During the 1980's, a public school system established to serve a large military population created a distance learning program. The goal of this program was to increase curricular options for students and provide opportunities for students who were experiencing scheduling conflicts in high schools. In order to expand online learning opportunities for eligible students, this school system decided to launch a fully accredited, diploma-granting, comprehensive virtual high school.
             Virtual schools are increasingly becoming a permanent fixture in the K-12 educational systems in the United States and Canada. Although there are many tangible and promising benefits virtual schools can offer, students, stakeholders and politicians still question the effectiveness of online learning programs as compared to those offered in traditional schools. As with face-to-face instruction, several factors influence the effectiveness of distance education. These factors include teacher quality, accreditation, technological approaches, course quality and student characteristics.
             A review of the literature indicates that the quality of an online course is critical for student success; however, there is little research that focuses solely on the quality of an online course. The purpose of this study is to determine the quality of the online courses written and developed by Virtual High School staff members and to examine if the quality of the courses is related to student achievement. This study will test the application of the iNacol scoring rubric developed by the Texas Education Agency's Texas Virtual School Network to determine the quality of an online course written and developed by Virtual High School staff members. The results of this study will provide data on whether there is a correlation between the quality of online courses and student grades.
             10. EXPLAIN HOW YOUR RESEARCH STUDY (1) IS ALIGNED WITH THE DEPARMENT OF DEFENSE EDUCAT...