Hospital homebound students and K-12 online schooling

Area of Science:

• Education
• Special Education
• Online Learning

Background:

• Online education offers flexibility for students with disabilities needing to miss traditional schooling.
• Hospital-homebound (H/H) students require specific considerations within educational settings.
• Investigating H/H student performance in K-12 online courses is crucial for understanding accessibility and equity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the academic performance of K-12 students with hospital-homebound designation in online classes versus their non-H/H peers.
• To identify factors influencing course completion and withdrawal rates among H/H students in virtual learning environments.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional analysis of Florida Virtual School course enrollments from August 1, 2012, to July 31, 2018.
• Comparison of 2,534 course enrollments from H/H designated students against 5,470,591 enrollments from non-H/H students.
• Statistical analysis to evaluate academic performance and withdrawal rates.

Main Results:

• H/H designated students demonstrated equivalent academic performance to non-H/H students.
• H/H students were 26% more likely to withdraw from courses before grade generation.
• Enrollment in five or more classes or classes with five or more students potentially mitigated H/H student withdrawals.

Conclusions:

• Hospital-homebound learners achieve comparable academic outcomes to their peers in online learning environments when they remain enrolled.
• Healthcare professionals should be informed about the viability of online education for H/H patients.
• Virtual schools should develop targeted support systems to improve course completion rates for H/H students.