NCES 2012–008 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Distance Education Courses for 

Public Elementary and Secondary 

School Students: 2009–10

First Look
Distance Education Courses for

Public Elementary and Secondary

School Students: 2009–10 

First Look 

November 2011

Barbara Queen

Laurie Lewis

Westat

Jared Coopersmith

Project Officer

National Center for Education Statistics

NCES 2012-008

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
U.S. Department of Education

Arne Duncan

Secretary

Institute of Education Sciences

John Q. Easton

Director

National Center for Education Statistics 

Jack Buckley 

Commissioner

Early Childhood, International, and Crosscutting Studies Division 

Val Plisko

Associate Commissioner 

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and 

reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. It fulfills a congressional mandate to 

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November 2011

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This report was prepared for the National Center for Education Statistics under Contract No. ED-04-C0-0059/0025 

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Suggested Citation

Queen, B., and Lewis, L. (2011). Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10 (NCES 2012-008). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. 

Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

For ordering information on this report, write to

ED Pubs, U.S. Department of Education

P.O. Box 22207

Alexandria, VA 22304

or call toll free 1-877-4-ED-Pubs or order online at http://www.edpubs.gov. 

Content Contact

Jared Coopersmith

(202) 219-7106

jared.coopersmith@ed.gov
iii

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to recognize the respondents from public school districts who provided data on 

distance education courses upon which the report is based and the data requesters from the Office of 

Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education. 
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v 

Contents 

Page 

Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................... iii

List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. vi

Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 

Selected Findings ........................................................................................................................ 3 

Tables .......................................................................................................................................... 5 

Appendix A: Standard Error Tables ............................................................................................ A-1 

Appendix B: Technical Notes ..................................................................................................... B-1 

Appendix C: Questionnaire ......................................................................................................... C-1 
vi

List of Tables

Table Page

1. Percent of public school districts with any students enrolled in distance 

education courses, and the percent of those districts with students enrolled in 

distance education courses at various instructional levels, by district 

characteristics: School year 2009–10 ........................................................................ 7 

2. Number of enrollments in distance education courses of students regularly 

enrolled in public school districts, and the percentage distribution of those 

enrollments by instructional level of the distance education enrollments, 

by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ....................................................... 8 

3. Percentage distribution of public school districts with students enrolled in 

distance education courses, by the number of distance education enrollments 

and district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ..................................................... 9 

4. Percentage distribution of public school districts with students enrolled in 

distance education courses indicating whether they tracked various types of 

course completions for distance education courses, by district characteristics: 

School year 2009–10 ................................................................................................. 10 

5. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education 

courses indicating that they monitored students’ progress in various ways, 

by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ....................................................... 11 

6. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education 

courses reporting that they have written policies specifying various outcomes 

when a distance education course was not successfully completed, by district 

characteristics: School year 2009–10 ........................................................................ 12 

7. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education 

courses indicating that students who were enrolled in regular high school 

programs were able to take a full course load in an academic term using only 

distance education courses, and the percent indicating that students can fulfill all 

high school graduation requirements using only distance education courses, 

by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ....................................................... 13 

8. Percent of public school districts indicating that various entities delivered the 

distance education courses in which students in their district were enrolled, and 

the percent of public school districts indicating that all courses were developed 

by entities other than the district, by district characteristics: 

School year 2009–10 ................................................................................................. 14 

9. Percent of public school districts indicating the types of distance education 

courses taken by students regularly enrolled in their district, by district 

characteristics: School year 2009–10 ........................................................................ 15 
vii

Table Page

10. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education 

courses indicating how important various reasons were for having distance 

education courses in their district, by district characteristics: School year 

2009–10 ..................................................................................................................... 16 

11. Percentage distribution of public school districts with students enrolled in 

distance education courses reporting the extent to which various technologies 

were used for the instructional delivery of distance education courses in which 

students in their district were enrolled, by district characteristics: School year 

2009–10 ..................................................................................................................... 18 

12. Percentage distribution of public school districts with students enrolled in 

distance education courses reporting that various technologies were used as the 

primary mode of instructional delivery for the greatest number of distance 

education courses taken by students regularly enrolled in their district, 

by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ....................................................... 19 

13. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education 

courses delivered over the Internet, and the percent of those districts indicating 

the location where students accessed the internet-delivered courses, by district 

characteristics: School year 2009–10 ........................................................................ 20 

14. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education 

courses that were planning to expand the number of distance education courses 

offered in the next 3 years, and the percent reporting that they delivered distance 

education courses to students who were not regularly enrolled in their district, 

by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ....................................................... 21 

Appendix A Tables 

1a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with any students 

enrolled in distance education courses, and standard errors for the percent of 

those districts with students enrolled in distance education courses at various 

instructional levels, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ....................... A-3 

2a. Standard errors for the number of enrollments in distance education courses of 

students regularly enrolled in public school districts, and the standard errors for 

the percentage distribution of those enrollments by instructional level of the 

distance education enrollments, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 .... A-4 

3a. Standard errors for the percentage distribution of public school districts with 

students enrolled in distance education courses, by the number of distance 

education enrollments and district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ................. A-5 

4a. Standard errors for the percentage distribution of public school districts with 

students enrolled in distance education courses indicating whether they tracked 

various types of course completions for distance education courses, by district 

characteristics: School year 2009–10 ........................................................................ A-6 
viii

Table Page

5a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled 

in distance education courses indicating that they monitored students’ progress 

in various ways, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ............................ A-7 

6a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled 

in distance education courses reporting that they have written policies 

specifying various outcomes when a distance education course was not 

successfully completed, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ................ A-8 

7a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled 

in distance education courses indicating that students who were enrolled in 

regular high school programs were able to take a full course load in an academic 

term using only distance education courses, and standard errors for the percent 

indicating that students can fulfill all high school graduation requirements using 

only distance education courses, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ... A-9 

8a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts indicating that various 

entities delivered the distance education courses in which students in their 

district were enrolled, and standard errors for the percent of public school 

districts indicating that all courses were developed by entities other than the 

district, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 .......................................... A-10 

9a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts indicating the types of 

distance education courses taken by students regularly enrolled in their district, 

by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ....................................................... A-11 

10a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled 

in distance education courses indicating how important various reasons were for 

having distance education courses in their district, by district characteristics: 

School year 2009–10 ................................................................................................. A-12 

11a. Standard errors for the percentage distribution of public school districts with 

students enrolled in distance education courses reporting the extent to which 

various technologies were used for the instructional delivery of distance 

education courses in which students in their district were enrolled, by district 

characteristics: School year 2009–10 ........................................................................ A-14 

12a. Standard errors for the percentage distribution of public school districts with 

students enrolled in distance education courses reporting that various 

technologies were used as the primary mode of instructional delivery for the 

greatest number of distance education courses taken by students regularly 

enrolled in their district, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ................ A-15 

13a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled 

in distance education courses delivered over the Internet, and standard errors for 

the percent of those districts indicating the location where students accessed the 

internet-delivered courses, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 ............ A-16 
ix

Table Page

14a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled 

in distance education courses that were planning to expand the number of 

distance education courses offered in the next 3 years, and standard errors for 

the percent reporting that they delivered distance education courses to students 

who were not regularly enrolled in their district, by district characteristics: 

School year 2009–10 ................................................................................................. A-17 

Appendix B Table 

B-1. Number and percent of responding public school districts in the study sample, and 

estimated number and percent of public school districts the sample represents, 

by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 .............................................................. B-4
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1 

Introduction 

This report provides national estimates about student enrollment in distance education courses in public school 

districts. The estimates presented in this report are based on a district survey about distance education courses 

offered by the district or by any of the schools in the district during the 12-month 2009–10 school year. For 

this survey, distance education courses were defined as courses offered to elementary and secondary school 

students regularly enrolled in the district that meet all of the following criteria: (1) are credit granting; (2) are

technology delivered; and (3) have the instructor in a different location than the students and/or have course 

content developed in, or delivered from, a different location than that of the students. 

Specifically, the survey covered the following topics about distance education in public school districts during 

the 12-month 2009–10 school year: 

Extent of enrollment

• Whether any of the elementary and secondary students regularly enrolled in the district were enrolled in 

distance education courses;

• The number of enrollments (which may include duplicated counts of students) in distance education 

courses of students regularly enrolled in the district, by instructional level of the enrollments; 

• Whether the district could provide an unduplicated count1

 of the number of students enrolled in distance 

education courses; 

 

1 Unduplicated counts are those in which each student is counted only once, regardless of the number of courses in which the student was 

enrolled.

• Whether the district delivered any distance education courses to students not regularly enrolled in the 

district;

Monitoring and accountability

• Whether the district distinguished distance education courses from other academic courses on student 

academic records; 

• Whether the district tracked various types of course completions for distance education courses; 

• Whether the district monitored student progress in distance education courses in various ways; 

• Whether the district had written policies specifying various outcomes when a distance education course

was not successfully completed; 

• Whether students enrolled in regular high school programs were able to take a full course load in an 

academic term using only distance education courses, and whether they were able to fulfill all high school 

graduation requirements using only distance education courses; 

Deliverers and developers

• Entities that delivered the distance education courses in which students were enrolled; 

• Extent to which distance education courses were developed by the district or by other entities; 

Courses 

• Types of distance education courses taken by students in the district; 

• Importance of various reasons for having distance education courses in the district; 

• Whether the district plans to expand the number of distance education courses offered in the next 3 years; 

Technologies

• Extent to which various technologies were used for the instructional delivery of distance education 

courses, and the technology used to deliver the greatest number of distance education courses; and
2 

• Whether students were enrolled in distance education courses delivered over the Internet, and the location 

where students accessed these internet-delivered distance education courses. 

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences conducted this Fast 

Response Survey System (FRSS) survey in late fall and winter 2010–11. FRSS is a survey system designed to 

collect small amounts of issue-oriented data from a nationally representative sample of districts, schools, or 

teachers with minimal burden on respondents and within a relatively short period of time. The survey was 

mailed to approximately 2,310 public school districts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The 

unweighted survey response rate was 94 percent and the weighted response rate using the initial base 

weights was 95 percent. The survey weights were adjusted for questionnaire nonresponse and the data were 

then weighted to yield national estimates that represent all public school districts in the United States. 

Because the purpose of this report is to introduce new NCES data from the survey through the presentation of 

tables containing descriptive information, only selected national findings are presented. These findings have 

been chosen to demonstrate the range of information available from the FRSS study rather than to discuss all 

of the data collected; they are not meant to emphasize any particular issue. Readers are cautioned not to make 

causal inferences about the data presented here. The findings are based on self-reported data from public 

school districts. 

All specific statements of comparisons made in the bullets have been tested for statistical significance at the 

p < .05 level using Student’s t-statistics from two-tailed tests to ensure that the differences are larger than those 

that might be expected due to sampling variation. No adjustments were made for multiple comparisons. Many 

of the variables examined are related to one another, and complex interactions and relationships have not been 

explored. Tables of standard error estimates are provided in appendix A. See the technical notes (appendix B)

for detailed information about the survey methodology. The questionnaire is located in appendix C. 
3 

Selected Findings 

The findings presented here are based on self-reported data from public school districts for the 12-month 

2009–10 school year. 

• Fifty-five percent of public school districts reported having students enrolled in distance education courses 

in 2009–10 (table 1). Among those districts, 96 percent reported having students enrolled in distance 

education courses at the high school level, 19 percent at the middle or junior high school level, 6 percent at 

the elementary school level, and 4 percent in combined or ungraded schools.2

 

2 Combined or ungraded schools are those in which the grades offered in the school span both elementary and secondary grades or that are not 

divided into grade levels. In survey questions that asked respondents to report by instructional level, the grade ranges were not defined for district 

respondents.

• Districts reported an estimated 1,816,400 enrollments in distance education courses for 2009–103 (table 2).

Seventy-four percent of the distance education enrollments were in high schools, 9 percent were in middle 

or junior high schools, and 4 percent were in elementary schools. 

3 If a student was enrolled in multiple courses, districts were instructed to count the student for each course in which he or she was enrolled. 

Thus, course enrollments may include duplicated counts of students. 

• Seventy-nine percent of districts with students enrolled in distance education courses reported enrollments 

of 100 or fewer students, with 25 percent reporting 1 to 10 enrollments, 27 percent reporting 11 to 30 

enrollments, and 27 percent reporting 31 to 100 enrollments (table 3). 

• Eighty-seven percent of districts reported tracking all distance education courses that students completed

with a passing grade, 79 percent reported tracking all distance education courses that students completed

with a failing grade, and 65 percent reported tracking all distance education courses where students 

withdrew prior to completing the course (table 4). 

• Ninety-eight percent of districts reported monitoring student progress in distance education courses using a 

final grade report (table 5). Districts also reported monitoring student progress by completion and 

submission of assignments (80 percent), interim course grades (75 percent), attendance reports (70 

percent), log-on activity (56 percent), and time spent online (49 percent). 

• Twelve percent of districts reported having written policies specifying that a student cannot enroll in 

another distance education course when a distance education course was not successfully completed, while

6 percent of districts reported having policies specifying that a student must wait a specified time before 

enrolling in another distance education course (table 6).

• Twenty-two percent of districts with students enrolled in distance education courses reported that students 

enrolled in regular high school programs could take a full course load in an academic term using only 

distance education courses, while 12 percent reported that students could fulfill all high school graduation 

requirements using only distance education courses (table 7). 

• Fifty percent of districts reported that a postsecondary institution in the United States delivered distance 

education courses in which students in their district were enrolled (table 8). Other reported entities 

delivering distance education included independent vendors in the United States (47 percent) and a state 

virtual school in their state4

 (33 percent). Seventy-five percent of districts reported that all distance 

education courses were developed by entities other than their district.

4 A state virtual school is one where state-centralized K-12 courses are available through the Internet or web-based methods.

• Districts reported that the types of distance education courses in which students enrolled were credit 

recovery

5

 (62 percent), dual enrollment6 (47 percent), Advanced Placement (29 percent), career and 

technical education (27 percent), and other types of academic courses7

 (65 percent) (table 9). 

5 Credit recovery courses include opportunities allowing students to recover course credits from classes they have missed or failed. 6 Dual enrollment courses are college-level courses for which students receive both high school and college credits. 7 Other types of academic courses include core courses and electives.

• The majority of districts reported that providing courses not otherwise available at the school (64 percent) 

and providing opportunities for students to recover course credits from classes missed or failed

(57 percent) were very important reasons for having distance education courses in their district (table 10). 

Reasons for having distance education that districts reported as not important included addressing school 

space limitations (82 percent), and generating more district revenues (82 percent). 
4 

• Fifty-nine percent of districts reported having students enrolled in courses that used the Internet with 

asynchronous (not simultaneous) instruction to a large extent, with an additional 27 percent reporting 

having students enrolled in courses that used this technology to a small or moderate extent (table 11). This 

makes the Internet with asynchronous instruction the most widely used technology for the instructional 

delivery of distance education courses. In contrast, more than half of the districts indicated not using each 

of the other technologies at all to deliver distance education courses, with 73 percent reporting not using 

one-way prerecorded video, 65 percent not using computer-based technologies other than the Internet, 59 

percent not using two-way interactive video, and 52 percent not using the Internet with synchronous 

(simultaneous) instruction. 

• The technology most frequently cited by districts as the primary mode of instructional delivery for the 

greatest number of distance education courses was the Internet using asynchronous instruction (63 percent) 

(table 12). 

• Ninety percent of districts with distance education enrollments reported having students enrolled in 

distance education courses delivered over the Internet (table 13). Among those districts, 92 percent 

reported that students accessed internet-delivered courses at school, 78 percent reported that students 

accessed these courses at home, and 15 percent reported that students accessed these courses at some other 

location (e.g., public library or community center). 

• About three-quarters (74 percent) of the districts with distance education enrollments in 2009–10 indicated 

that they planned to expand the number of distance education courses offered in the next 3 years 

(table 14). Fourteen percent of the districts reported that they delivered distance education courses to 

students not regularly enrolled in the district (e.g., students from other districts, private school students, or 

homeschooled students). 
5 

Tables
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7 

Table 1. Percent of public school districts with any students enrolled in distance education 

courses, and the percent of those districts with students enrolled in distance education 

courses at various instructional levels, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Districts with 

any students 

enrolled in 

distance 

education 

courses1

Districts with students enrolled in distance 

education courses at that instructional level2

Elementary 

schools

Middle or 

junior high 

schools

High 

schools

Combined or 

ungraded 

schools3 

All public school districts ...................... 55 6 19 96 4

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ......................................... 51 5 16 95 3

2,500 to 9,999 ........................................... 66 8 26 98 5

10,000 or more ......................................... 74 11 34 98 5

Community type

City ........................................................... 37 7 22 98 3!

Suburban .................................................. 47 8 23 96 6

Town ........................................................ 67 9 25 98 4!

Rural ......................................................... 59 4 16 95 3

Region

Northeast .................................................. 39 4! 22 97 ‡

Southeast .................................................. 78 7 28 97 4

Central ...................................................... 62 6 17 97 4

West ......................................................... 51 7 17 94 5

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ................................. 54 5 20 96 2!

10 to 19 percent ........................................ 56 6 20 96 5

20 percent or more .................................... 56 7 18 96 4

! Interpret data with caution; the coefficient of variation is greater than or equal to 30 percent.

‡ Reporting standards not met. The coefficient of variation for this estimate is 50 percent or greater. 1 Based on all public school districts.

2 Based on the 55 percent of districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school year. 3 Combined or ungraded schools are those in which the grades offered in the school span both elementary and secondary grades or that are not 

divided into grade levels. In survey questions that asked respondents to report by instructional level, the grade ranges were not defined for district 

respondents.

NOTE: Data are for the 12-month 2009-10 school year. Poverty estimates for school districts were based on Title I data provided to the U.S. 

Department of Education by the U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
8 

Table 2. Number of enrollments in distance education courses of students regularly enrolled in 

public school districts, and the percentage distribution of those enrollments by 

instructional level of the distance education enrollments, by district characteristics: 

School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Number of 

enrollments in 

distance 

education 

courses1

Percentage distribution of enrollments in distance 

education courses by instructional level2

Elementary 

schools

Middle or 

junior high 

schools

High 

schools

Combined or 

ungraded 

schools3

All public school districts with students

enrolled in distance education courses ....... 1,816,400 4 9 74 ‡

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ................................................... 509,000! 8! 10! 80 1!

2,500 to 9,999 ..................................................... 579,200! ‡ ‡ 54! ‡

10,000 or more ................................................... 728,100 2 11 86 1

Community type

City ..................................................................... 653,700! ‡ 6! 62! ‡

Suburban ............................................................ 527,300 4! 12 82 1

Town .................................................................. 306,800! ‡ 12! 80 ‡

Rural ................................................................... 328,600 ‡ 5 80 8!

Region

Northeast ............................................................ 77,700 ‡ 6 92 ‡

Southeast ............................................................ 518,800 2 11 86 1!

Central ................................................................ 697,100! 5! ‡ 60! ‡

West ................................................................... 522,800 ‡ 8 80 7!

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ........................................... 287,700 ‡ 4 81 ‡

10 to 19 percent .................................................. 1,009,300 2! 10 68 ‡

20 percent or more .............................................. 519,400 7! 9! 84 ‡

! Interpret data with caution; the coefficient of variation is greater than or equal to 30 percent.

‡ Reporting standards not met. The coefficient of variation for this estimate is 50 percent or greater. 1 If a student was enrolled in multiple courses, districts were instructed to count the student for each course in which he or she was enrolled. Thus, 

course enrollments may include duplicated counts of students.

2 Percentages are based on the estimated 1,816,400 enrollments in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school year. 3 Combined or ungraded schools are those in which the grades offered in the school span both elementary and secondary grades or that are not 

divided into grade levels. In survey questions that asked respondents to report by instructional level, the grade ranges were not defined for district 

respondents.

NOTE: Data are for the 12-month 2009-10 school year. Poverty estimates for school districts were based on Title I data provided to the U.S. 

Department of Education by the U.S. Census Bureau. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
9 

Table 3. Percentage distribution of public school districts with students enrolled in distance 

education courses, by the number of distance education enrollments and district 

characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Number of distance education enrollments1

1–10 11–30 31–100

101–

1,000

More 

than 

1,000

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses ..... 25 27 27 18 3

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 .......................................................................................................... 31 32 28 8 ‡

2,500 to 9,999 ............................................................................................................ 15 17 28 39 2!

10,000 or more .......................................................................................................... 5 9 12 50 24

Community type

City ............................................................................................................................ 10! 16 24 36 14

Suburban ................................................................................................................... 21 19 26 28 6

Town ......................................................................................................................... 22 24 29 24 ‡

Rural .......................................................................................................................... 31 32 26 10 1!

Region

Northeast ................................................................................................................... 34 30 24 13 #

Southeast ................................................................................................................... 16 19 26 34 6

Central ....................................................................................................................... 26 29 31 12 2!

West .......................................................................................................................... 25 27 21 23 4

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent .................................................................................................. 29 26 25 18 3

10 to 19 percent ......................................................................................................... 22 29 29 16 4

20 percent or more ..................................................................................................... 27 26 24 21 2

# Rounds to zero.

! Interpret data with caution; the coefficient of variation is greater than or equal to 30 percent.

‡ Reporting standards not met. The coefficient of variation for this estimate is 50 percent or greater. 1 If a student was enrolled in multiple courses, districts were instructed to count the student for each course in which he or she was enrolled. Thus, 

course enrollments may include duplicated counts of students.

NOTE: Percentages are based on the 55 percent of districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school 

year. Poverty estimates for school districts were based on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
10

Table 4. Percentage distribution of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses indicating whether they 

tracked various types of course completions for distance education courses, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Course completion with 

passing grade

Course completion with

failing grade

Withdrawal prior to 

course completion

Yes, for 

all 

courses 

Yes, for 

some 

courses No

Yes, for 

all 

courses

Yes, for 

some 

courses No

Yes, for 

all 

courses

Yes, for 

some 

courses No

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses ...... 87 6 7 79 6 16 65 8 27

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ........................................................................................................... 89 5 6 81 4 15 66 7 27

2,500 to 9,999 ............................................................................................................. 85 7 7 77 8 16 67 10 23

10,000 or more ........................................................................................................... 77 12 11 68 14 18 54 14 32

Community type

City ............................................................................................................................. 82 12! 6 73 9 18 59 11! 30

Suburban .................................................................................................................... 89 4 6 77 7 16 65 8 27

Town .......................................................................................................................... 82 8 11 75 8 18 66 10 25

Rural ........................................................................................................................... 90 5 5 82 4 14 66 7 27

Region

Northeast .................................................................................................................... 91 4! 4! 81 5 14 72 8 20

Southeast .................................................................................................................... 82 8 10 74 8 19 62 10 28

Central ........................................................................................................................ 88 5 7 80 4 16 66 6 28

West ........................................................................................................................... 86 8 6 78 8 14 62 11 27

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ................................................................................................... 90 5 5 82 5 13 70 7 22

10 to 19 percent .......................................................................................................... 88 5 7 78 5 17 64 8 28

20 percent or more ...................................................................................................... 85 7 8 77 7 16 63 9 28

! Interpret data with caution; the coefficient of variation is greater than or equal to 30 percent.

NOTE: Percentages are based on the 55 percent of districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school year. Poverty estimates for school districts were based 

on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. Census Bureau. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
11

Table 5. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses indicating that they monitored students’ 

progress in various ways, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10

District characteristic

Attendance 

report

Log-on 

activity

Time spent 

online

Completion 

and 

submission of 

assignments

Interim 

course grades

Final grade 

report

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses ............................ 70 56 49 80 75 98

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ................................................................................................................................. 70 51 44 79 77 98

2,500 to 9,999 ................................................................................................................................... 69 68 58 83 71 98

10,000 or more ................................................................................................................................. 65 68 62 79 68 95

Community type

City ................................................................................................................................................... 68 73 68 84 63 98

Suburban .......................................................................................................................................... 64 65 58 82 70 96

Town ................................................................................................................................................ 64 64 53 79 72 97

Rural ................................................................................................................................................. 74 47 41 79 80 99

Region

Northeast .......................................................................................................................................... 62 59 49 80 83 98

Southeast .......................................................................................................................................... 70 65 56 82 78 97

Central .............................................................................................................................................. 71 54 45 80 72 98

West ................................................................................................................................................. 72 53 49 78 73 97

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ......................................................................................................................... 57 53 46 78 73 97

10 to 19 percent ................................................................................................................................ 73 56 45 80 76 98

20 percent or more ............................................................................................................................ 75 59 55 81 75 98

NOTE: Percentages are based on the 55 percent of districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school year. Poverty estimates for school districts were based 

on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
12 

Table 6. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses 

reporting that they have written policies specifying various outcomes when a distance 

education course was not successfully completed, by district characteristics: School year 

2009–10 

District characteristic

Student cannot enroll 

in another distance 

education course

Student must wait a 

specified time before 

enrolling in another 

distance education course

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses ...... 12 6

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 .......................................................................................................... 13 7

2,500 to 9,999 ............................................................................................................ 8 5

10,000 or more ........................................................................................................... 9 6

Community type

City ............................................................................................................................ 11! 5

Suburban .................................................................................................................... 7 3

Town .......................................................................................................................... 12 9

Rural .......................................................................................................................... 13 7

Region

Northeast .................................................................................................................... 7 2!

Southeast .................................................................................................................... 11 9

Central ........................................................................................................................ 11 6

West ........................................................................................................................... 15 8

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ................................................................................................... 8 4

10 to 19 percent .......................................................................................................... 12 5

20 percent or more ..................................................................................................... 14 9

! Interpret data with caution; the coefficient of variation is greater than or equal to 30 percent.

NOTE: Percentages are based on the 55 percent of districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school 

year. Poverty estimates for school districts were based on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
13 

Table 7. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses 

indicating that students who were enrolled in regular high school programs were able to 

take a full course load in an academic term using only distance education courses, and 

the percent indicating that students can fulfill all high school graduation requirements 

using only distance education courses, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10

District characteristic

Students can take a 

full course load using 

only distance 

education courses 

Students can fulfill 

all high school 

graduation requirements 

using only distance 

education courses

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses ........... 22 12

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ............................................................................................................... 20 12

2,500 to 9,999 ................................................................................................................. 28 15

10,000 or more ................................................................................................................ 24 13

Community type

City ................................................................................................................................. 32 20

Suburban ......................................................................................................................... 25 15

Town ............................................................................................................................... 29 18

Rural ................................................................................................................................ 17 8

Region

Northeast ......................................................................................................................... 22 11

Southeast ......................................................................................................................... 22 9

Central ............................................................................................................................. 24 15

West ................................................................................................................................ 21 11

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ........................................................................................................ 23 13

10 to 19 percent ............................................................................................................... 25 14

20 percent or more ........................................................................................................... 19 9

NOTE: Percentages are based on districts with students enrolled in distance education courses and with high schools. Of the 55 percent of public 

school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school year, 98 percent had high schools. Poverty 

estimates for school districts were based on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
14

Table 8. Percent of public school districts indicating that various entities delivered the distance education courses in which students in 

their district were enrolled, and the percent of public school districts indicating that all courses were developed by entities other 

than the district, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Types of entities delivering distance education courses1 Districts 

reporting 

that all 

courses 

were 

developed 

by entities 

other than 

the district

Postsecondary 

institution 

in the U.S.

Independent vendor 

in the U.S.

Online 

charter 

school 

administered by 

their 

district

Other 

schools 

administered by 

their 

district

Their 

district

Another 

local 

school 

district, or 

schools in 

another 

district, in 

their state

Education 

service 

agencies 

within 

their state

State 

virtual 

school in 

their state2 

State 

virtual 

school in 

another 

state

Districts or 

schools in 

other states

Non-U.S.-

based 

public or 

private 

entity

All public school districts 

 with students enrolled 

 in distance education 

courses ......................... 50 47 4 6 18 21 16 33 6 3 1 75

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ..................... 56 41 4 4 16 25 17 29 5 3 ‡ 78

2,500 to 9,999 ....................... 39 61 3 7 22 13 14 41 7 2 2 72

10,000 or more ..................... 35 59 5 16 33 14 9 49 10 3 2 63

Community type

City ....................................... 30 57 10! 6 35 8 5 35 4 1! 2! 61

Suburban .............................. 37 65 4! 4 20 10 17 30 8 3! 1! 75

Town .................................... 44 53 5! 7 19 17 14 35 8 4! 1! 79

Rural ..................................... 61 37 3! 5 15 29 17 34 5 2! 1! 76

Region

Northeast .............................. 30 57 ‡ 6 19 8 26 16 9 3! ‡ 74

Southeast .............................. 44 41 ‡ 8 18 15 14 77 9 3! ‡ 74

Central .................................. 52 47 4 5 20 31 17 34 5 2! 2! 74

West ..................................... 62 46 5 5 16 18 9 19 4 3! 1! 79

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ............. 50 53 2! 5 18 19 21 24 9 4! 1! 77

10 to 19 percent .................... 50 45 6 6 21 25 15 34 5 2! 2! 72

20 percent or more ................ 51 46 2! 6 16 18 12 39 5 2! ‡ 79

! Interpret data with caution; the coefficient of variation is greater than or equal to 30 percent.

‡ Reporting standards not met. The coefficient of variation for this estimate is 50 percent or greater. 1 Response options in the questionnaire were “yes,” “no,” and “don’t know.” Only the “yes” responses are shown in the table.

2 State virtual school may include schools where state-centralized K–12 courses are available through the Internet or web-based methods.

NOTE: Percents sum to more than 100 because districts could report more than one type of entity delivering distance education courses. Percentages are based on the 55 percent of public school districts 

with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school year. Poverty estimates for school districts were based on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education 

by the U.S. Census Bureau. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
15 

Table 9. Percent of public school districts indicating the types of distance education courses taken 

by students regularly enrolled in their district, by district characteristics: School year 

2009–10 

District characteristic

Advanced 

Placement

Dual 

enrollment1

Credit 

recovery2 

Career and 

technical 

education

Other types 

of academic 

courses3 

All public school districts with students enrolled in 

distance education courses ................................................ 29 47 62 27 65

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 .......................................................................... 25 53 55 27 63

2,500 to 9,999 ............................................................................ 35 35 78 24 69

10,000 or more .......................................................................... 42 33 83 37 72

Community type

City ............................................................................................ 24 29 84 26 54

Suburban ................................................................................... 35 27 70 22 69

Town ......................................................................................... 31 45 70 25 66

Rural .......................................................................................... 26 58 53 30 65

Region

Northeast ................................................................................... 37 26 52 14 73

Southeast ................................................................................... 53 43 71 31 74

Central ....................................................................................... 26 50 65 32 67

West .......................................................................................... 16 56 59 25 54

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent .................................................................. 34 40 64 28 72

10 to 19 percent ......................................................................... 29 49 61 30 65

20 percent or more ..................................................................... 25 50 62 23 59 1 Dual enrollment courses are college-level courses for which students receive both high school and college credits. 2 Credit recovery courses include opportunities allowing students to recover course credits from classes they have missed or failed. 3 Other types of academic courses include core courses and electives.

NOTE: Percentages are based on the 55 percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 

2009–10 school year. Poverty estimates for school districts were based on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. 

Census Bureau.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
16

Table 10. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses indicating how important various 

reasons were for having distance education courses in their district, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Providing courses not 

otherwise available at school

Offering Advanced Placement 

or college-level courses

Reducing scheduling 

conflicts for students

Providing opportunities for 

students to recover course 

credits from classes missed or failed

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

All public school districts with students

 enrolled in distance education 

courses ............................................. 18 17 64 35 20 41 30 38 30 24 15 57

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ......................................... 15 14 69 33 18 45 31 39 28 29 18 49

2,500 to 9,999 ........................................... 24 22 53 41 23 33 30 37 31 15 11 72

10,000 or more ......................................... 25 27 47 40 30 29 21 31 47 7 10 81

Community type

City ........................................................... 31 30 37 52 22 23 40 27 30 7 6 81

Suburban .................................................. 27 19 52 42 25 30 31 31 36 21 12 66

Town ........................................................ 22 16 60 38 19 40 32 42 26 20 15 60

Rural ......................................................... 11 15 73 29 19 48 28 41 30 30 18 49

Region

Northeast .................................................. 13 11 75 36 22 39 31 32 36 34 17 46

Southeast .................................................. 7 18 74 25 23 51 22 35 42 16 15 65

Central ...................................................... 20 17 61 41 16 38 33 38 27 24 14 59

West ......................................................... 23 20 56 32 23 42 31 43 26 24 17 56

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ................................. 19 15 64 40 21 36 30 37 31 28 11 60

10 to 19 percent ........................................ 18 18 62 34 18 43 29 40 29 24 16 55

20 percent or more .................................... 16 17 65 33 22 42 32 36 31 22 18 57

See notes at end of table.
17

Table 10. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses indicating how important various 

reasons were for having distance education courses in their district, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10—

Continued

District characteristic

Providing opportunities 

for students to accelerate credit 

accumulation for early graduation

Providing opportunities 

for students who are homebound or 

have special needs

Addressing school 

space limitations

Generating more 

district revenues

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

All public school districts with students 

enrolled in distance education courses .. 55 27 15 40 30 25 82 11 5 82 8 5

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 .............................................. 58 26 12 46 27 22 84 10 4 82 7 5

2,500 to 9,999 ................................................ 50 26 20 29 36 30 80 11 6 82 9 4

10,000 or more .............................................. 36 36 25 18 37 41 69 22 7 73 15 8

Community type

City ................................................................ 41 23 29 18 35 41 69 15! 12! 69 12 11!

Suburban ....................................................... 54 26 19 30 32 35 79 13 6 84 10 3!

Town ............................................................. 55 25 18 35 31 30 83 11 3 78 10 5!

Rural .............................................................. 57 29 11 49 29 17 84 9 4 84 6 5

Region

Northeast ....................................................... 61 26 11 47 26 24 78 15 5! 87 4! 4!

Southeast ....................................................... 50 27 18 35 35 25 71 17 8 85 5 2!

Central ........................................................... 62 23 11 39 30 26 88 6 3 82 10 4!

West .............................................................. 44 33 22 41 30 25 81 12 6! 76 10 9

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ...................................... 59 24 15 44 27 24 82 11 4 86 8 3!

10 to 19 percent ............................................. 53 30 14 38 32 26 83 10 4 80 9 5

20 percent or more ......................................... 54 24 18 41 30 24 79 12 6 81 7 7

! Interpret data with caution; the coefficient of variation is greater than or equal to 30 percent.

NOTE: Response options in the questionnaire were “not important,” “somewhat important,” “very important,” and “don’t know.” The “don’t know” responses are not shown in the table. Percentages are 

based on the 55 percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school year. Poverty estimates for school districts were based on Title I 

data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
18

Table 11. Percentage distribution of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses reporting the extent to 

which various technologies were used for the instructional delivery of distance education courses in which students in their 

district were enrolled, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Internet courses using 

synchronous instruction1 

Internet courses using 

asynchronous instruction2 

Computer-based technologies 

other than the Internet3 

Two-way 

interactive video4 

One-way 

prerecorded video5 

Not 

at all 

Small 

or moderate 

extent

Large 

extent

Not 

at all 

Small 

or moderate 

extent

Large 

extent

Not 

at all 

Small 

or moderate 

extent

Large 

extent

Not 

at all 

Small 

or moderate 

extent

Large 

extent

Not 

at all 

Small 

or moderate 

extent

Large 

extent

All public school districts 

 with students enrolled in

 distance education 

courses .............................. 52 33 15 14 27 59 65 26 9 59 22 20 73 23 4

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 .......................... 53 31 16 17 28 55 66 26 9 54 21 25 75 20 5

2,500 to 9,999 ............................ 51 34 15 9 25 66 64 27 8 70 21 9 69 26 4

10,000 or more .......................... 46 44 10 6 22 71 64 27 9 66 28 6 64 33 3

Community type

City ............................................ 47 37 16 6 20 74 60 32 8 80 18 2! 62 36 2!

Suburban ................................... 52 38 10 8 23 70 67 24 10 74 21 5 68 25 7

Town ......................................... 55 31 15 11 21 68 66 25 9 67 19 14 76 20 5!

Rural .......................................... 51 32 17 19 31 49 65 26 8 47 24 30 75 21 4

Region

Northeast ................................... 59 31 9 16 20 64 71 22 7 70 19 11 72 25 3!

Southeast ................................... 41 37 22 14 26 60 60 28 13 56 24 20 69 25 5

Central ....................................... 52 34 14 15 30 55 67 24 8 57 20 22 75 20 5

West .......................................... 53 31 16 12 26 62 62 30 8 56 24 20 73 23 4!

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent .................. 54 35 12 16 22 62 68 24 8 66 18 16 72 25 3!

10 to 19 percent ......................... 53 36 12 13 27 60 65 28 7 55 25 20 72 23 5

20 percent or more ..................... 49 28 23 14 30 56 63 25 11 58 20 22 74 21 4

! Interpret data with caution; the coefficient of variation is greater than or equal to 30 percent.

1 Synchronous refers to simultaneous or “real time” instruction.

2 Asynchronous is defined as not simultaneous or not occurring in real time. 3 Computer-based technologies other than the Internet include district network or CD-ROM. 4 Two-way interactive video refers to two-way video with two-way audio. 5 One-way prerecorded video includes prerecorded videos provided to students, and television broadcast and cable transmission using prerecorded video.

NOTE: Response options in the questionnaire were “not at all,” “small extent,” “moderate extent,” and “large extent.” Responses for “small extent” and “moderate extent” are combined in the table. 

Percentages are based on the 55 percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school year. Poverty estimates for school districts were 

based on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. Census Bureau. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
19 

Table 12. Percentage distribution of public school districts with students enrolled in distance 

education courses reporting that various technologies were used as the primary mode of 

instructional delivery for the greatest number of distance education courses taken by 

students regularly enrolled in their district, by district characteristics: School year 

2009–10 

District characteristic

Internet courses 

using synchronous 

instruction1 

Internet courses 

using asynchronous instruction2 

Computer-based 

technologies other 

than the Internet3 

Two-way 

interactive 

video4 

One-way 

prerecorded 

video5 

All public school districts 

 with students enrolled 

 in distance education 

courses ........................... 14 63 5 17 2

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ....................... 15 58 5 21 1!

2,500 to 9,999 ......................... 11 73 7 7 2

10,000 or more ....................... 9 79 6 5 1!

Community type

City ......................................... 14! 76 8! 3 #

Suburban ................................. 10 77 7 3 3!

Town ...................................... 13 70 6 10 ‡

Rural ........................................ 15 54 4 26 2!

Region

Northeast ................................ 11 74 4! 10 ‡

Southeast ................................. 19 60 5 13 ‡

Central .................................... 12 58 7 21 2!

West ........................................ 14 65 4! 16 ‡

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ............... 13 69 3 13 ‡

10 to 19 percent ...................... 11 62 6 19 2!

20 percent or more .................. 18 60 5 15 ‡

# Rounds to zero.

! Interpret data with caution; the coefficient of variation is greater than or equal to 30 percent.

‡ Reporting standards not met. The coefficient of variation for this estimate is 50 percent or greater. 1 Synchronous refers to simultaneous or “real time” instruction.

2 Asynchronous is defined as not simultaneous or not occurring in real time. 3 Computer-based technologies other than the Internet include district network or CD-ROM. 4 Two-way interactive video refers to two-way video with two-way audio. 5 One-way prerecorded video includes prerecorded videos provided to students, and television broadcast and cable transmission using prerecorded 

video.

NOTE: Percentages are based on the 55 percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 

2009–10 school year. Poverty estimates for school districts were based on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. 

Census Bureau. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
20 

Table 13. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses 

delivered over the Internet, and the percent of those districts indicating the location 

where students accessed the internet-delivered courses, by district characteristics: 

School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Districts with students 

enrolled in internetdelivered distance 

education courses1

Access location for internet-delivered courses2

School Home Other location3 

All public school districts with 

 students enrolled in distance 

education courses ........................... 90 92 78 15

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ....................................... 88 92 75 11

2,500 to 9,999 ......................................... 95 92 81 20

10,000 or more ....................................... 97 93 86 27

Community type

City ......................................................... 96 86 84 22

Suburban ................................................ 95 89 83 20

Town ...................................................... 93 90 76 18

Rural ....................................................... 87 95 75 10

Region

Northeast ................................................ 90 92 83 12

Southeast ................................................ 95 98 71 14

Central .................................................... 89 91 77 15

West ....................................................... 90 92 79 16

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ............................... 88 91 83 16

10 to 19 percent ...................................... 91 91 78 15

20 percent or more .................................. 91 94 73 14 1 Based on the 55 percent of districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school year. 2 Based on the districts with students enrolled in internet-delivered distance education courses. 3 Other location examples include public library and community centers.

NOTE: Poverty estimates for school districts were based on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. Census 

Bureau.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
21 

Table 14. Percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses 

that were planning to expand the number of distance education courses offered in the 

next 3 years, and the percent reporting that they delivered distance education courses to 

students who were not regularly enrolled in their district, by district characteristics: 

School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Plan to expand 

number of distance 

education courses in 

next 3 years

Delivered courses to 

students not regularly

enrolled in district1 

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses .................... 74 14

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ........................................................................................................................ 71 13

2,500 to 9,999 .......................................................................................................................... 77 16

10,000 or more ......................................................................................................................... 88 20

Community type

City .......................................................................................................................................... 87 13

Suburban .................................................................................................................................. 78 15

Town ........................................................................................................................................ 77 14

Rural ........................................................................................................................................ 69 14

Region

Northeast .................................................................................................................................. 77 11

Southeast .................................................................................................................................. 76 10

Central ...................................................................................................................................... 69 18

West ......................................................................................................................................... 79 13

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ................................................................................................................. 76 14

10 to 19 percent ........................................................................................................................ 74 17

20 percent or more ................................................................................................................... 73 11 1 Students not regularly enrolled in the district includes students from other districts, private school students, or homeschooled students.

NOTE: Percentages are based on the 55 percent of districts with students enrolled in distance education courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school 

year. Poverty estimates for school districts were based on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
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A-1 

Appendix A

Standard Error Tables
This page intentionally left blank.
A-3 

Table 1a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with any students enrolled in 

distance education courses, and standard errors for the percent of those districts with 

students enrolled in distance education courses at various instructional levels, 

by district characteristics: School year 2009–10

District characteristic

Districts with 

any students 

enrolled in 

distance 

education 

courses

Districts with students enrolled in distance 

education courses at that instructional level

Elementary 

schools

Middle or 

junior high 

schools

High 

schools

Combined or 

ungraded schools

All public school districts ...................... 1.4 0.6 1.3 0.6 0.6

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ......................................... 1.8 0.9 1.8 0.9 0.8

2,500 to 9,999 ........................................... 1.5 1.1 1.4 0.6 1.0

10,000 or more ......................................... 0.8 1.0 1.5 0.4 0.8

Community type

City ........................................................... 4.0 1.9 3.9 0.9 1.0

Suburban .................................................. 2.6 2.0 3.1 1.5 1.4

Town ........................................................ 2.7 2.0 2.4 1.4 1.2

Rural ......................................................... 2.5 0.9 1.6 1.0 0.9

Region

Northeast .................................................. 3.3 1.4 3.1 1.6 †

Southeast .................................................. 3.7 1.1 2.7 1.3 1.0

Central ...................................................... 2.2 1.4 2.4 1.2 1.1

West ......................................................... 2.4 1.4 2.4 1.6 1.3

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ................................. 2.5 1.1 2.8 1.5 0.6

10 to 19 percent ........................................ 2.1 1.1 1.9 1.2 1.1

20 percent or more .................................... 2.4 1.4 2.2 1.2 1.0

† Not applicable.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-4 

Table 2a. Standard errors for the number of enrollments in distance education courses of 

students regularly enrolled in public school districts, and the standard errors for the 

percentage distribution of those enrollments by instructional level of the distance 

education enrollments, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Number of 

enrollments in 

distance 

education 

courses

Percentage distribution of enrollments in distance 

education courses by instructional level

Elementary 

schools

Middle or 

junior high 

schools

High 

schools

Combined or 

ungraded 

schools

All public school districts with students

enrolled in distance education courses ....... 251,050 1.3 1.3 7.4 †

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ................................................... 167,570 3.1 3.4 4.3 0.6

2,500 to 9,999 ..................................................... 185,240 † † 22.1 †

10,000 or more ................................................... 27,100 0.2 0.5 0.7 0.4

Community type

City ..................................................................... 201,670 † 2.8 21.7 †

Suburban ............................................................ 34,190 2.1 1.0 2.2 0.4

Town .................................................................. 145,000 † 5.5 6.0 †

Rural ................................................................... 36,230 † 0.9 6.1 4.0

Region

Northeast ............................................................ 7,360 † 1.1 1.4 †

Southeast ............................................................ 63,190 0.6 0.8 1.2 0.4

Central ................................................................ 235,100 2.7 † 19.5 †

West ................................................................... 42,670 † 0.9 3.9 2.6

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ........................................... 34,580 † 1.0 6.3 †

10 to 19 percent .................................................. 193,650 1.1 2.1 13.5 †

20 percent or more .............................................. 146,510 3.0 3.7 4.5 †

† Not applicable.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-5 

Table 3a. Standard errors for the percentage distribution of public school districts with students 

enrolled in distance education courses, by the number of distance education enrollments 

and district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Number of distance education enrollments

1–10 11–30 31–100

101–

1,000

More 

than 

1,000

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses ..... 1.6 1.7 1.5 0.9 0.4

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 .......................................................................................................... 2.3 2.4 2.1 1.0 †

2,500 to 9,999 ............................................................................................................ 1.5 1.4 1.8 1.6 0.7

10,000 or more .......................................................................................................... 0.8 1.1 1.2 1.4 1.3

Community type

City ............................................................................................................................ 3.7 4.8 5.3 5.9 2.3

Suburban ................................................................................................................... 2.6 2.3 2.6 2.5 1.6

Town ......................................................................................................................... 3.2 3.1 2.7 2.3 †

Rural .......................................................................................................................... 2.3 2.7 2.6 1.0 0.4

Region

Northeast ................................................................................................................... 3.6 3.9 2.8 2.2 †

Southeast ................................................................................................................... 2.6 3.2 2.4 2.8 0.8

Central ....................................................................................................................... 2.7 2.4 2.5 1.5 0.7

West .......................................................................................................................... 3.6 3.5 3.1 2.3 1.0

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent .................................................................................................. 3.4 2.9 2.7 2.1 0.9

10 to 19 percent ......................................................................................................... 3.0 2.9 2.5 1.3 0.8

20 percent or more ..................................................................................................... 2.7 3.2 2.7 2.2 0.5

† Not applicable.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-6

Table 4a. Standard errors for the percentage distribution of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses 

indicating whether they tracked various types of course completions for distance education courses, by district characteristics: 

School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Course completion with 

passing grade

Course completion with

failing grade

Withdrawal prior to 

course completion

Yes, for 

all 

courses 

Yes, for 

some 

courses No

Yes, for 

all 

courses

Yes, for 

some 

courses No

Yes, for 

all 

courses

Yes, for 

some 

courses No

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses ...... 1.0 0.8 0.8 1.2 0.7 1.0 1.7 0.9 1.6

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ........................................................................................................... 1.4 1.0 1.2 1.5 1.0 1.4 2.4 1.3 2.2

2,500 to 9,999 ............................................................................................................. 1.4 1.0 1.0 1.7 1.0 1.5 1.6 1.2 1.6

10,000 or more ........................................................................................................... 1.3 0.7 1.1 1.5 0.9 1.4 1.7 1.0 1.8

Community type

City ............................................................................................................................. 4.0 3.7 1.5 5.0 1.6 4.9 5.8 3.6 5.4

Suburban .................................................................................................................... 1.6 1.1 1.3 2.9 1.3 2.6 2.9 1.4 2.8

Town .......................................................................................................................... 2.5 1.4 2.2 2.9 1.5 2.5 3.1 1.6 2.8

Rural ........................................................................................................................... 1.4 1.2 1.2 1.9 1.1 1.6 2.3 1.4 2.3

Region

Northeast .................................................................................................................... 1.7 1.4 1.3 2.9 1.4 2.7 3.4 1.9 3.0

Southeast .................................................................................................................... 2.7 1.6 2.3 3.3 1.5 3.0 3.6 1.9 3.3

Central ........................................................................................................................ 1.7 1.3 1.5 2.1 0.9 1.8 2.7 1.2 2.7

West ........................................................................................................................... 2.0 1.6 1.4 2.1 1.5 1.9 2.9 1.8 2.8

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ................................................................................................... 1.7 1.2 1.4 2.2 1.0 2.0 2.7 1.3 2.6

10 to 19 percent .......................................................................................................... 1.5 1.1 1.1 2.0 1.0 1.8 2.6 1.3 2.5

20 percent or more ...................................................................................................... 2.0 1.5 1.6 2.4 1.5 2.2 3.2 1.9 2.8

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-7

Table 5a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses indicating that 

they monitored students’ progress in various ways, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10

District characteristic

Attendance 

report

Log-on 

activity

Time spent 

online

Completion 

and 

submission of 

assignments

Interim 

course grades

Final grade 

report

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses ............................ 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.5 1.4 0.4

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ................................................................................................................................. 2.2 2.4 2.4 2.1 2.0 0.6

2,500 to 9,999 ................................................................................................................................... 1.6 1.8 2.0 1.4 1.7 0.5

10,000 or more ................................................................................................................................. 1.3 1.7 1.5 1.3 1.4 0.8

Community type

City ................................................................................................................................................... 5.0 4.5 4.5 3.5 6.0 0.7

Suburban .......................................................................................................................................... 3.2 2.9 3.0 2.4 2.6 1.4

Town ................................................................................................................................................ 3.6 3.6 3.4 2.5 2.8 1.2

Rural ................................................................................................................................................. 1.7 2.7 2.7 2.2 1.9 0.5

Region

Northeast .......................................................................................................................................... 4.4 3.4 3.3 3.6 2.5 1.0

Southeast .......................................................................................................................................... 3.3 3.5 3.3 2.4 2.9 0.8

Central .............................................................................................................................................. 2.5 3.2 3.3 2.2 2.5 0.7

West ................................................................................................................................................. 3.1 3.9 3.2 2.9 2.8 1.0

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ......................................................................................................................... 3.3 3.3 3.0 3.0 3.1 1.1

10 to 19 percent ................................................................................................................................ 2.6 2.6 2.8 2.0 2.1 0.5

20 percent or more ............................................................................................................................ 2.7 3.3 2.7 2.4 2.7 0.9

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-8 

Table 6a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled in 

distance education courses reporting that they have written policies specifying various 

outcomes when a distance education course was not successfully completed, by district 

characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Student cannot enroll 

in another distance 

education course

Student must wait a 

specified time before 

enrolling in another 

distance education course

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses ...... 1.1 0.8

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 .......................................................................................................... 1.6 1.1

2,500 to 9,999 ............................................................................................................ 0.9 0.7

10,000 or more ........................................................................................................... 0.8 0.8

Community type

City ............................................................................................................................ 3.5 1.3

Suburban .................................................................................................................... 1.9 0.8

Town .......................................................................................................................... 2.6 2.4

Rural .......................................................................................................................... 1.8 1.3

Region

Northeast .................................................................................................................... 1.9 1.1

Southeast .................................................................................................................... 2.5 2.4

Central ........................................................................................................................ 1.8 1.4

West ........................................................................................................................... 2.9 1.8

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ................................................................................................... 1.7 1.3

10 to 19 percent .......................................................................................................... 2.1 1.2

20 percent or more ..................................................................................................... 2.8 2.2

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-9 

Table 7a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled in 

distance education courses indicating that students who were enrolled in regular high 

school programs were able to take a full course load in an academic term using only 

distance education courses, and standard errors for the percent indicating that students 

can fulfill all high school graduation requirements using only distance education 

courses, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Students can take a 

full course load using 

only distance 

education courses 

Students can fulfill 

all high school 

graduation requirements 

using only distance 

education courses

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses ........... 1.3 1.1

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ............................................................................................................... 1.8 1.5

2,500 to 9,999 ................................................................................................................. 1.5 1.4

10,000 or more ................................................................................................................ 1.1 0.7

Community type

City ................................................................................................................................. 5.6 5.5

Suburban ......................................................................................................................... 2.8 2.5

Town ............................................................................................................................... 2.9 2.2

Rural ................................................................................................................................ 2.3 1.6

Region

Northeast ......................................................................................................................... 3.2 2.2

Southeast ......................................................................................................................... 2.4 1.5

Central ............................................................................................................................. 2.5 2.3

West ................................................................................................................................ 3.0 2.0

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ........................................................................................................ 2.7 2.1

10 to 19 percent ............................................................................................................... 2.3 1.9

20 percent or more ........................................................................................................... 2.3 1.6

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-10

Table 8a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts indicating that various entities delivered the distance education 

courses in which students in their district were enrolled, and standard errors for the percent of public school districts 

indicating that all courses were developed by entities other than the district, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Types of entities delivering distance education courses Districts 

reporting 

that all 

courses 

were 

developed 

by entities

other than 

the district

Postsecondary 

institution 

in the U.S.

Independent vendor 

in the U.S.

Online

charter 

school 

administered by 

their 

district

Other 

schools 

administered by 

their 

district

Their 

district

Another 

local 

school 

district, or 

schools in 

another 

district, in 

their state

Education 

service 

agencies 

within 

their state

State 

virtual 

school in 

their state

State 

virtual 

school in 

another 

state

Districts or 

schools in 

other states

Non-U.S.-

based 

public or 

private 

entity

All public school districts 

 with students enrolled 

 in distance education 

courses ......................... 1.4 1.7 0.7 0.6 1.2 1.3 1.0 1.7 0.9 0.5 0.3 1.5

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ..................... 2.0 2.4 0.9 0.9 1.6 1.8 1.4 2.4 1.2 0.7 † 2.2

2,500 to 9,999 ....................... 1.8 2.1 0.8 0.9 1.9 1.6 1.6 1.9 1.1 0.6 0.6 1.9

10,000 or more ..................... 1.5 2.0 0.6 0.7 1.5 0.9 0.9 1.7 0.9 0.7 0.5 1.9

Community type

City ....................................... 5.8 5.5 3.7 1.0 6.4 1.5 1.1 5.5 1.0 0.5 0.8 6.0

Suburban .............................. 2.8 3.3 1.7 0.8 2.1 1.8 2.4 2.5 1.7 1.0 0.4 2.7

Town .................................... 3.9 3.8 1.5 1.6 2.8 1.9 2.1 3.1 2.0 1.4 0.4 2.4

Rural ..................................... 2.2 2.4 0.9 0.9 1.8 2.4 1.9 2.8 1.0 0.8 0.6 2.4

Region

Northeast .............................. 3.5 4.3 † 1.9 3.0 1.7 3.5 2.9 2.5 1.5 † 3.6

Southeast .............................. 2.8 2.8 † 1.4 2.3 2.3 2.5 2.8 1.5 1.2 † 2.7

Central .................................. 2.8 3.6 1.3 1.1 2.1 2.8 1.9 2.8 1.5 0.8 0.7 2.9

West ..................................... 3.0 3.3 1.5 1.3 2.1 2.6 1.8 2.6 1.2 1.1 0.3 2.5

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ............. 3.2 3.3 1.0 1.2 2.0 3.0 3.0 2.7 1.9 1.4 0.3 2.2

10 to 19 percent .................... 2.2 2.7 1.4 1.0 2.2 2.6 1.9 2.7 1.4 0.7 0.7 2.8

20 percent or more ................ 2.7 3.0 0.9 1.3 2.5 2.7 1.7 3.1 0.9 0.9 † 2.5

† Not applicable.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-11 

Table 9a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts indicating the types of distance 

education courses taken by students regularly enrolled in their district, by district 

characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Advanced 

Placement

Dual 

enrollment

Credit 

recovery

Career and 

technical 

education

Other types 

of academic 

courses

All public school districts with students enrolled in 

distance education courses ................................................ 1.3 1.7 1.9 1.2 1.6

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 .......................................................................... 1.9 2.3 2.6 1.7 2.2

2,500 to 9,999 ............................................................................ 1.7 2.1 1.9 1.4 1.8

10,000 or more .......................................................................... 1.6 1.3 1.6 1.6 1.8

Community type

City ............................................................................................ 3.9 5.6 5.0 5.2 6.4

Suburban ................................................................................... 3.3 2.7 3.0 2.3 2.5

Town ......................................................................................... 2.7 3.1 4.2 3.0 2.7

Rural .......................................................................................... 2.2 2.5 3.1 1.8 2.4

Region

Northeast ................................................................................... 3.9 3.2 3.8 2.4 3.5

Southeast ................................................................................... 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.0 3.2

Central ....................................................................................... 2.3 2.9 3.2 2.6 2.8

West .......................................................................................... 2.1 3.3 3.8 3.3 3.0

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent .................................................................. 2.9 3.0 3.2 2.9 3.1

10 to 19 percent ......................................................................... 2.2 2.5 2.5 2.3 2.4

20 percent or more ..................................................................... 3.0 3.1 3.1 2.3 3.0

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-12

Table 10a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses indicating how 

important various reasons were for having distance education courses in their district, by district characteristics: School year 

2009–10 

District characteristic

Providing courses not 

otherwise available at school

Offering Advanced Placement 

or college-level courses

Reducing scheduling 

conflicts for students

Providing opportunities for 

students to recover course 

credits from classes missed or failed

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

All public school districts with students

 enrolled in distance education 

courses ............................................. 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.7 1.2 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.3 1.7

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ......................................... 1.6 1.9 2.1 2.3 1.6 2.4 2.3 2.5 2.4 2.4 1.8 2.3

2,500 to 9,999 ........................................... 1.6 1.3 1.8 2.3 2.2 2.1 1.9 1.8 1.9 1.8 1.1 1.6

10,000 or more ......................................... 1.5 1.3 1.6 1.4 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.7 0.9 0.9 1.3

Community type

City ........................................................... 5.5 5.7 5.7 6.0 3.7 4.8 6.0 5.6 4.9 2.0 1.2 5.0

Suburban .................................................. 2.9 2.7 3.1 3.0 3.5 2.7 2.9 2.5 3.2 2.8 2.3 2.8

Town ........................................................ 3.0 2.4 3.6 3.7 2.7 3.3 3.8 4.0 3.0 3.2 3.3 4.4

Rural ......................................................... 1.7 2.1 2.4 2.3 1.9 2.7 2.2 2.6 2.6 2.7 1.8 2.8

Region

Northeast .................................................. 2.4 2.0 3.3 3.7 3.3 3.2 4.0 4.8 4.5 4.3 2.7 3.7

Southeast .................................................. 1.6 3.1 3.1 3.2 2.6 3.4 3.2 3.4 3.5 2.2 2.8 3.6

Central ...................................................... 2.1 1.9 2.8 2.7 2.1 3.1 2.3 2.4 2.6 2.9 2.0 3.0

West ......................................................... 2.7 2.5 3.5 3.3 2.9 3.5 3.7 3.3 3.1 3.4 3.0 3.6

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ................................. 2.1 2.0 2.8 3.1 2.6 3.1 3.1 3.5 2.8 3.2 2.1 3.1

10 to 19 percent ........................................ 2.1 2.3 2.7 2.7 2.1 2.6 3.1 2.6 3.0 2.1 2.3 2.7

20 percent or more .................................... 2.1 2.3 3.0 3.0 2.4 2.8 3.3 3.2 3.3 3.1 2.3 3.0

See notes at end of table.
A-13

Table 10a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses indicating how 

important various reasons were for having distance education courses in their district, by district characteristics: School year 

2009–10—Continued

District characteristic

Providing opportunities 

for students to accelerate credit 

accumulation for early graduation

Providing opportunities 

for students who are homebound or 

have special needs

Addressing school 

space limitations

Generating more

district revenues

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Not 

important 

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

All public school districts with students 

enrolled in distance education courses .. 1.6 1.6 1.2 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.1 0.6 1.6 0.9 0.9

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 .............................................. 2.2 2.3 1.6 2.2 2.2 2.1 1.8 1.5 0.9 2.3 1.3 1.3

2,500 to 9,999 ................................................ 2.2 1.9 1.6 1.8 2.2 1.9 1.7 1.4 0.9 1.4 1.2 0.7

10,000 or more .............................................. 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.3 1.4 1.7 1.5 1.2 0.8 1.3 1.0 0.9

Community type

City ................................................................ 6.2 3.0 6.4 4.1 5.5 6.4 5.5 4.7 4.6 5.5 3.6 4.6

Suburban ....................................................... 2.7 2.4 2.7 2.8 2.7 3.2 2.7 2.2 1.6 2.7 2.1 1.4

Town ............................................................. 3.4 3.2 2.5 3.6 3.4 3.5 2.1 1.8 0.9 2.9 1.9 1.6

Rural .............................................................. 2.3 2.6 1.5 2.5 2.3 2.0 1.8 1.5 1.0 2.0 1.3 1.3

Region

Northeast ....................................................... 3.1 3.2 2.5 3.6 3.8 3.1 4.0 2.9 1.9 2.7 1.7 1.6

Southeast ....................................................... 3.2 2.5 2.3 3.4 2.8 2.7 2.9 2.3 1.6 2.5 0.8 0.8

Central ........................................................... 2.5 2.4 1.7 2.7 2.4 2.5 1.9 1.5 0.8 2.1 1.8 1.2

West .............................................................. 3.5 4.0 3.0 3.7 3.4 3.2 2.5 1.7 1.7 3.2 1.7 2.1

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ...................................... 3.1 2.9 2.1 3.5 3.1 2.7 2.3 1.9 1.1 2.4 1.9 1.3

10 to 19 percent ............................................. 2.4 2.7 1.7 2.5 2.1 2.1 1.9 1.4 0.8 2.4 1.6 1.2

20 percent or more ......................................... 3.1 2.9 2.4 3.2 3.3 2.8 2.3 1.6 1.5 2.9 1.2 2.1

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-14

Table 11a. Standard errors for the percentage distribution of public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses 

reporting the extent to which various technologies were used for the instructional delivery of distance education courses in 

which students in their district were enrolled, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Internet courses using 

synchronous instruction

Internet courses using 

asynchronous instruction

Computer-based technologies 

other than the Internet

Two-way 

interactive video

One-way 

prerecorded video

Not 

at all 

Small 

or moderate 

extent

Large 

extent

Not 

at all 

Small 

or moderate 

extent

Large 

extent

Not 

at all 

Small 

or moderate 

extent

Large 

extent

Not 

at all 

Small 

or moderate 

extent

Large 

extent

Not 

at all 

Small 

or moderate 

extent

Large 

extent

All public school districts 

 with students enrolled in

 distance education 

courses .............................. 2.0 1.8 1.3 1.2 1.6 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.0 1.7 1.4 1.6 1.6 1.5 0.8

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 .......................... 2.8 2.6 1.8 1.7 2.3 2.4 2.3 2.0 1.3 2.3 2.0 2.2 2.2 2.1 1.2

2,500 to 9,999 ............................ 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.2 1.7 2.1 2.1 1.8 1.2 2.0 1.7 1.1 1.9 1.7 0.8

10,000 or more .......................... 1.3 1.4 1.1 0.8 1.0 1.4 1.5 1.4 0.7 1.5 1.2 0.9 1.7 1.6 0.5

Community type

City ............................................ 6.3 5.5 4.7 1.5 4.9 4.9 6.0 5.7 1.8 3.0 2.9 0.8 5.8 5.7 0.9

Suburban ................................... 3.2 3.3 1.6 1.5 2.4 2.7 3.0 2.5 2.0 2.9 2.9 1.1 3.0 2.3 2.0

Town ......................................... 2.7 3.2 2.5 2.5 2.7 3.6 3.0 2.9 2.3 3.4 2.9 2.7 3.4 3.3 1.6

Rural .......................................... 3.4 3.0 2.3 2.2 2.7 2.4 2.2 1.9 1.4 2.6 2.3 2.4 2.3 2.2 1.2

Region

Northeast ................................... 4.8 4.3 1.9 2.8 3.2 4.3 3.2 3.0 2.0 3.9 4.0 2.4 3.8 3.6 1.0

Southeast ................................... 2.8 2.9 2.7 2.6 3.3 3.9 3.3 2.7 2.4 3.2 2.5 3.0 3.4 3.0 1.4

Central ....................................... 2.7 2.3 2.2 2.3 2.8 3.1 2.7 2.6 1.6 2.9 2.2 3.1 2.6 2.4 1.4

West .......................................... 4.0 3.4 3.0 2.4 3.3 3.3 3.7 3.3 1.9 3.1 2.7 2.3 3.4 2.8 1.8

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent .................. 3.3 3.2 2.0 2.6 2.8 3.5 3.0 2.8 1.7 3.1 2.5 2.6 3.0 2.8 1.0

10 to 19 percent ......................... 3.0 2.8 1.8 1.6 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.4 1.4 2.5 2.4 2.4 2.8 2.7 1.5

20 percent or more ..................... 3.1 2.6 2.8 2.2 2.9 3.7 3.2 3.1 1.9 3.4 2.5 2.9 2.5 2.5 1.3

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-15 

Table 12a. Standard errors for the percentage distribution of public school districts with students 

enrolled in distance education courses reporting that various technologies were used as 

the primary mode of instructional delivery for the greatest number of distance 

education courses taken by students regularly enrolled in their district, by district 

characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Internet courses 

using synchronous 

instruction

Internet courses 

using asynchronous instruction

Computer-based 

technologies other 

than the Internet

Two-way 

interactive 

video

One-way 

prerecorded 

video

All public school districts 

 with students enrolled 

 in distance education 

courses ........................... 1.4 1.6 0.8 1.4 0.4

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ....................... 2.0 2.1 1.2 2.0 0.6

2,500 to 9,999 ......................... 1.4 2.1 1.2 1.3 0.5

10,000 or more ....................... 1.1 1.4 0.8 1.0 0.2

Community type

City ......................................... 4.7 5.2 3.6 0.9 †

Suburban ................................. 1.8 2.5 1.4 0.9 1.0

Town ...................................... 2.6 3.8 1.3 2.5 †

Rural ....................................... 2.4 2.6 1.0 2.3 0.7

Region

Northeast ................................. 2.7 3.5 1.3 2.4 †

Southeast ................................. 2.6 3.2 1.2 2.8 †

Central .................................... 2.0 3.1 1.5 2.4 0.9

West ........................................ 3.0 2.7 1.2 2.6 †

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ............... 2.4 3.4 0.8 2.5 †

10 to 19 percent ...................... 1.7 2.3 1.4 1.9 0.6

20 percent or more .................. 2.6 3.1 1.0 2.6 †

† Not applicable.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-16 

Table 13a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled in 

distance education courses delivered over the Internet, and standard errors for the 

percent of those districts indicating the location where students accessed the internetdelivered courses, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Districts with students 

enrolled in internetdelivered distance 

education courses

Access location for internet-delivered courses

School Home Other location

All public school districts with 

 students enrolled in distance 

education courses ........................... 1.0 1.1 1.5 1.1

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ....................................... 1.4 1.6 2.2 1.6

2,500 to 9,999 ......................................... 0.8 1.1 1.6 1.8

10,000 or more ....................................... 0.6 0.9 1.1 1.0

Community type

City ......................................................... 1.4 4.9 4.2 5.0

Suburban ................................................ 1.4 2.5 2.4 2.7

Town ...................................................... 2.0 2.6 3.0 3.1

Rural ....................................................... 1.8 1.5 2.4 1.5

Region

Northeast ................................................ 2.1 2.1 3.2 2.8

Southeast ................................................ 1.7 0.9 3.2 2.2

Central .................................................... 2.0 2.0 2.5 1.8

West ....................................................... 2.1 1.9 3.1 2.6

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ............................... 2.1 1.7 2.7 2.3

10 to 19 percent ...................................... 1.5 2.1 2.1 1.6

20 percent or more .................................. 1.7 1.7 3.1 2.2

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
A-17 

Table 14a. Standard errors for the percent of public school districts with students enrolled in 

distance education courses that were planning to expand the number of distance 

education courses offered in the next 3 years, and standard errors for the percent 

reporting that they delivered distance education courses to students who were not 

regularly enrolled in their district, by district characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Plan to expand 

number of distance 

education courses in 

next 3 years

Delivered courses to 

students not regularly 

enrolled in district

All public school districts with students enrolled in distance education courses .................... 1.6 1.1

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ........................................................................................................................ 2.3 1.6

2,500 to 9,999 .......................................................................................................................... 1.5 1.7

10,000 or more ......................................................................................................................... 1.1 1.0

Community type

City .......................................................................................................................................... 3.9 2.4

Suburban .................................................................................................................................. 2.3 2.2

Town ........................................................................................................................................ 3.6 2.1

Rural ........................................................................................................................................ 2.6 1.9

Region

Northeast .................................................................................................................................. 3.4 2.2

Southeast .................................................................................................................................. 3.3 1.5

Central ...................................................................................................................................... 2.8 1.9

West ......................................................................................................................................... 3.1 2.1

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent ................................................................................................................. 2.6 2.2

10 to 19 percent ........................................................................................................................ 2.3 2.1

20 percent or more ................................................................................................................... 2.7 1.9

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010.
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B-1 

Appendix B

Technical Notes
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B-3 

Technical Notes

Fast Response Survey System

The Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) was established in 1975 by the National Center for Education 

Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education. FRSS is designed to collect issue-oriented data within a 

relatively short time frame. FRSS collects data from state education agencies, local education agencies, public 

and private elementary and secondary schools, public school teachers, and public libraries. To ensure minimal 

burden on respondents, the surveys are generally limited to three pages of questions, with a response burden of 

about 30 minutes per respondent. Sample sizes are relatively small (usually about 1,200 to 1,800 respondents 

per survey) so that data collection can be completed quickly. Data are weighted to produce national estimates 

of the sampled education sector. The sample size permits limited breakouts by analysis variables. However, as 

the number of categories within any single analysis variable increases, the sample size within categories 

decreases, which results in larger sampling errors for the breakouts by analysis variables. 

Sample Design 

The sample for the FRSS survey of Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School 

Students: 2009–10 consisted of approximately 2,310 public school districts in the 50 states and the District of 

Columbia. The nationally representative sample was selected from the 2008–09 NCES Common Core of Data 

(CCD) Local Education Agency (School District) Universe file, which was the most current file available at 

the time of selection. The sampling frame included 13,563 regular districts and 2,191 charter school districts.

For purposes of this study, “regular” school districts included any local school district that was not a 

component of a supervisory union (i.e., Education Agency type 1 on the CCD) or was a local school district 

component of a supervisory union sharing a superintendent and administrative services with other local school 

districts (i.e., Education Agency type 2 on the CCD). A district is a “charter agency” if all schools associated 

with the agency are charter schools (i.e., Education Agency type 7 on the CCD) or if the district is an “other 

education agency” (i.e., Education Agency type 8 on the CCD) and the district has at least one charter school 

when matched against the corresponding 2008-09 CCD school file. Excluded from the sampling frame were 

districts in the outlying U.S. territories and regular districts with no enrollments or missing enrollments.1

 

1 Charter school districts were included even if enrollment data were missing.

The school district sampling frame was stratified by district type (regular vs. charter), district enrollment size

(six categories for regular districts and four categories for charter districts), and poverty status (five categories 

for regular districts only)2 to create 30 primary strata.

2 Poverty status was based on district-wide estimates of the percent of children 5-17 years of age in families living below the poverty level, 

discussed further in the Definitions of Analysis Variables section of this report.

Within each of the two categories of district type created 

by this cross-classification (regular vs. charter), the sample was allocated to size strata in rough proportion to 

the aggregate square root of the enrollment of the districts in the stratum. Districts in the sampling frame were 

then sorted by community type3 and region to induce additional implicit stratification. 

3 The community type variable is based on the urban-centric district locale variable from the 2008-09 CCD (ULOCAL08), discussed further in

the Definitions of Analysis Variables section of this report. 

Within each primary 

stratum, districts were selected systematically and with equal probabilities. 

Data Collection and Response Rates

Questionnaires and cover letters were mailed to the superintendent of each sampled school district in 

November 2010. The letter stated the purpose of the study and asked that the definition of distance education 
B-4 

be reviewed to determine who in the district would be best suited to provide the requested information. 

Respondents were offered the option of completing the survey via the Web. Telephone follow-up for survey 

nonresponse and data clarification was initiated in late November 2010 and completed in March 2011. 

Of the approximately 2,310 districts in the sample, approximately 10 districts were found to be ineligible for 

the survey because they were closed, were an administrative entity that did not operate any schools, or served 

only adult or special education students. This left a total of about 2,290 eligible districts in the sample.

Completed questionnaires were received from approximately 2,150 districts, or 94 percent of the eligible 

districts (table B-1). Of the districts that completed the survey, 68 percent completed it via the Web, 18 percent 

completed it by mail, 8 percent completed it by telephone, and 6 percent completed it by fax or e-mail. The 

corresponding weighted response rate using the initial base weights was 95 percent. The final weighted count 

of the respondent sample after nonresponse adjustment was 15,400.4

 

4 For more details about the development of survey weights, see the section of this report on sampling errors.

Table B-1. Number and percent of responding public school districts in the study sample, and 

estimated number and percent of public school districts the sample represents, by district 

characteristics: School year 2009–10 

District characteristic

Respondent sample (unweighted) National estimate (weighted)1

Number Percent Number Percent

All public school districts............................................... 2,150 100 15,400 100

District enrollment size

Less than 2,500 ..................................................................... 880 41 11,500 75

2,500 to 9,999 ....................................................................... 740 34 3,000 20

10,000 or more...................................................................... 530 25 900 6

Community type

City ....................................................................................... 350 16 1,900 12

Suburban............................................................................... 660 31 3,200 21

Town..................................................................................... 410 19 2,700 18

Rural ..................................................................................... 730 34 7,600 49

Region

Northeast............................................................................... 450 21 3,300 21

Southeast............................................................................... 380 18 1,700 11

Central .................................................................................. 660 31 5,600 36

West...................................................................................... 660 31 4,900 32

Poverty concentration

Less than 10 percent.............................................................. 620 29 3,800 25

10 to 19 percent..................................................................... 900 42 6,600 43

20 percent or more ................................................................ 630 29 5,000 32 1 Weighted count of responding districts using the final nonresponse-adjusted weights. The weighted count is an estimate of the number of 

eligible districts in the study universe (see text for definition of the types of districts included in the study). 

NOTE: Poverty estimates for school districts were based on Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education by the U.S. Census 

Bureau. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), “Distance Education 

Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009–10,” FRSS 98, 2010. 

Imputation for Item Nonresponse

Although item nonresponse was very low (less than 1 percent for any item), missing data were imputed for the 

21 items with a response rate of less than 100 percent.5

5 Per NCES standards, all missing questionnaire data are imputed.

The missing items included both numerical data such 

as enrollment in distance education courses, as well as categorical data, such as the reasons for having distance 
B-5 

education in a district. The missing categorical data were imputed using a “hot-deck” approach to obtain a 

“donor” district from which the imputed values were derived. Under the hot-deck approach, a donor district 

that matched selected characteristics of the district with missing data (the recipient district) was identified. The 

matching characteristics included district type (regular or charter), community type, geographic region, district 

enrollment size, poverty concentration, and whether a district had students enrolled in distance education 

courses in the 12-month 2009–10 school year. In addition, other relevant questionnaire items were used to 

form appropriate imputation groupings. Once a donor was found, it was used to derive the imputed values for 

the district with missing data. For categorical items, the imputed value was simply the corresponding value 

from the donor district. For the total number of enrollments in distance education courses (a numerical item), 

the imputed value was calculated by taking the donor’s response for that item and dividing that number by the 

total number of students enrolled in the donor district. This ratio was then multiplied by the total number of 

students enrolled in the recipient district to provide an imputed value. For the number of distance education 

enrollments by instructional level, the same approach was used, but the ratio was derived using the total 

number of distance education enrollments in place of the total number of students enrolled in the district. 

Data Reliability 

Although the district survey on distance education courses for elementary and secondary school students was 

designed to account for sampling error and to minimize nonsampling error, estimates produced from the data 

collected are subject to both types of error. Sampling error occurs because the data are collected from a sample 

rather than a census of the population, and nonsampling errors are errors made during the collection and 

processing of the data. 

Sampling Errors

The responses were weighted to produce national estimates (table B-1). The weights were designed to reflect 

the variable probabilities of selection of the sampled districts and were adjusted for differential unit 

(questionnaire) nonresponse. The nonresponse weighting adjustments were made within classes defined by 

variables used in sampling and expected to be correlated with response propensity: district type (i.e., regular or 

charter), district enrollment size, poverty status, community type, and region. Within the final weighting 

classes, the base weights (i.e., the reciprocal of districts’ probabilities of selection) of the responding districts 

were inflated by the inverse of the weighted response rate for the class. The findings in this report are estimates 

based on the sample selected and, consequently, are subject to sampling variability. Jackknife replication was 

used to estimate the sampling variability of the estimates and to test for statistically significant differences 

between estimates. 

The standard error is a measure of the variability of an estimate due to sampling. It indicates the variability of a 

sample estimate that would be obtained from all possible samples of a given design and size. Standard errors 

are used as a measure of the precision expected from a particular sample. If all possible samples were surveyed 

under similar conditions, intervals of 1.96 standard errors below to 1.96 standard errors above a particular 

statistic would include the true population parameter being estimated in about 95 percent of the samples. This 

is a 95 percent confidence interval. For example, the estimated percent of districts with any students enrolled in 

distance education courses is 55 percent, and the standard error is 1.4 percent (tables 1 and 1a). The 95 percent 

confidence interval for the statistic extends from [55 – (1.4 x 1.96)] to [55 + (1.4 x 1.96)], or from 52.3 to 57.7 

percent. The 1.96 is the appropriate percentile from a standard normal distribution corresponding to a twosided statistical test at the p < .05 significance level (where .05 indicates the 5 percent of all possible samples 

that would be outside the range of the confidence interval).

Because the data from the FRSS district survey on distance education courses were collected using a complex 

sampling design, the variances of the estimates from this survey (e.g., estimates of proportions) are typically 

different from what would be expected from data collected with a simple random sample. Not taking the 
B-6 

complex sample design into account can lead to an under- or overestimation of the standard errors associated 

with such estimates. To generate accurate standard errors for the estimates in this report, standard errors were 

computed using a technique known as jackknife replication. As with any replication method, jackknife 

replication involves constructing a number of subsamples (replicates) from the full sample and computing the 

statistic of interest for each replicate. The mean square error of the replicate estimates around the full sample 

estimate provides an estimate of the variance of the statistic. To construct the replications, 100 stratified 

subsamples of the full sample were created and then dropped one at a time to define 100 jackknife replicates. 

A computer program (WesVar) was used to calculate the estimates of standard errors. 

All specific statements of comparisons made in this report have been tested for statistical significance at the 

p < .05 level using Student’s t-statistic to ensure that the differences are larger than those that might be 

expected due to sampling variation. No adjustments were made for multiple comparisons. Student’s t values 

were computed to test the difference between estimates with the following formula:

2

2

2

1

21

sese

EE

t

+

− =

where E1 and E2 are the estimates to be compared and se1 and se2 are their corresponding standard errors.

Many of the variables examined are related to one another, and complex interactions and relationships have not 

been explored. 

Nonsampling Errors 

Nonsampling error is the term used to describe variations in the estimates that may be caused by population 

coverage limitations and data collection, processing, and reporting procedures. The sources of nonsampling 

errors are typically problems like unit and item nonresponse, differences in respondents’ interpretations of the 

meaning of questions, response differences related to the particular time the survey was conducted, and 

mistakes made during data preparation. It is difficult to identify and estimate either the amount of nonsampling 

error or the bias caused by this error. To minimize the potential for nonsampling error, this study used a variety 

of procedures, including a pretest of the questionnaire with school district respondents. The pretest provided 

the opportunity to check for consistency of interpretation of questions and definitions and to eliminate 

ambiguous items. The questionnaire and instructions were also extensively reviewed by NCES and the data 

requester at the Office of Educational Technology (OET), U.S. Department of Education. In addition, manual 

and machine editing of the questionnaire responses were conducted to check the data for accuracy and 

consistency. Cases with missing or inconsistent items were recontacted by telephone to resolve problems. Data 

were keyed with 100 percent verification for surveys received by mail, fax, or telephone. 

Definitions of Analysis Variables

Many of the district characteristics, described below, may be related to each other. For example, district 

enrollment size and community type are related, with city districts typically being larger than rural districts.

Other relationships between these analysis variables may exist. However, this First Look report focuses on 

national estimates and bivariate relationships between the analysis variables and questionnaire variables rather 

than more complex analyses.
B-7 

District Enrollment Size – This variable indicates the total number of students enrolled in the district based 

on data from the 2008–09 CCD Local Education Agency Universe file. The variable was collapsed into the 

following three categories: 

Less than 2,500 students 

2,500 to 9,999 students

10,000 or more students 

Community Type – A created variable collapsed from the 12-category urban-centric district locale code 

(ULOCALE) that was assigned using the 2000 Decennial Census data. Data were obtained from the 2008–09 

CCD Local Education Agency Universe file. The data were collapsed into four categories: 

City—Includes large, midsize, and small principal cities

Suburban—Includes large, midsize, and small urbanized territories outside principal cities

Town—Includes fringe, distant, and remote territories that are inside an urban cluster

Rural—Includes fringe, distant, and remote territories that are outside of urbanized areas and urban 

clusters

Region – This variable classifies districts into one of the four geographic regions used by the Bureau of 

Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Data were obtained from the 2008–09 CCD Local 

Education Agency Universe file. The geographic regions are as follows: 

Northeast – Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New 

Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont 

Southeast – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, 

South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia 

Central – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, 

Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin

West – Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, 

Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming 

Poverty Concentration – This variable indicates the percentage of children in the district ages 5–17 in 

families living below the poverty level, based on the Title I data provided to the U.S. Department of Education 

by the U.S. Census Bureau, “Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates.” For detailed information on the 

methodology used to create these estimates, please refer to http://www.census.gov/did/www/saipe/index.html. 

The variable was collapsed into the following three categories: 

Less than 10 percent

10 to 19 percent 

20 percent or more
B-8 

Contact Information

For more information about the survey, contact Jared Coopersmith, Early Childhood, International, and 

Crosscutting Studies Division, National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. 

Department of Education, 1990 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20006; e-mail: Jared.Coopersmith@ed.gov; 

telephone: (202) 219-7106. 
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Appendix C

Questionnaire
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Information Copy - Do Not Complete

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006–5651

DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSES FOR PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND 

SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS: 2009–10 

FAST RESPONSE SURVEY SYSTEM

FORM APPROVED

O.M.B. No.: 1850–0733 

EXPIRATION DATE: 06/2012

This survey is authorized by law (Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, 20 U.S.C. 9543). While participation in this survey is voluntary, your 

cooperation is critical to make the results of this survey comprehensive, accurate, and timely. Your answers may be used only for statistical purposes 

and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose unless otherwise compelled by law (Education Sciences Reform Act of 

2002, 20 U.S.C. 9573). 

DEFINITION OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

Distance education courses are courses offered to elementary and secondary school students regularly 

enrolled in your district that must meet all of the following criteria:

• be credit-granting; and

• be technology-delivered via audio, video (live or prerecorded), the Internet, or other computer-based technology 

(e.g., via district network); and

• have either (a) the instructor in a different location than the students and/or (b) the course content 

developed in, or delivered from, a different location than that of the students.

For the purposes of this survey, do not include information about supplemental course materials, virtual field 

trips, online homework, technology-assisted courses that are primarily taught by a classroom-based 

instructor, test preparation courses that are not credit-granting, courses conducted mainly via written 

correspondence, or staff professional development.

IF ABOVE INFORMATION IS INCORRECT, PLEASE MAKE CORRECTIONS DIRECTLY ON LABEL.

Name of person completing form: Telephone:

Title/position: E-mail:

Best days and times to reach you (in case of questions):

THANK YOU. PLEASE KEEP A COPY OF THIS SURVEY FOR YOUR RECORDS.

PLEASE RETURN COMPLETED FORM TO: IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, CONTACT:

Mail: Barbara Queen (8599.03.04.03) Barbara Queen at Westat

 Westat 800-937-8281, Ext. 4476 or 301-294-4476

 1600 Research Boulevard E-mail: DistanceEducationSurvey@westat.com

 Rockville, Maryland 20850-3195

Fax: 800-254-0984

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB 

control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 1850–0733. The time required to complete this information collection is 

estimated to average 30 minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, and 

complete and review the information collection. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate or suggestions for improving 

this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC 20202–4651. If you have any comments or concerns regarding the status of 

your individual submission of this form, write directly to: National Center for Education Statistics, 1990 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006.

FRSS Form No. 98 10/2010
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Information Copy - Do Not Complete

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Please report information for all schools administered by your district (e.g., regular schools, charter schools, 

magnet schools, alternative schools, special education schools, etc.).

2. For all questions except question 19, report information only for students regularly enrolled in your district. Do 

not report information for students enrolled in schools that are not administered by your district (e.g., students 

from other districts, private school students, or homeschooled students).

3. Please provide the most complete information available, taking into account any distance education courses 

taken by students regularly enrolled in your district, regardless of where the courses originated. However, 

distance education courses that students take independently or that are provided by entities outside the control 

of the district should not be included unless the district has access to enrollment and monitoring information for 

those courses.

4. The time frame for this survey is the 12-month 2009–10 school year. This includes distance education courses 

during the summer of 2009 or the summer of 2010, depending on how records are kept at your district. 

References to “2009–10” in the survey questions refer to this 12-month school year.

5. The following definition applies to all questions on the survey.

DEFINITION OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

Distance education courses are courses offered to elementary and secondary school students regularly 

enrolled in your district that must meet all of the following criteria:

• be credit-granting (for elementary schools, “credit-granting” refers to any course that results in a letter 

grade or a pass/fail designation and is required of a student to complete a program of study or move to the 

next grade level); and

• be technology-delivered via audio, video (live or prerecorded), the Internet, or other computer-based technology 

(e.g., via district network); and

• have either (a) the instructor in a different location than the students and/or (b) the course content 

developed in, or delivered from, a different location than that of the students.

For the purposes of this survey, exclude:

• supplemental course materials, virtual field trips, online homework, or technology-assisted courses that are 

primarily taught by a classroom-based instructor.

• test preparation courses that are not credit-granting.

• courses conducted mainly via written correspondence.

• staff professional development.

For the purposes of this survey, include any of the following if they meet the distance education criteria above:

• courses that have a teacher or assistant in the room who monitors but gives little or no instruction to the students 

(e.g., course taken entirely on computer in a lab supervised by a teacher who does not provide instruction).

• courses that include occasional face-to-face interactions between the course instructor and the students. For 

example, a teacher teaching a course at several schools via computer technology may rotate between schools, or 

the instructor and students may be in the same location for orientation or occasional lab work or tests.

• courses that originate from your district or from other entities (e.g., a state virtual school or a postsecondary 

institution).

• courses with synchronous (i.e., simultaneous or “real time”) and/or asynchronous (i.e., not simultaneous) 

instruction.

• courses taken by students in school, at home, or in some other location.

• courses taken by students to continue coursework while temporarily unable to attend school (e.g., while on home or 

hospital instruction, or on extended travel for personal or family reasons).

• courses taken for credit or grade recovery.

• courses taken for Advanced Placement credit or for college-level or dual credit. Dual credit college-level courses 

are courses for which students receive both high school and college credits.
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Information Copy - Do Not Complete

Before you answer the questions, please carefully read the definition and instructions.

1. Of the elementary and secondary students regularly enrolled in your district, were any enrolled in distance education 

courses in 2009–10? (Refer to definition on previous page.)

Yes......... 1 (Continue with question 2.) No........... 2 (Stop. Complete respondent section on front and return questionnaire.)

2. For the 12-month 2009–10 school year, report the number of enrollments in distance education courses of students 

regularly enrolled in your district.

• Only include enrollments in credit-granting courses. Do not include information for supplemental course materials, 

virtual field trips, online homework, technology-assisted courses, or courses conducted mainly via written 

correspondence.

• The number of enrollments may include duplicated counts of students; i.e., a student should be counted for each 

course in which he/she was enrolled.

• Count each enrollment at only one instructional level. Enter “0” if there were no students in your district enrolled in 

distance education courses at an instructional level in 2009–10.

• The sum of b through e should equal the total in item a.

a. Total number of enrollments in distance education courses ............................................... _________ 

b. Number of enrollments in distance education courses in elementary schools......................... _________

c. Number of enrollments in distance education courses in middle or junior high schools........ _________

d. Number of enrollments in distance education courses in high schools .................................... _________

e. Number of enrollments in distance education courses in combined or ungraded schools..... _________

3. Can your district provide the number of students enrolled in distance education courses (i.e., an unduplicated count 

in which each student is counted only once, regardless of the number of courses in which he/she was enrolled)? 

Yes................ 1 No .............. 2 Don’t know........... 3 

4. In 2009–10, did student academic records kept by the district distinguish distance education courses from other 

academic courses? 

Yes................ 1 No .............. 2 

5. In 2009–10, did your district track the following types of course completions for distance education courses? Report 

about distance education courses for which the district has access to tracking information. (Circle one on each line.) 

Yes, for all courses Yes, for some courses No

a. Course completion with a passing grade .......... 1 2 3

b. Course completion with a failing grade ............. 1 2 3

c. Withdrawal prior to course completion.............. 1 2 3

6. In 2009–10, did your district monitor students’ progress in any distance education courses in the following ways? 

Report about distance education courses for which the district has access to monitoring information. (Circle one on

each line.)

Yes No

a. Attendance report..................................................... 1 2

b. Log-on activity .......................................................... 1 2

c. Time spent online..................................................... 1 2

d. Completion and submission of assignments............ 1 2

e. Interim course grades .............................................. 1 2

f. Final grade report..................................................... 1 2

7. In 2009–10, did your district have written policies specifying the following when a distance education course was not 

successfully completed? (Circle one on each line.) 

Yes No

a. Student cannot enroll in another distance education course ................................................... 1 2

b. Student must wait a specified time before enrolling in another distance education course..... 1 2

 

 

 
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Information Copy - Do Not Complete

Questions 8 and 9 are about students enrolled in regular high school programs in your district. Do not include 

students enrolled in other types of programs, such as alternative education, credit recovery, home or hospital 

teaching, or other specialized programs. 

If your district does not have any high schools, check here and skip to Q10. 

8. In 2009–10, were students enrolled in regular high school programs in your district able to take a full course load in an 

academic term (e.g., semester) using only distance education courses? (Circle one.)

Yes ............... 1 (Continue with question 9.) No ............. 2 (Skip to question 10.)

9. In 2009–10, were students enrolled in regular high school programs in your district able to fulfill all high school 

graduation requirements using only distance education courses? (Circle one.) 

Yes................ 1 No .............. 2 

10. In Part 1, indicate which of the following entities delivered any of the distance education courses in which students in 

your district were enrolled in 2009–10. (Indicate yes, no, or don’t know for each entity.) 

In Part 2, rank up to 5 entities in the order in which they most frequently delivered distance education courses, with 1 

indicating the entity that delivered the most courses, 2 indicating the next largest number of courses, etc. 

Entity

1. Circle one on 

each line

2.

Rank up 

to 5

Yes No entities

Don’t

know

a. Postsecondary institution in the United States 1 2 3

b. Independent vendor in the United States 1 2 3

c. Online charter school administered by your district 1 2 3

d. Other schools administered by your district 1 2 3

e. Your district (i.e., delivered centrally from the district) 1 2 3

f. Another local school district, or schools in another district, in your state 1 2 3

g. Education service agencies within your state (e.g., Board of Cooperative 

Educational Services - BOCES, Intermediate Units), not including the state 

education agency or local school districts 1 2 3

h. State virtual school in your state (i.e., state-centralized K–12 courses available 

through Internet- or web-based methods) 1 2 3

i. State virtual school in another state 1 2 3

j. Districts or schools in other states (other than state virtual schools) 1 2 3

k. Non-U.S.-based public or private entity (e.g., school, university, private vendor) 1 2 3

l. Other (specify)_____________________________________________________ 1 2 3

11. In 2009–10, to what extent were the distance education courses developed by your district or by other entities 

(e.g., other local school district, state virtual school in your state, postsecondary institution, independent vendor, etc.)?

Report only for distance education courses taken by students regularly enrolled in your district in 2009–10. (Circle one 

number that best indicates where distance education courses were developed.)

All courses developed 

by your district

Courses developed about equally 

by your district and other entities 

All courses developed 

by other entities

1 2 3 4 5

12. In 2009–10, what types of distance education courses did students regularly enrolled in your district take? (Circle one 

on each line.) 

Yes No

a. Advanced Placement (AP).................................................................................................. 1 2

b. Dual enrollment (college-level courses for which students receive both high school and 

college credits).................................................................................................................... 1 2

c. Credit recovery.................................................................................................................... 1 2

d. Career and technical education (e.g., business courses) .................................................. 1 2

e. Other types of academic courses. ...................................................................................... 1 2

 
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13. How important were the following reasons for having distance education courses in your district in 2009–10? 

(Circle one on each line.)

Reason 

Not 

important

Somewhat 

important

Very 

important

Don’t 

know

a. Providing courses not otherwise available at the school ..................... 1 2 3 4

b. Offering Advanced Placement or college-level courses ...................... 1 2 3 4

c. Reducing scheduling conflicts for students.......................................... 1 2 3 4

d. Providing opportunities for students to recover course credits from 

classes they missed or failed ............................................................... 1 2 3 4

e. Providing opportunities for students to accelerate credit 

accumulation for early graduation........................................................ 1 2 3 4

f. Providing opportunities for students who are homebound or have 

special needs to take courses.............................................................. 1 2 3 4

g. Addressing school space limitations .................................................... 1 2 3 4

h. Generating more district revenues....................................................... 1 2 3 4

i. Other (specify)___________________________________________ 1 2 3 4

14. In 2009–10, to what extent were the following technologies used for the instructional delivery of distance 

education courses taken by students regularly enrolled in your district? (Circle one on each line.)

Technology Not 

at all

Small 

extent

Moderate 

extent

Large 

extent

a. Internet courses using synchronous (i.e., simultaneous or “real 

time”) instruction .................................................................................. 1 2 3 4

b. Internet courses using asynchronous (i.e., not simultaneous) 

instruction............................................................................................. 1 2 3 4

c. Computer-based technologies other than the Internet (e.g., district 

network or CD-ROM). ......................................................................... 1 2 3 4

d. Two-way interactive video (i.e., two-way video with two-way audio)... 1 2 3 4

e. One-way prerecorded video (including prerecorded videos 

provided to students, and television broadcast and cable 

transmission using prerecorded videos) .............................................. 1 2 3 4

f. Other (specify)___________________________________________ 1 2 3 4

15. In 2009–10, which one of the technologies listed in question 14 was used as a primary mode of instructional delivery 

for the greatest number of distance education courses taken by students regularly enrolled in your district? (Circle 

the letter corresponding to the technology listed in question 14.) (Circle only one.)

 a b c d e f 

16. In 2009–10, were any of the distance education courses taken by students regularly enrolled in your district delivered 

over the Internet (i.e., question 14a or 14b is answered small, moderate, or large extent)? (Circle one.)

Yes................ 1 (Continue with question 17.) No .............. 2 (Skip to question 18.)

17. In 2009–10, where did students access distance education courses that were delivered over the Internet? (Circle one 

on each line.) 

Yes No

a. At school ................................................................................................................................ 1 2

b. At home.................................................................................................................................. 1 2

c. At some other location (specify) ______________________________________________ 1 2

18. Does your district plan to expand the number of distance education courses offered in the next 3 years? 

Yes................ 1 No .............. 2 

19. In 2009–10, did your district (or schools administered by your district) deliver any distance education courses to 

students who were not regularly enrolled in your district (e.g., your district delivered to students from other districts, 

private school students, or homeschooled students)? 

Yes ........... 1 No .............. 2 Don’t know ............ 3