In the time I have allotted to me, I would like to discuss some of the findings contained my recent book Short-Circuited: The Challenges Facing the Online Learning Revolution in California. Although the book focuses on California, the issues involved apply to many states and countries.

Also, at the end of my remarks I will show a short film based on the book which was posted on National Review Online.

Background on Online Learning

When we talk about using computers and the Internet to deliver instruction, what are really talking about?

Computer-assisted education can be delivered in a number of ways. For instance, traditional classrooms can use interactive software programs to deliver subject-matter instruction.

There are also hybrid or blended-learning models where part of the learning occurs in a traditional classroom with a teacher and part occurs in a computer-learning laboratory where students learn through interactive software programs.

Finally, there is the virtual model, where all learning takes place using the Internet, where students are usually based at home and use interactive software programs to learn their subject-matter material, use the Internet to connect with teachers and other students , and make the school day fit the time it takes them to master the material.

Success of Online Learning

Let me give you some specific examples of what I'm talking about. There is the math program created by the Mind Research Institute, which is based in California. This program uses interactive software programs in traditional classrooms.

The program's key tool is an animated penguin named JiJi. In the program's math games, JiJi illustrates math principles and math problems by engaging in various activities, including walking along a brick pathway, confronting problems such as a gap in the walkway, and then getting students to use math, such as algebraic concepts, to solve the problem.

The program collects information on every keystroke that each individual student uses to solve the problem confronting JiJi. Whether it takes him or her five strokes, 10 strokes, or 20, all are recorded and fed to his or her teacher so that the teacher knows where the student is having difficulty.

In addition, the program actually shows students what they did wrong, if they did it wrong. It's almost like individual tutoring. Kids reason their way through these games, and in the course of doing this they do things hundreds of times that in the classroom, under the traditional approach, they might do five to 10 times.

One of the great things about the Jiji math program is that it does not use text so that students not fluent in English can easily use the program.

In schools that have implemented the program according to the guidelines issued by MRI, the results have been astonishing. At Madison Elementary School in Santa Ana, 97 percent of the students are Hispanic and an equal percentage participates in the federal free/reduced lunch program. About 80 percent of the students are English language learners.

The school has used the Jiji math program for a decade and the impact on student test scores has been huge. In all grades, more than 80 percent of the students test at or above the proficient level in math.

The principal of Madison Elementary says that she's happiest about being able to bring up the lowest performing students to proficiency in math. The Jiji math program, she believes, "has truly leveled the playing field."

Not only has the Jiji program leveled the academic playing field for disadvantaged students, it has done so while reducing the cost of education. Recognizing that school budgets are going to be squeezed for years to come, the head of the Mind Research Institute told me, "teachers can manage a large number of students, therefore you can operate within lower budgets and still get higher achievement." He points out that at Madison Elementary, the principal informed him that she could have 35 students in her classes and still get outstanding student outcomes.

Last year, Democratic Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Meg Whitman, the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee in California, joined together to announce a grant by Whitman's foundation to increase the number of schools in the Los Angeles school district that use the Jiji math program.

Currently, 46 schools in the district use the program, which has resulted in a significant increase in student math scores.

The second model of online learning, the so-called hybrid or blended-learning model, has also had impressive success in California.

The Rocketship Charter School in inner-city San Jose is 93 percent Hispanic, with nearly the same percentage deemed socio-economically disadvantaged. The school uses a blended-learning model where three-quarters of the learning takes place in a traditional classroom and about a quarter of a student's day is in a computer-learning lab, which uses interactive software programs and doesn't require staffing from credentialed teachers.

The Learning Lab is a key part of Rocketship's instructional program. The school believes that technology can be used effectively to give students extra practice. The 100-minute daily block for Learning Lab combines computer curricula, independent reading, and enrichment programs that focus on skills in areas where students are struggling.

Rocketship's chief academic officer Preston Smith told me: "This year we've made huge strides in that we're actually implementing data-testing curricula that is adaptive so that when a kid gets a question right it gets more difficult," but "if they get it wrong it backs up and re-teaches." He says, "I think this is where we've got amazing potential to really start pouring out some individualized instruction where online learning and the classroom are really synced up."

For example, one software program that Rocketship uses is called Reasoning Mind. With this curriculum, students spend most of their time working on the computer independently and at their own pace. The lessons are interactive and focused on problem solving. There is an animated genie character that raises or lowers the difficulty of the problems based on the individual student's performance. He also diagnoses and addresses gaps in a student's knowledge.

Data analysis is a key component of Reasoning Mind. Every keystroke that a student types is recorded and stored. Teachers can review this recorded data, inspect student answers to specific problems, and view a data summary of students' progress and knowledge of particular topics.

Teachers give assignments, monitor the progress of each student, and provide one-on-one assistance when necessary. Under the Reasoning Mind curriculum, teachers also give homework assignments created individually for each student, as opposed to the usual one-size-fits-all model. Students complete the assignments overnight and enter the answers in the computer the next day. The Reasoning Mind system evaluates the homework and reports the results to the teacher.

For Rocketship, the online computer learning has produced phenomenal results. In every grade, 80 percent or more of Rocketship students score at or above the proficient level in math. In fact, in the fourth grade, an astounding 92 percent of students score at or above proficiency.

Rocketship's Learning Lab does not require certificated teachers to oversee it so the school reaps substantial savings because not as many teachers need to be employed by the school. Preston Smith said to me, "For every four classes, we only have three teachers rather than four, so we reduce staffing by six people, which means a half a million dollars." In revenue-starved California, saving $500,000 a year while also pushing up student achievement to the highest levels is an incredible combination.

Smith says that the school uses the money it saves on certified teachers to help pay for an academic dean, a teaching coach/mentor for teachers, professional training for the principal, an arts program, and facilities. He says: "It changes the game. As opposed to school districts across the state, which have been handing out pink slips to teachers because of budget deficits, we are not laying off any of our teachers, in fact, we're giving teachers raises, which is unheard of in a public school district in California." Rocketship teachers are paid 20 percent above their peers in the local district. The use of educational technology "is a big deal," he notes, "so it gives us that advantage in funding."

Unlike other successful charter schools that operate as isolated islands of student success, Rocketship's management realizes that in order to make a far-reaching difference in the lives of more than just a few lucky children, they need to replicate their model. The organization has therefore opened up a second school in San Jose and its goal is to create a network of 10 schools within four years. Rocketship is also contemplating expansion to other states.

The final model is the totally virtual model where most student learning takes place through the Internet.

Greg Vanourek, former vice president at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, makes the keen observation that a key difference between virtual schools and traditional schools relates to time and learning. In a traditional classroom, time is fixed and learning is variable (i.e., classes are held for a set period of time each day and when the bell rings the amount of actual learning that has occurred will vary, sometimes dramatically, by student). In a virtual environment, learning is fixed and time is variable (i.e., the lesson continues until the student achieves mastery).

In order to give you an idea about how virtual schooling works for individual students, let me tell you about one particular student we profile in the book. His name is Mark McLean.

Mark is an seventh grader living in the beautiful California coastal county of Santa Cruz. He is the son of caring and loving parents, Peter and Maureen. He is also autistic.

Mark had been enrolled in a regular public elementary school, but the support he received at the school was so inadequate and at times just plain awful that his parents had to look for another alternative for Mark.

His father Peter says, "I'm a teacher and I was a union rep at Cabrillo [Community College]," so "I was kind of insistent on keeping Mark in the regular system and pushing to have the system adjust, but it became evident [that] it wouldn't."

A family friend told the McLeans about the California Virtual Academy (CAVA). Students at the California Virtual Academy charter school have access to more than 130 core, elective and AP courses. Many of these courses would not be available to students at the brick-and-mortar traditional public schools in their neighborhoods. Virtual learning is especially valuable in rural states where small communities cannot afford a wide variety of courses for students.

A virtual education has changed everything for Mark. Take his homework regimen, for example.

Mark's regular public school, according to mother, would assign "20 problems to do in the classroom and then . . . 20 more at home for homework," which would present a difficulty "because Mark works at a different pace." In contrast, she says, "what I love about CAVA is their whole philosophy is you work towards mastery."

Maureen says: "You don't have to do 20 problems to show mastery, you can do four to six to eight. You have a daily lesson, you have a skills update of previous concepts; you have a daily assessment of four to six problems of that particular lesson. . . . There's no concept of doing busy work just to do busy work at home. You just do the work until you're done with the work and your child understands it. And if they don't pass the particular daily assessment, CAVA uses 80 percent as a pass, then you review the material and then you do it again."

The online programs that CAVA uses are adaptive to the specific level of learning of the student. Thus, the programs adapt to advanced students so that they can finish a course in mid-semester if they have mastered the material. Similarly, the program adapts to the needs of struggling students by reviewing material and increasing the input from teachers and learning coaches.

CAVA teachers monitor student activity very closely through an advanced learning management center that allows teachers to see exactly what a student is doing at any given time and to see the progress that student is making. So, for instance, they can see how much time the student is spending on math or on English. They can also view a progress bar for all students in their class, which allows teachers to see which students are lagging behind and to intervene immediately. This intervention assistance is targeted to the student's specific needs and can be done using e-tools, which allow teachers to work one-on-one or in small groups sessions on the Internet.

One of the important tools that CAVA offers is to have written text or closed captioning augment the online lesson's voice that instructs students. Saying that Mark is very visual, his mother Maureen mentions that he always opts "to have the text so he can be reading along, instead of just listening along, to add to the explanation that is being made." This is a tool that wouldn't be available for him in a traditional classroom setting.

Mark now loves learning and his achievement scores show it. His father Peter says that in his old school he was testing at the basic or below basic level on the state tests. Now he is testing at the proficient and advanced levels.

The moral of Mark McLean's story is that students and their parents should be able to decide what educational experience works best for them.

Obstacles to Expansion of Online Learning

Despite the obvious advantages of online learning, significant obstacles have been placed in the way of expanding this option for schools and for parents and their children. There are several key obstacles, or "short circuits" as our book calls them.

First, there are government regulations. Let me take just one of these regulations. According to the California's Education Code, non-classroom charter schools, like the California Virtual Academy, cannot enroll students who do not live in a county that is contiguous to the county in which the school is chartered. Thus, a student living in Contra Costa County cannot enroll in a virtual charter school chartered in San Francisco County because Contra Costa is not contiguous to San Francisco County. This obviously makes no sense whatsoever. It's as if the Internet somehow changes at the county line.

Second, there is the opposition of the teacher unions. In California, the California Federation of Teachers has adopted a model contract for educational technology issues.

The CFT model contract states: "No employee shall be displaced because of distance learning or other educational technology. The use of distance education technology shall not be used to reduce, eliminate, or consolidate faculty positions within the district."

Also, the contract says: "No distance education sections shall be instructed or conducted by persons not employed within the faculty bargaining unit" and "No distance education or technology-related work shall be performed by other than members of this bargaining unit." Obviously, such provisions eliminate many of the advantages of online education.

Finally, there is simple bureaucratic dysfunction. Remember I mentioned that the math achievement of students in the Los Angeles school district had increased because of the adoption of the Jiji math program at some of its schools? Well, although the mayor and the district are now bragging about the higher test scores, for a long time the district could not be bothered to adopt the program because of bureaucratic inertia.

Ted Smith, the chairman and CEO of the Mind Research Institute that produced the Jiji math program, described his experience with the L.A. school district bureaucracy saying: "I went to LAUSD three years ago . . . I got to the then chief academic officer. She was responsive, but she then delegated the whole thing to the curriculum people who, frankly, were just completely nonresponsive. They didn't really care. I think some were approaching retirement and didn't want to rock the boat with any change. They didn't feel empowered to make something happen. So I just gave up after a series of meetings."

It took years for the district to eventually get around to adopting the Jiji program. Although students are doing well now with the program, think of the thousands of students who could have been helped over the years but weren't because of the lethargy of the district bureaucracy.

Conclusion

Ultimately, what we need to do to improve the performance of our schools is to increase competition in the education marketplace. Online education and virtual schools, charter schools, tuition tax credits and vouchers, all these different mechanisms would put pressure on the current public school system to improve.

I believe that digital education will help revolutionize how education is delivered, how students learn, and how many choices parents have in pursuing the best options for their children. This revolution will happen if we can get government and the education special interests to give it a chance.

With that, I would like to end by having you watch our short film entitled "Short-Circuited."

Thank you very much.