High School Diplomas & GEDs

High Marks for Online High Schools…

In 10 years' time, half of all high school classes will be conducted online. This is the prediction being made by leading education authorities. And with all the options available, it's no wonder more adults and young adults are turning to online high school programs.

Online Charter Schools

Online charter schools are independent schools that are funded by the government. They conduct classes online, and include grades K-12. All materials and instruction are free to students. In some cases, states even pay to supply personal computers and Internet connection in the student's home. Students complete unit exams and other state required tests to ensure they're progressing at an appropriate pace. Their teachers can be reached through e-mail and phone calls, with occasional face-to-face visits.

Even though many online charter school students study at home, they are not considered home schooled students. Instead, they are thought to attend a "home-based" public school. Just like other public school students, they don't have to pay for their own books and materials. Because the state pays for these things, online charter schools students must follow a state-approved curriculum.

According to the North American Council for Online Learning, there are nearly 200 virtual charter schools in the U.S. today. Student enrollment figures are just shy of 100,000. While state tax dollars help to meet operating costs on a per student basis, charter schools are often also supported by independent curriculum companies. These companies help to standardize course content and maintain the schools' virtual infrastructures.

Private Cyber Schools

Private cyber schools are sometimes known as online academies. They offer packaged curriculums to homeschooled students, who pay out of pocket. These curriculums supplement independent homeschooling lessons.

One noteworthy point: the same private cyber school curriculums are often used by online charter schools. Charter school students get to access the materials for free, but they're also bound to the rules and regulations of the charter school. Homeschooled students can pay for the same lesson plans, and use them with free reign.

Umbrella/Cover Schools

Umbrella schools earn their name because they cover all the aspects of homeschooling, without requiring parents to teach or grade. Umbrella schools evaluate student schoolwork and keep track of students' scores and progress. Many have a religious affiliation, which underscores the overall curriculum, but umbrella schools can be secular as well. In some cases, umbrella schools organize group activities just like a traditional school would, including field trips, class projects, and state mandated immunizations.

Online Advanced Placement Courses

Advanced Placement courses (AP courses) offer college-level subject material to gifted high school students. Naturally, the number of students who would take these courses varies from one school district to another. Rural or low-income districts often struggle to provide AP opportunities for their high achieving students. In an effort to make Advanced Placement courses more broadly available, school systems are turning to state-run charter schools.

The results have been great. AP qualified students can access their online classes at home, or in their local school building. Often, an onsite mentor is assigned to facilitate the students' online experience. According to a recent piece in Education Week.org, studies show that online AP course students do "just as well as" traditional AP course students, in terms of AP exam results.

Life is unpredictable. Marriage, pregnancy, illness, financial constraint — these are all events that can interrupt our plans. Sometimes we just need to experience the world for awhile before deciding what our plans really are.

Whether you're 76 or 16, you can decide to complete your high school education. The General Education Development test, commonly known as the GED, is a one day test. It allows you to earn a certificate that is equivalent to a high school diploma.

What to Expect

The GED test lasts for 7 hours, and includes 5 different subject sections: Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies and Science. (In Canada, the test focuses specifically on Canadian Social Studies.) Each section is graded with a score between 200 and 800. The test can be taken in English, Spanish and French. In some places the test is free; in others, there's a small fee required.

Since 1943, over 17 million people have earned their GED! It's a great option, but it's not a piece of cake. Experts recommend that test takers prepare by brushing up on skills and knowledge. Students who struggle in particular areas — like math or writing — should make a special effort to prepare, as should test takers who've been out of school for a long time.

Not Available in Stores or Online

Although students can take GED sample tests and preparation courses online, you cannot take the actual GED test online. Instead, the GED must be taken at an official testing site. There are many test sites in and around major cities throughout the U.S. To find the test site nearest you, visit the American Council on Education's Web site.

In general, students need to exceed a minimum score, on all 5 sections, in order to pass. Passing requirements may vary slightly from one jurisdiction to another. For example, some states or counties may require an average score across all five sections. Inquire with your local test site about their rules and schedules. If you have any type of learning disability or physical impairment, you may also want to ask about alternate testing accommodations.

Once you pass the test, you'll be awarded a GED certificate or a diploma. Either way, the document is viewed as a high school credential in the eyes of employers and college admissions boards. In fact, a recent study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management indicates that GEDs are accepted for 96 percent of job opportunities that require a high school diploma. For a list of GED training programs, click here.

Life is unpredictable. Marriage, pregnancy, illness, financial constraint — these are all events that can interrupt our plans. Sometimes we just need to experience the world for awhile before deciding what our plans really are.

Whether you're 76 or 16, you can decide to complete your high school education. The General Education Development test, commonly known as the GED, is a one day test. It allows you to earn a certificate that is equivalent to a high school diploma.

What to Expect

The GED test lasts for 7 hours, and includes 5 different subject sections: Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies and Science. (In Canada, the test focuses specifically on Canadian Social Studies.) Each section is graded with a score between 200 and 800. The test can be taken in English, Spanish and French. In some places the test is free; in others, there's a small fee required.

Since 1943, over 17 million people have earned their GED! It's a great option, but it's not a piece of cake. Experts recommend that test takers prepare by brushing up on skills and knowledge. Students who struggle in particular areas — like math or writing — should make a special effort to prepare, as should test takers who've been out of school for a long time.

Not Available in Stores or Online

Although students can take GED sample tests and preparation courses online, you cannot take the actual GED test online. Instead, the GED must be taken at an official testing site. There are many test sites in and around major cities throughout the U.S. To find the test site nearest you, visit the American Council on Education's Web site.

In general, students need to exceed a minimum score, on all 5 sections, in order to pass. Passing requirements may vary slightly from one jurisdiction to another. For example, some states or counties may require an average score across all five sections. Inquire with your local test site about their rules and schedules. If you have any type of learning disability or physical impairment, you may also want to ask about alternate testing accommodations.

Once you pass the test, you'll be awarded a GED certificate or a diploma. Either way, the document is viewed as a high school credential in the eyes of employers and college admissions boards. In fact, a recent study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management indicates that GEDs are accepted for 96 percent of job opportunities that require a high school diploma. For a list of GED training programs, click here.

Without a doubt, future growth in distance learning will happen at the K-12 level. We are fast becoming saturated with online college degree programs. After all, how many undergraduate programs do we really need in business?

Online high schools have been growing at an astounding rate. With the recent announcements of the sale of Insight Schools in Washington to the Apollo Group, the company that owns the University of Phoenix, and the entrance of educational powerhouse Kaplan into the market with its acquisition of Sagemont Virtual, which runs the University of Miami Online High School, it is only a matter of time before things explode.

And, for what it's worth, we are a country that has many people of adult age who do not have a high school diploma. Likewise, we have many students of high school age that are looking for alternatives to the public schools. The dramatic growth in homeschooling illustrates that point.

However, and this is what some fail to understand, the online high school phenomenon is greater than just homeschoolers. Many of the high school age students participating do not identify themselves as homeschoolers and do not come from traditional homeschooling families.

How Do You Choose an Online High School?

Selecting an online high school is not very different from selecting an online college. You need to look at many of the same features such as:

Accreditation. If it does not have recognized accreditation, you should be careful. Yes, there are some acceptable programs that only have state approval. Be careful, though, that the approval includes oversight and is not just a license to do business. You can find recognized accreditors at CHEA.org.

History. What kind of experience does the school have with online education? Has the school been offering online and/or distance learning high school programs for more than just a year or two?

Teacher contact. Online high schools offer a variety of contact possibilities, from no teacher contact all the way to required five-day-a week virtual classroom. Decide now what it is you need. Are you just looking for a little homeschool support? Or do you need an entire program and someone to assist you on a daily basis? You can now find online high schools that fit any of these requirements.

Cost. This can vary widely from free to $10,000 a year or more. Is there a difference in quality based on cost? There can be, but there doesn't have to be. There are a number of quite good high school programs that are reasonably priced.

What to Avoid When Looking at Online High Schools

Determining which online high schools to avoid can be almost as tricky as determining which to choose. You will find programs that assert that they are accredited, claim that tuition is paid for by Fortune 500 companies, and say that they have thousands of graduates.

While this all may be true, this tells me a few things:

That the school may have made up its own fake accreditation.

That there are companies out there that do not check closely enough. However, if you get caught, and you will eventually get caught, you will likely be fired. Even if, and this is important, even if you did not know it was a fake high school.

Thousands of graduates means nothing except that some "school" was able to find that many people who did not know what they were doing.

My e-mail is full of students, both high school and college students, who come to me to help them fix their mistakes. The most common mistake is investing money into a school that was not a school.

Regardless of what the school tells you, do your own research. Is it really accredited by a real accreditor? Check whether or not an accrediting agency is legitimate at the Council of Higher Education Accreditation's Web site.

Importantly, you cannot earn a high school diploma by taking a test online. You cannot earn a high school diploma in one week or one month. High school diplomas require real work.

Free Online High School Programs

Yes, there are definitely free programs out there. This is my most common question. The free online high school programs come in two forms:

Programs started by state departments of education. More of these programs seem to offer only courses and not diplomas, but you will want to check with the Web site of your home state's department of education to clarify your unique situation.

Charter schools. While public schools, they operate with fewer rules. However, the free part only applies to certain geographical areas, commonly states, but also counties and regions. Most of these schools limit themselves to high school-aged students, but there are some that go as high as 21.

How to Find the Right Online High School

Looking at online education Web sites like eLearners.com and BestOnlineHighSchools.com is a good place to start. Also, try asking for opinions at distance learning discussion forums like the eLearners Community and DegreeInfo.com.

You may wish to check out my latest book, Complete Guide to Online High Schools. A little gauche to suggest my own book, but feel free to get your local public library to order a copy.

I also highly recommend reading the articles about online education on this site. While the vast majority is about online higher education, the advice offered translates well.

Thomas Nixon is the author of "Complete Guide to Online High Schools: Distance Learning Options For Teens & Adults" as well as other book and articles on distance learning. He is the manager of BestOnlineHighSchools.com. For regular comments, check out his blog at BestOnlineHighSchools.com/blog/.

The single-most common question concerning online high schools is about whether there are any free ones available. Just a few short years ago, the answer was mostly in the negative. That fact is changing almost faster than it is possible to keep up.

There are several reasons for this phenomenon, but the main one is that schools, states, and companies have figured out a way to use public money to create online high schools and online courses. All perfectly legal and a reasonable use of our tax dollars.

However, before you decide to sign up for that free online high school, there are some things that you need to know.

Spotting Fraudulent Online High Schools

Here's a secret: The Internet has many online high schools. Quite a few of those are fakes. They are in it to take your money. Yes, there will be talk about using your "life experience" toward that high school diploma. It does not exist. Often these fake schools will even show up very high in Google searches. How does that happen? Because they make a lot of money bilking unsuspecting students and are able to invest that money into their Web site.

They will talk about their GED programs. They do not exist. The GED is an examination program offered solely by the American Council on Education. ACE does not offer the exam online. The only thing offered online might be GED preparation. This may be acceptable as long as it is clear that it is preparing you for no other reason than to take the legitimate off-line GED examination.

Why do I mention the fakes here? To my knowledge, there are no fake free online high schools, but this is what you will be comparing that free one to, so it helps to know what is out there.

Types of Free Online High Schools

There are a number of different kinds of free online high schools. They can be roughly broken down into these four categories:

Charter schools

These schools are public schools, but which do not have to follow the same rules as traditional public schools. Depending on the state, they receive the charter from a department of education, a state university, or a local public school district.

Department of Education-sponsored or school-district-sponsored schools.

Some states have gone into the online high school business as a way to offer courses in rural areas or areas with high poverty and where they do not have the ability to offer a full breadth of courses on the high school campus. Often this is a way for them to offer Advanced Placement, foreign languages in situations where it would otherwise not be possible.

School-district-sponsored schools.

Some school districts have decided that they also want to be part of this new wave of online learning. While some offer a full load of courses, others use online courses for credit recovery (for failed courses) or for more advanced courses.

Corporate-sponsored, but government-approved schools.

These schools are co-sponsored by an online high school chain and by the state department of education (or local school district).

Advice for Those Seeking Out Online High School Programs

There are certain pieces of information you must possess whether an online high school is free or not. This includes knowing the answers to the following questions:

How long has the school been in business?

While the threshold for what is a long time varies widely, when you are talking about online high schools, ten years is a long time. I think you want to tread lightly with schools that are a year or two old and are still trying to figure everything out.

Does it offer a diploma?

Many free online high schools offer diplomas, but many do not. Rather, what they offer are individual courses to supplement your traditional high school experience. In some cases, this may be exactly what you need. An example would be the student who needs to pick up a couple of Advanced Placement (AP) courses to be more competitive for college admissions.

Do they provide equipment?

Some free online high schools include the use of a computer as part of the deal. If that is something that you need, you will want to be sure to choose a program that offers it. Usually, you must return the computer when you leave the program or you graduate.

Is it accredited by a recognized accreditor and/or approved by its state department of education?

The two resources that I use to determine if an accreditor is valid are Accreditation in the United States and CITA. Why is it important to check the accreditation? Because, just as there are fake online high schools, so, too, there are fake accreditors. While there may be other legitimate accrediting efforts going on out there, you cannot go wrong with those two sites.

Look Before You Leap

Yes, there are free online high schools. Yes, the number of such schools is on the rise and will continue to grow. Often, they will be a good choice for you. That being said, like all things in life, it is important to do your research before you start the program.

Thomas Nixon is the author of "Complete Guide to Online High Schools: Distance Learning Options For Teens & Adults" as well as other book and articles on distance learning. He is the manager of BestOnlineHighSchools.com. For regular comments, check out his blog at BestOnlineHighSchools.com/blog/.