Here are some interesting facts I picked up from some of the brochures being handed out at this conference:

1. •K-12 online learning and virtual schools and expanding  options
   

1. • K-12 online learning is a new field consisting of an estimated $300 million market, which is growing at an estimated annual pace of 30% annually.
   

1. •45 of the 50 states plus Washington DC, out-of-state virtual school or online initiative, full-time online schools, or both.
   

1. •24 states, as well as Washington DC, have statewide full-time online schools.
   

1. •Many virtual school show annual growth rates between 20 and 45%.
   

1. •35 states have state virtual schools or state led online programs.
   

1. •As of January 2007, there were 173 virtual charter schools serving 92,235 students in 18 states.
   

1. •57% of public secondary schools in the US provide access to students for online learning.
   

1. •72% of school districts with distance education programs plan to expand online offerings in the coming year.
   

1. •72% of school districts with distance education programs plan to expand online offerings in the coming year.
   

1. •14.2 million computers were available for classroom use and the nations schools as of the 2005 2006 school year that works out to one computer for every four students.
   

1. • an there are an estimated 320,000 course enrollments at state virtual schools in 175,000 full-time students and full-time online schools in the US.
   

1. •In 2000  there were 40,000 to 50,000 enrollments in K-12 online education.
   

1. •80% of the K-12 school districts cited  “the course was otherwise unavailable” as the number one reason for offering courses at a distance.
   

1. •According to the 2009 Sloan Consortium report, K-12 school district administrators sided “offering courses not otherwise available at the school,” “meeting the needs of specific groups of students,” and “offering advanced placement or college-level courses” as the top three reasons they perceive online and blended courses be important.
   

1. •The American digital schools 2006 survey reported online learning is currently used by 4% of K-12 students and this number is expected to grow by 15% by 2011.