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Foreword
The various forms of alternative education provoke strong impressions and opinions in these first years of the 21st Century. Many educators appear to have formed very strong opinions from intense debates without much data. Our preferred ideologies and prior commitments to private or public, traditional or alternative schooling sometimes fossilize our positions prematurely. On the other hand, this book brings a rich body of data to the table. Carol Klein boldly steps into four controversial areas—charter schools, virtual instruction, classical education, and home schooling; and provides us a macro and micro view of a program that combines all four.
Rather than bringing a set of biases and preconceived notions to her study, Carol Klein sets out on a quest for data to describe the big picture of a classically oriented, virtual education program (K-12 Program) run by a charter public school serving home schoolers. Her research reveals the beliefs, actions and experiences of administrators, teachers, parents and students of virtual charters serving home schools through interviews, document review, surveys, and observations.