The N&O reports that enrollment in online college courses for high school students, called Learn and Earn Online, is much lower than expected.
Governor Easley and other advocates of the program claim that the program will lower the dropout rate and raise the college-going rate, but I doubt that. Students who are considering dropping out of school or do not have the desire or ability to venture into postsecondary schooling typically do not want to enroll in online college courses in high school. Instead, college-bound high schoolers will use Learn and Earn Online to earn free college credit, regardless of their ability to pay for college.
On the bright side, Learn and Earn Online is a form of school choice. And if enrollment in Learn and Earn Online “takes off” next year (as Dan Gerlach claims it will), then it just confirms that parents and children are hungry for educational choice.
