What is an online high school?

An online high school can look very different depending upon who offers the courses. There are two basic kinds of online schools; a public version and a private version. Which works best for you depends on where you are located and your interest in online schooling.

There are several reasons for why you might decide to take your or your child's education online. They include:

• You are a homeschooler, but do not want to create your own curriculum or you prefer the online curriculum.
• You are dissatisfied with the quality of the local public schools.
• Your local school is good, but doesn't offer the breadth of courses that you would like.

There are a number of different types of online high schools including:

• State Departments of Education-sponsored. Some states offer online courses to their students because of the large number of small towns and, thus, the lack of specific types of courses (usually Advanced Placement and foreign languages) available.
• Public school district-sponsored. This is exactly what it sounds like. This your local school district offer courses online instead of face-to-face.
• Charter school-sponsored. To clarify, a charter school is also a public school. The difference is that it does not need to follow all of the same rules as a traditional public school. A growing trend is for private companies to partner with school districts or other groups to create an online charter school.
• Private school or private school-sponsored. These are commercial endeavors, so come with a cost. That being said, it sometimes makes sense to pay for an online school. Reasons can include lack of free online schools in your state or a lack of quality of what is available.