be approved by the state board for
charter schools. The primary relevant statute for this discussion
is ARS 15- 808.
Slide 3
AOI Requirements The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools
(ASBCS) has developed a rubric to evaluate compliance with the
requirements of ARS 15-808 to operate a charter school. By law, the
board must evaluate: Depth and breadth of curriculum choices.
Variety of educational methodolgies. Safeguards to protect pupils
from adult internet content. Availability of filtered internet
access for research. Availability of confidential email to protect
student info. Availability of experienced faculty.
Slide 4
AOI Requirements Extent to which the school will develop
community partnerships. Services that will be offered to
developmentally disabled pupils. Grade levels that will be served.
Complete rubric: http://asbcs.az.gov/userfiles/file/final-
revised-scoring-rubric.pdfhttp://asbcs.az.gov/userfiles/file/final-
revised-scoring-rubric.pdf
Slide 5
AOI Accountability AOI schools are responsible to the same
academic standards as brick and mortar charters, and all students
must be administered and pass AIMS. AOI charters are assigned A-F
letter grades and are treated the same as traditional charters
under the school accountability system. All new AOI schools are
approved on a probationary basis until they can demonstrate
academic integrity to ASBCS. Schools that fail to exit probationary
status within three years may no longer participate in AOI.
Slide 6
AOI Accountability Testing AOI sites are responsible for
testing 95% of their students on AIMS. AIMS must be administered in
person and proctored by employees of the AOI.
Slide 7
When do we talk about the money??
Slide 8
AOI Funding AOI charter sites are funded with both base level
and additional assistance funding. For FY2012, this amount is
$4,889.69 for grades 1-8 ($3,267.72 Base Level + $1621.97
Additional Assistance) and $5158.10 for grades 9-12($3267.72 BL+
$1890.38 AA). HOWEVER, AOI schools are funded at 95% for a full
time student and 85% for a part-time student by law.
Slide 9
AOI Funding 1-89-12 Full TimePart TimeFull TimePart Time Base
Level$3,267.72 Add. Assistance$1,621.97 $1,890.38 Subtotal$4,889.69
$5,158.10 Percentage95%85%95%85%
Total$4,645.21$4,156.24$4,900.20$4,384.39
Slide 10
AOI Funding For now, online schools can generate ADM 24/7/365,
while other schools are limited to generating funding within their
approved 180-200 day calendar. Therefore, AOI schools are the only
institutions that receive funding for summer school students.
Slide 11
AOI Challenges
Slide 12
Concurrency Statute limits a student to 1.0 ADM across
districts, charters, and AOIs regardless of how much time the
student is in school. The 1.0 must be apportioned between all
entities by ADE school finance. Since AOIs can generate fundable
ADM all year, this apportionment is not final until June 30.
Slide 13
Concurrency For example: Student attends District A as a full
time student for an entire year. (ADM = 1.0) Student takes 1 class
at AOI B during the summer. (4 classes = 0.25 ADM) Total ADM
generated = 1.25 ADE applies limiting as of June 30: District A =
0.75 ADM AOI B = 0.25 ADM Who loses?
Slide 14
Academic Quality In the past couple of years, the issue of
ensuring quality among AOI providers has presented a challenge for
the department, the state board, and the state board for charter
schools. In December 2011, The Arizona Republic ran a 6-day series
about questions surrounding online schools.
(http://www.azcentral.com/news/education/online-
school/)http://www.azcentral.com/news/education/online- school/
This led to a slew of proposals to change the nature of how online
education is funded.
Slide 15
Where are We Going?
Slide 16
Where are we going? This session, Legislators have proposed
several fixes to the concurrency problem: Prohibit AOIs from
generating funding during the summer Change the fiscal year for
AOIs to run from May 1-April 30. Prohibit the department from
making concurrency adjustments from April 30 to July 1. Sen. Rich
Crandall has a bill (SB1259) that would fundamentally alter the
payment mechanism for online classes from seat time to a
milestone/competency-based approach.
Slide 17
Where are we Going? The Crandall Approach: Limit online courses
to core subjects and courses for college credit. Distribute funding
to a pupils resident district and have the district distribute the
funding as follows: 35% on the 30 th day of enrollment. 50% on
completion of the course with a C- or better. 15% when the student
demonstrates competency on an exam approved by the department. A
major potential flaw in this approach is that it leaves the current
system intact, in effect creating two.
Slide 18
Where are we Going? Online instruction, despite being launched
14 years ago in Arizona, has only really begun to take shape,
because it was in pilot status until 2009. There is a fine line
between encouraging innovation and providing students with poor
options. The department of education continues to struggle with
poor student data systems, and is years behind where it needs to be
to competently enable 21 st -Century learning.
Slide 19
Where are we Going? Resolving the concurrency issue will go a
long way toward smoothing out this process. The issue of quality
will take some time to work through. The department has begun
efforts to modernize its data system to handle the demands of 21 st
Century education policy. $32.5M over 2 years
Slide 20
So What? If you want to get into online education, know that:
The finance model is likely to shift in the near future. The
quality of your programs will be under scrutiny. You will be
squabbling with traditional schools over funding for as long as the
1.0 ADM limit is in place.