A decade after the release of the National Standards for Quality Online Programs, the standards, along with the National Standards for Online Teaching, were updated to provide online K-12 schools, districts and programs with a new foundation for building quality online learning experiences.
Over 100 individuals with expertise in either K-12 online learning research or practice contributed to the revision, representing a variety of state and regional online learning programs as well as universities and researchers, including Nevada Learning Academy Principal Andrea Connolly.
The broad-based effort to create updated, flexible standards reflecting current best practices that contribute to student success provides a new foundation to build quality online learning experiences for K-12 students. The effort was led by Quality Matters and the Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance, who joined forces to continue the important work that iNACOL began.
A comprehensive literature review, a users survey and correlation documents were used to inform the revision process, resulting in standard sets that reflect the latest best practices. They also include new explanations and examples that expand the guidance provided in previous versions. The explanations and examples also create flexibility — allowing programs to apply the standards to blended, competency-based or other learning strategies employed.
The revised standards are available to the public under a Creative Commons License and can be downloaded on the National Standards for Quality website.
