This chapter includes a summary, study conclusions, discussion, and recommendations for policy, practice, and research.
Summary
The West Virginia Virtual School was created by the West Virginia Legislature in 2000 (W. Va. Code, 2012). The structure and management of the West Virginia Virtual School is described in West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) Policy 2450, Distance Learning and the West Virginia Virtual School, which was adopted in 2000 and revised in 2002.The school’s mission is “to assure consistent, high quality education for the students of West Virginia through courses delivered via technology, promote efficacy and equity in course offerings, and provide options for implementation across the public school system” (WVDE, 2012e, para. 1). One percent of West Virginia students in grades 9-12 took an online course between 2008 and 2011 (WVDE, 2011a).
This study examined the perceptions of selected personnel at 110 West Virginia high schools regarding the implementation of WVBE Policy 2450. This study sought to identify factors that facilitated and impeded implementation. Principals/assistant principals, counselors, and distance learning contacts and/or course facilitators provided their perceptions of five categories of factors important to the policy’s implementation: (a) people, (b) communication, (c) resources, (d) structures, and (e) culture. Participants were invited to complete an online questionnaire using a bipolar rating scale to indicate their perceptions of 35 survey items related to the five categories of factors. Respondents also had the opportunity to write comments about each factor category and provide demographic information.
The questionnaire was provided to 659 individuals in the study population. Responses were received from 216 individuals for a 32.78% return rate. Data were analyzed to determine if any factors were perceived as facilitating or impeding policy implementation and if there were significant differences in the perceptions based on the position or location of the respondents.
Survey items with a mean score of 3.6 or higher were considered factors that facilitated policy implementation. Survey items with a mean score of 2.5 or lower were considered factors that impeded policy implementation.
The study contained four research questions. Selected findings follow each:
Research Question 1: What are the factors that facilitate the implementation of WVBE Policy 2450, Distance Learning and the West Virginia Virtual School, in high schools according to perceptions of three select groups: (a) principals/assistant principals, (b) counselors, and (c) distance learning contacts and/or distance learning course facilitators?
Four of the five categories of factors were perceived as facilitating the implementation of Policy 2450. These four categories, listed in order from the highest rated to the lowest rated, were people, structures, communication, and culture. There were 22 individual survey items that were perceived as facilitating implementation.
Research Question 2: What are the factors that impede the implementation of WVBE Policy 2450, Distance Learning and the West Virginia Virtual School, in high schools according to perceptions of three select groups: (a) principals/assistant principals, (b) counselors, and (c) distance learning contacts and/or distance learning course facilitators?
No factors were perceived to impede the implementation of Policy 2450. This may have resulted from the low number of teachers who responded to the survey. The 216 respondents
were predominately principals/assistant principals (n=89) and counselors (n=82). Only 21 teachers who served as distance learning contacts and/or course facilitators provided responses.
The lowest-rated category of factors was resources and the five lowest-rated items in the entire survey were in the resources category. Opportunities for professional development, funding for professional development, time for implementation, cost of distance learning courses, and size of the school were the topics of the five lowest-rated items..
Research Question 3: Is there a difference in perceptions of factors important to the implementation of WVBE Policy 2450, Distance Learning and the West Virginia Virtual School, in high schools among three select groups: (a) principals/assistant principals, (b) counselors, and (c) distance learning contacts and/or distance learning course facilitators?
There were no significant differences in the perceptions of principals/assistant principals and counselors, but there were between principals/ assistant principals and distance learning contacts and/or distance learning course facilitators. Of the six differences identified, three were related to resources and three were related to structures. There were significant differences in the perceptions of counselors and distance learning contacts and/or distance learning course
facilitators on five survey items. Three were related to resources, one was related to people, and one was related to culture. The only survey item with a significant difference in the perceptions of principals/assistant principals and counselors versus distance learning contacts and/or distance learning course facilitators was related to the time available for school personnel to implement WVBE Policy 2450.
Research Question 4: Is there a difference in perceptions of factors important to
implementation of WVBE Policy 2450, Distance Learning and the West Virginia Virtual School, in schools with 1% or greater of the high school students enrolled in distance learning courses
between 2008 and 2011 versus schools with less than 1% of the high school students enrolled in distance learning courses during the same time period?
There were significant differences between the perceptions of those in schools with 1%
or greater of the high school students enrolled in distance learning courses between 2008 and 2011 and those in schools with less than 1% enrollment in distance learning course. Those in schools at or above 1% enrollment in distance learning courses perceived all five categories of factors as more important to the implementation of WVBE Policy 2450 than those in schools with a lower percentage of students enrolled in distance learning courses. The effect size was medium to large.
Conclusions
This study found five conclusions about factors that influence the implementation of WVBE Policy 2450, Distance Learning and the West Virginia Virtual School. They are as follows:
1. According to all three public school groups, four of the five categories of factors were perceived to facilitate the implementation of WVBE Policy 2450: people, structures,
communication, and culture. The resources category was the least to facilitate.
2. According to all three public school groups, people, including the support, knowledge, and willingness of administrators and faculties to learn about distance learning, was perceived as the most facilitating category of factors to the implementation of WVBE Policy 2450.
3. According to all three public school groups, the organizational structure of a school, including its hierarchy, policies, and procedures, was perceived as the next most important category of factors to the implementation of WVBE Policy 2450.
4. While no factors impeded the implementation of WVBE Policy 2450, there were more significant differences in perceptions about the importance of resources, especially time, among the three public school groups than with any other factor category.
5. Those who were located in schools where at least 1% of the students were enrolled in distance learning courses between 2008 and 2011 perceived all five categories of factors to be more facilitating to the implementation WVBE Policy 2450 than those in schools with fewer enrollments in distance learning courses during the same time period.
Discussion
This section provides information relevant to the study’s conclusions. It begins with a review of the demographic information of the respondents. This section contains a discussion of findings related to the factor categories and includes citations of relevant literature. This section also provides the researcher the opportunity to speculate about the implications of the data. The categories of factors are presented in rank order of overall mean scores.
Demographics. Those in the study population were asked to indicate their primary positions in the school. The counselors’ group was the largest in number (n=82) and percentage of respondents (37.97) to complete the survey. Assistant principals provided the second-most responses (n=52) and second-highest percentage of respondents (24.07). Individuals in these two positions totaled over 62% of all respondents.
The questionnaire had a survey item in which individuals could indicate if they were directly involved in distance learning in their schools. Responses showed that 63% were directly involved in distance learning and that the majority of those directly involved in distance learning served as distance learning contacts. The responsibilities of distance learning contacts were to distribute information to students and parents, secure agreements, and enroll students in distance
learning courses. It seems logical that counselors and assistant principals (the two largest categories of respondents) might also be asked to serve as distance learning contacts since counselors and assistant principals typically enroll students in courses and/or perform some managerial duties in schools.
Individuals were asked to indicate how long they had been in their primary positions. The largest group of respondents (n=59) consisted of those who had been in their current positions for two to five years. The enrollment data used in this study’s design were from the years 2008 to 2011. Since responses for this study were collected in 2012, many of the individuals who had been in their current positions for two to five years would likely have had a connection to the distance learning courses during that time period. This connection may have contributed to the high inter-item reliability (α=0.969) of the survey instrument. The second largest group (n=45) consisted of those who had been in their current positions for six to ten years. Since WVBE Policy 2450 was created in 2000 and revised in 2002, some of these individuals may have been involved with distance learning since it was first introduced in their schools in that time period.
Their perspectives may have also contributed to the reliability of the study.
Most respondents (n=119) were from schools that had 1% or greater of the students enrolled in distance learning courses between 2008 and 2011 (Group A). Over 40% of the respondents in Group A were from schools with less than 450 students in Grades 9-12. There were 97 respondents from schools with less than 1% of the students enrolled in distance learning courses during the same time period (Group B). Over 40% of the respondents in Group B were from schools with more than 800 students. One may speculate that there could be a connection between the size of the school and enrollment in distance learning courses since more responses from Group A (at or above 1% enrollment) came from small schools. One of the most-mentioned
benefits of virtual learning is students’ opportunity to access courses that would not otherwise be available in their schools (Berge & Clark, 2005; Cavanaugh, 2001; Picciano & Seaman, 2009;
Watson, 2007). When creating the West Virginia Virtual School, the West Virginia Legislature determined that more course offerings could be made available through technology, especially to students who are geographically disadvantaged (W.Va. Code, 2012). Was distance learning more successful in smaller schools or were the data the result of mere coincidence? This study was not designed to see if such a relationship existed.
People. The category of factors that was perceived as most facilitating to the
implementation of WVBE Policy 2450 was people. Bryson and Crosby (1992) and Firestone (1989) related the importance of the people involved in a policy’s implementation to its success.
In this study the factor category people had the highest mean score (M=4.0) among the five categories of factors. The four highest-rated survey items were all related to people. When the responses from principals/assistant principals, counselors, and distance learning contacts and/or course facilitators were combined, the three public school groups perceived the support of administrators in the local school and the willingness of principals to include distance learning courses as the top two items that facilitate the policy’s implementation in schools.
Evidence suggests that the perspective an individual has in the policy process seems to affect his/her perception of it, including his/her own role in the process. All three groups in this study (principals/assistant principals, counselors, and distance learning contacts and/or distance learning course facilitators) rated the factor category people as the most important to facilitating the policy. The groups, however, did not agree on the highest-rated factor. The survey item rated highest (M=4.34) by principals/assistant principals was Item #3, Principal’s willingness to include distance learning courses in the school curriculum. The survey item rated highest
(M=4.40) by counselors was Item #7, School counselor as a source of information about distance learning courses. The survey item rated highest (M=4.37) by distance learning contacts and/or distance learning course facilitators was Item #2, Principal’s perception of traits needed by students to be successful in distance learning courses. One is left to wonder if principals and counselors had specific reasons for rating their own individual roles above all other factors important to the implementation of WVBE Policy 2450.
While this study affirmed that people facilitate policy implementation, one wonders if implementation at some locations has actually been hindered by people. Kotter (1998) identified unsupportive intermediary supervisors as some of the biggest obstacles in policy implementation.
Comments from respondents suggest that may also be the case in a few schools represented in this study. Some respondents wrote of principals who would not include distance learning
courses into master schedules and counselors who would not recommend the courses to students.
One respondent wrote that he/she worked with counselors who were nearing retirement and unwilling to learn new technology. Also, the only survey items associated with the people category of factors that was not identified as facilitating implementation concerned the faculty’s knowledge of and willingness to learn about distance learning. While not identified as impeding implementation, these survey items’ failure to be included as facilitators suggests there may be faculty members who are not receptive to the policy.
Some schools have very high percentages of students enrolled in distance learning courses while other schools hardly have any students enrolled. Is it unreasonable to believe that people may be a factor in this disparity?
Structure. The organizational structure of a school was found to facilitate the implementation of Policy 2450. For this study, structure referred to the established chain of