One of the most acim school with regard to online schools is how you can attend one for free. The online learning industry currently has both free and commercial online schools. The free types of online schools include:
A charter school is an educational organization that does not have to follow all of the rules of more traditional schools. They are, however, still public schools and must accept students provided they have space available.
Charter schools were established, in part, to be able to innovate. One of the innovations that a number of charter schools is to take their program online. Because they are a public school, they must be free.
State Departments of Education Online Schools
Several state departments of education have established online schools. Typically, though, these are not full-time endeavors for students, but are ways to take online courses for free (or at a greatly reduced rate).
Usually, the courses offered are Advanced Placement, foreign languages, more advanced mathematics. The reason for these particular courses has to do with providing access to college preparation courses for students who live in small towns. Think, for example, of Georgia which has just a few larger cities and many, many small towns. The likelihood of finding teachers for those sorts of courses can be challenging. Offering these courses online gives students great access to college.
Public School District Online Schools
Increasingly, public schools are offer full- and part-time online programs. Because they are a public school, the courses must be free. The reasons vary for why offer online programs, but it often relates to being competitive with the many free online schools out there (and the fact that those free online schools are pulling their students over to their schools).
What are the rules?
There are two basic rules with regard to being admitted to free online schools. They are:
- Are you the right age for the school; and
- Do you live in the right geographic region?
With traditional public schools and state departments of education, the maximum age is around 18 and is tied to the traditional K-12 system. More importantly, it can be tied to the grade. If you have completed twelfth grade (whether you actually passed the grade or not), you are likely done and need to look at other options.