More states are improving their digital learning programs, according to the Foundation for Excellence in Education’s Digital Learning Report Card.
States were graded on ten different “elements of high-quality digital learning,” including personalized learning, quality instruction and accountability.
From 2013 to 2014, the number of states receiving an F grade fell from 14 to five. Twenty-five states saw their overall grades improve in 2014. The changes come from passage of 50 new digital learning laws, as well as implementation of laws from the past.
“Digital learning has the power to connect students with the best teachers in the world,” Patricia Levesque, CEO of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, wrote in the report. “It can offer all students access to hard-to-serve courses and groundbreaking career and technical education as well as vocational training… Digital learning policies offer a new way to fund education and learning, not fettered by old constraints linked to time, but rather linking funding to learning and the needs of students.”
Florida and Utah were the only two states to receive A grades overall. No state in the Northeast received a grade better than C.
Many states struggle to provide adequate student eligibility, funding and infrastructure for digital learning, according to the report. Twenty-six states got an F in student eligibility, 30 states got an F in funding , and 23 states got an F in infrastructure.
The report gave high marks in quality content for being aligned with state standards and for treating instructional funding for digital content similar to regular content. Forty-two states got an A for quality content, with Nebraska the only state to get an F.
The Foundation for Excellence in Education was founded by former Florida governor and potential presidential candidate Jeb Bush. It is now chaired by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
