For the 2018-19 school year, Section 98 of the State School Aid Act directs MVLRI to strengthen teaching and learning for K-12 education by supporting and accelerating innovation and providing leadership in online and blended learning. MVLRI supports and accelerates innovation by:

Supporting and Accelerating Innovation in Education

• Testing, evaluating, and recommending as appropriate new technology-based instructional tools and resources.
• Research, design, and recommending virtual education delivery models for use by pupils and teachers that include age-appropriate multimedia instructional content.
• Researching, developing, and recommending annually to the department criteria by which cyber schools and virtual course providers should be monitored and evaluated to ensure a quality education for their pupils.
• Based on pupil completion and performance data reported to the department or the center for educational performance and information from cyber schools and other virtual course providers operating in this state, analyzing the effectiveness of virtual learning delivery models in preparing pupils to be college- and career-ready and publish a report that highlights enrollment totals, completion rates, and the overall impact on pupils. The report shall be submitted to the house and senate appropriations subcommittees on state school aid, the state budget director, the house and senate fiscal agencies, the department, districts, and intermediate districts not later than March 31 of each year.
• Providing an extensive professional development program to at least 30,000 educational personnel, including teachers, school administrators, and school board members, that focuses on the effective integration of virtual learning into curricula and instruction. The Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute is encouraged to work with the MiSTEM advisory council created under section 99s to coordinate professional development of teachers in applicable fields. In addition, the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute and external stakeholders are encouraged to coordinate with the department for professional development in this state. Not later than December 1 of each year, the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute shall submit a report to the house and senate appropriations subcommittees on state school aid, the state budget director, the house and senate fiscal agencies, and the department on the number of teachers, school administrators, and school board members who have received professional development services from the Michigan Virtual University. The report shall also identify barriers and other opportunities to encourage the adoption of virtual learning in the public education system.
• Identifying and sharing best practices for planning, implementing, and evaluating virtual and blended education delivery models with intermediate districts, districts, and public school academies to accelerate the adoption of innovative education delivery models statewide.

Providing Leadership for This State’s System of Digital Learning Education

• Developing and reporting policy recommendations to the governor and the legislature that accelerate the expansion of effective online learning in this state’s schools.
• Providing a clearinghouse for research reports, academic studies, evaluations, and other information related to virtual learning.
• Promoting and distributing the most current instructional design standards and guidelines for virtual teaching.
• In collaboration with the department and interested colleges and universities in this state, supporting implementation and improvements related to effective virtual learning instruction.
• Pursuing public/private partnerships that include districts to study and implement competency-based technology-rich virtual learning models.
• Creating a statewide network of school-based mentors serving as liaisons between pupils, virtual instructors, parents, and school staff, as provided by the department or the center, and provide mentors with research-based training and technical assistance designed to help more pupils be successful virtual learners.
• Convening focus groups and conducting annual surveys of teachers, administrators, pupils, parents, and others to identify barriers and opportunities related to virtual learning.
• Producing an annual consumer awareness report for schools and parents about effective virtual education providers and education delivery models, performance data, cost structures, and research trends.
• Providing an internet-based platform that educators can use to create student-centric learning tools and resources for sharing in the state’s open educational resource repository and facilitate a user network that assists educators in using the content creation platform and state repository for open educational resources. As part of this initiative, the Michigan Virtual University shall work collaboratively with districts and intermediate districts to establish a plan to make available virtual resources that align to Michigan’s K-12 curriculum standards for use by students, educators, and parents.
• Creating and maintaining a public statewide catalog of virtual learning courses being offered by all public schools and community colleges in this state. The Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute shall identify and develop a list of nationally recognized best practices for virtual learning and use this list to support reviews of virtual course vendors, courses, and instructional practices. The Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute shall also provide a mechanism for intermediate districts to use the identified best practices to review content offered by constituent districts. The Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute shall review the virtual course offerings of the Michigan Virtual University, and make the results from these reviews available to the public as part of the statewide catalog. The Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute shall ensure that the statewide catalog is made available to the public on the Michigan Virtual University website and shall allow the ability to link it to each district’s website as provided for in section 21f. The statewide catalog shall also contain all of the following:
  • The number of enrollments in each virtual course in the immediately preceding school year.
  • The number of enrollments that earned 60% or more of the total course points for each virtual course in the immediately preceding school year.
  • The pass rate for each virtual course.
• Supporting registration, payment services, and transcript functionality for the statewide catalog and train key stakeholders on how to use new features.
• Collaborating with key stakeholders to examine district level accountability and teacher effectiveness issues related to virtual learning under section 21f and make findings and recommendations publicly available.
• Providing a report on the activities of the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute.

View the full set of plans and benchmarking

For the 2017-18 school year, Section 98 of the State School Aid Act directs MVLRI to strengthen teaching and learning for K-12 education by supporting and accelerating innovation and providing leadership in online and blended learning. MVLRI supports and accelerates innovation by:

Supporting and Accelerating Innovation in Education

• Testing, evaluating and recommending appropriate new technology-based instructional tools and resources.
• Researching, designing and recommending digital education delivery models for use by pupils and teachers that include age-appropriate multimedia instructional content.
• Researching, developing and recommending annually to the department criteria by which cyber schools and online course providers should be monitored and evaluated to ensure a quality education for their pupils.
• Analyzing the effectiveness of online learning delivery models in preparing pupils to be college- and career-ready and publish a report that highlights enrollment totals, completion rates and the overall impact on pupils.
• Providing an extensive professional development program to at least 30,000 educational personnel, including teachers, school administrators, and school board members that focus on the effective integration of digital learning into curricula and instruction.
• Providing a report to the house and senate appropriations subcommittees on state school aid, the state budget director, the house and senate fiscal agencies, and the department on the number and percentage of teachers, school administrators and school board members who have received professional development services from the Michigan Virtual, and identify barriers and other opportunities to encourage the adoption of digital learning in the public education system.
• Identifying and sharing best practices for planning, implementing and evaluating online and blended education delivery models with intermediate districts, districts and public school academies to accelerate the adoption of innovative education delivery models statewide.

Providing Leadership for This State’s System of Digital Learning Education

• Developing and report policy recommendations to the governor and the legislature that accelerate the expansion of effective online learning in this state’s schools.
• Providing a clearinghouse for research reports, academic studies, evaluations and other information related to online learning.
• Promoting and distribute the most current instructional design standards and guidelines for online teaching.
• In collaboration with the department and interested colleges and universities in this state, supporting implementation and improvements related to effective digital learning instruction.
• Pursuing public/private partnerships that include districts to study and implement competency-based technology-rich online learning models.
• Creating a statewide network of school-based mentors serving as liaisons between pupils, online instructors, parents, and school staff and provide mentors with research-based training and technical assistance designed to help more pupils be successful online learners.
• Convening focus groups and conduct annual surveys of teachers, administrators, pupils, parents, and others to identify barriers and opportunities related to online learning.
• Producing an annual consumer awareness report for schools and parents about effective online education providers and education delivery models, performance data, cost structures and research trends.
• Researching and establishing an Internet-based platform that educators can use to create student-centric learning tools and resources and facilitate a user network that assists educators in using the platform.
• As part of this initiative, the Michigan Virtual shall work collaboratively with districts and intermediate districts to establish a plan to make available online resources that align to Michigan’s K-12 curriculum standards for use by students, educators, and parents.
• Creating and maintaining a public statewide catalog of online learning courses being offered by all public schools and community colleges in this state; identify and develop a list of nationally recognized best practices for online learning and use this list to support reviews of online course vendors, courses, and instructional practices; provide a mechanism for intermediate districts to use the identified best practices to review content offered by constituent districts; reviewing the online course offerings of the Michigan Virtual, and make the results from these reviews available to the public as part of the statewide catalog; and ensure that the statewide catalog is made available to the public on the Michigan Virtual website and shall allow the ability to link it to each district’s website as provided for in section 21f.
• The statewide catalog shall also contain all of the following:
  • The number of enrollments in each online course in the immediately preceding school year.
  • The number of enrollments that earned 60% or more of the total course points for each online course in the immediately preceding school year.
  • The completion rate for each online course.

• Developing prototype and pilot registration, payment services and transcript functionality to the statewide catalog and train key stakeholders on how to use new features.
• Collaborating with key stakeholders to examine district-level accountability and teacher effectiveness issues related to online learning under section 21f and make findings and recommendations publicly available.

For the 2016-17 school year, Section 98 of the State School Aid Act directed MVLRI to strengthen teaching and learning for K-12 education by supporting and accelerating innovation and providing leadership in online and blended learning.

Supporting and Accelerating Innovation in Education

• Testing, evaluating and recommending appropriate new technology-based instructional tools and resources.
• Researching, designing and recommending digital education delivery models for use by pupils and teachers that include age-appropriate multimedia instructional content.
• Researching, developing and recommending annually to the department criteria by which cyber schools and online course providers should be monitored and evaluated to ensure a quality education for their pupils.
• Analyzing the effectiveness of online learning delivery models in preparing pupils to be college- and career-ready and publish a report that highlights enrollment totals, completion rates and the overall impact on pupils.
• Providing an extensive professional development program to at least 500 educational personnel, including teachers, school administrators, and school board members that focus on the effective integration of digital learning into curricula and instruction.
• Providing a report to the house and senate appropriations subcommittees on state school aid, the state budget director, the house and senate fiscal agencies, and the department on the number and percentage of teachers, school administrators and school board members who have received professional development services from the Michigan Virtual, and identify barriers and other opportunities to encourage the adoption of digital learning in the public education system.
• Identifying and share best practices for planning, implementing and evaluating online and blended education delivery models with intermediate districts, districts and public school academies to accelerate the adoption of innovative education delivery models statewide.

Providing Leadership For This State’s System Of Digital Learning Education

• Developing and report policy recommendations to the governor and the legislature that accelerate the expansion of effective online learning in this state’s schools.
• Providing a clearinghouse for research reports, academic studies, evaluations and other information related to online learning.
• Promoting and distribute the most current instructional design standards and guidelines for online teaching.
• In collaboration with the department and interested colleges and universities in this state, supporting implementation and improvements related to effective digital learning instruction.
• Pursuing public/private partnerships that include districts to study and implement competency-based technology-rich online learning models.
• Creating a statewide network of school-based mentors serving as liaisons between pupils, online instructors, parents, and school staff and provide mentors with research-based training and technical assistance designed to help more pupils be successful online learners.
• Convening focus groups and conduct annual surveys of teachers, administrators, pupils, parents, and others to identify barriers and opportunities related to online learning.
• Producing an annual consumer awareness report for schools and parents about effective online education providers and education delivery models, performance data, cost structures and research trends.
• Researching and establishing an Internet-based platform that educators can use to create student-centric learning tools and resources and facilitate a user network that assists educators in using the platform.
• As part of this initiative, the Michigan Virtual shall work collaboratively with districts and intermediate districts to establish a plan to make available online resources that align to Michigan’s K-12 curriculum standards for use by students, educators, and parents.
• Creating and maintaining a public statewide catalog of online learning courses being offered by all public schools and community colleges in this state; identify and develop a list of nationally recognized best practices for online learning and use this list to support reviews of online course vendors, courses, and instructional practices; provide a mechanism for intermediate districts to use the identified best practices to review content offered by constituent districts; reviewing the online course offerings of the Michigan Virtual, and make the results from these reviews available to the public as part of the statewide catalog; and ensure that the statewide catalog is made available to the public on the Michigan Virtual website and shall allow the ability to link it to each district’s website as provided for in section 21f.
• The statewide catalog shall also contain all of the following:
• • The number of enrollments in each online course in the immediately preceding school year.
  • The number of enrollments that earned 60% or more of the total course points for each online course in the immediately preceding school year.
  • The completion rate for each online course.
• Developing prototype and pilot registration, payment services and transcript functionality to the statewide catalog and train key stakeholders on how to use new features.
• Collaborating with key stakeholders to examine district-level accountability and teacher effectiveness issues related to online learning under section 21f and make findings and recommendations publicly available.

For the 2015-16 school year, Section 98 of the State School Aid Act directed MVLRI to address 20 tasks to strengthen teaching and learning for K-12 education.

Support and accelerate innovation in education

• Test, evaluate and recommend as appropriate new technology-based instructional tools and resources.
• Research, design and recommend digital education delivery models for use by pupils and teachers that include age-appropriate multimedia instructional content.
• Research, develop and recommend annually to the department criteria by which cyber schools and online course providers should be monitored and evaluated to ensure a quality education for their pupils.
• Analyze the effectiveness of online learning delivery models in preparing pupils to be college- and career-ready and publish a report that highlights enrollment totals, completion rates and the overall impact on pupils.
• Provide an extensive professional development program to at least 500 educational personnel, including teachers, school administrators, and school board members that focus on the effective integration of digital learning into curricula and instruction.
• Provide a report to the house and senate appropriations subcommittees on state school aid, the state budget director, the house and senate fiscal agencies, and the department on the number and percentage of teachers, school administrators and school board members who have received professional development services from the Michigan Virtual, and identify barriers and other opportunities to encourage the adoption of digital learning in the public education system.
• Identify and share best practices for planning, implementing and evaluating online and blended education delivery models with intermediate districts, districts and public school academies to accelerate the adoption of innovative education delivery models statewide.

Provide leadership for this state’s system of digital learning education

• Develop and report policy recommendations to the governor and the legislature that accelerate the expansion of effective online learning in this state’s schools.
• Provide a clearinghouse for research reports, academic studies, evaluations and other information related to online learning.
• Promote and distribute the most current instructional design standards and guidelines for online teaching.
• In collaboration with the department and interested colleges and universities in this state, support implementation and improvements related to effective digital learning instruction.
• Pursue public/private partnerships that include districts to study and implement competency-based technology-rich online learning models.
• Create a statewide network of school-based mentors serving as liaisons between pupils, online instructors, parents, and school staff and provide mentors with research-based training and technical assistance designed to help more pupils be successful online learners.
• Convene focus groups and conduct annual surveys of teachers, administrators, pupils, parents, and others to identify barriers and opportunities related to online learning.
• Produce an annual consumer awareness report for schools and parents about effective online education providers and education delivery models, performance data, cost structures and research trends.
• Research and establish an Internet-based platform that educators can use to create student-centric learning tools and resources and facilitate a user network that assists educators in using the platform. As part of this initiative, the Michigan Virtual shall work collaboratively with districts and intermediate districts to establish a plan to make available online resources that align to
• Michigan’s K-12 curriculum standards for use by students, educators, and parents.
• Create and maintain a public statewide catalog of online learning courses being offered by all public schools and community colleges in this state; identify and develop a list of nationally recognized best practices for online learning and use this list to support reviews of online course vendors, courses, and instructional practices; provide a mechanism for intermediate districts to use the identified best practices to review content offered by constituent districts; review the online course offerings of the Michigan Virtual, and make the results from these reviews available to the public as part of the statewide catalog; and ensure that the statewide catalog is made available to the public on the Michigan Virtual website and shall allow the ability to link it to each district’s website as provided for in section 21f.
• The statewide catalog shall also contain all of the following:
  • The number of enrollments in each online course in the immediately preceding school year.
  • The number of enrollments that earned 60% or more of the total course points for each online course in the immediately preceding school year.
  • The completion rate for each online course.
• Develop prototype and pilot registration, payment services and transcript functionality to the statewide catalog and train key stakeholders on how to use new features.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders to examine district-level accountability and teacher effectiveness issues related to online learning under section 21f and make findings and recommendations publicly available.

 

For the 2014-15 school year, Section 98 of the State School Aid Act directs MVLRI to address nearly 20 tasks to strengthen teaching and learning for K-12 education. Toward that end, staff has responsibilities as summarized in the items below. (For exact language, please see the legislation.)

Support and Accelerate Innovation in Education

• Test, evaluate and recommend appropriate new technology-based instructional tools and resources.
• Research, design and recommend digital education delivery models for use by pupils and teachers that include age-appropriate multimedia instructional content.
• Research, develop and recommend annually to the department criteria by which cyber schools and online course providers should be monitored and evaluated to ensure a quality education for their pupils.
• Analyze the effectiveness of online learning delivery models in preparing pupils to be college- and career-ready and publish a report that highlights enrollment totals, completion rates, and the overall impact on pupils.
• Provide an extensive professional development program to at least 500 educational personnel, including teachers, school administrators, and school board members that focus on the effective integration of digital learning into curricula and instruction.
• Provide a report to the house and senate appropriations subcommittees on state school aid, the state budget director, the house and senate fiscal agencies, and the department on the number and percentage of teachers, school administrators, and school board members who have received professional development services from the Michigan Virtual, and identify barriers and other opportunities to encourage the adoption of digital learning in the public education system.
• Identify and share best practices for planning, implementing and evaluating online and blended education delivery models with intermediate districts, districts, and public school academies to accelerate the adoption of innovative education delivery models statewide.

Provide Leadership for This State’s System of Online and Blended Learning Education

• Develop and report policy recommendations to the governor and the legislature that accelerate the expansion of effective online learning in this state’s schools.
• Provide a clearinghouse for research reports, academic studies, evaluations and other information related to online learning.
• Promote and distribute the most current instructional design standards and guidelines for online teaching.
• In collaboration with the department and interested colleges and universities in this state, support implementation and improvements related to effective digital learning instruction.
• Pursue public/private partnerships that include districts to study and implement competency-based technology-rich online learning models.
• Convene focus groups and conduct annual surveys of teachers, administrators, pupils, parents, and others to identify barriers and opportunities related to online learning.
• Produce an annual consumer awareness report for schools and parents about effective online education providers and education delivery models, performance data, cost structures and research trends.
• Research and establish an internet-based platform that educators can use to create student-centric learning tools and resources and facilitate a user network that assists educators in using the platform. As part of this initiative, the Michigan Virtual shall work collaboratively with districts and intermediate districts to establish a plan to make available online resources that align to Michigan’s K-12 curriculum standards for use by students, educators, and parents.
• Create and maintain a public statewide catalog of online learning courses being offered by all public schools in this state; identify and develop a list of nationally recognized best practices for online learning and use this list to support reviews of online course vendors, courses, and instructional practices; provide a mechanism for intermediate districts to use the identified best practices to review content offered by constituent districts; review MVS course offerings and make the results from these reviews available to the public as part of the statewide catalog; ensure that the statewide catalog is made available to the public on the Michigan Virtual website and shall allow the ability to link it to each district’s website as provided for in section 21f.
• The statewide catalog shall also contain all of the following:
  • The number of enrollments in each online course in the immediately preceding school year.
  • The number of enrollments that earned 60% or more of the total course points for each online course in the immediately preceding school year.
  • The completion rate for each online course.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders to examine the need and process for incorporating registration, payment services, and transcript functionality to the statewide catalog.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders to examine district-level accountability and teacher effectiveness issues related to online learning under section 21f and make findings and recommendations publicly available.

For the 2013-14 school year, Section 98 of the State School Aid Act directed MVLRI to address over a dozen tasks to strengthen teaching and learning for K-12 education.

Support and Accelerate Innovation in Education

• Test, evaluate and recommend new technology-based instructional tools and resources.
• Research, design and recommend digital education delivery models for use by students and teachers that include multimedia instructional content.
• Research, design and recommend competency-based online assessments.
• Research, develop and recommend annually to the Michigan Department of Education criteria by which cyber schools and online course providers should be monitored and evaluated to ensure a quality education for their pupils.
• Analyze the effectiveness of online learning delivery models in preparing pupils to be college- and career-ready and publish a report that highlights enrollment totals, completion rates and the overall impact on pupils, based on pupil completion and performance data reported to the Michigan Department of Education or the center for educational performance and information from cyber schools and other online course providers operating in Michigan.
• Provide an extensive professional development program to at least 500 educational personnel, including teachers, school administrators, and school board members, that focuses on the effective integration of digital learning into curricula and instruction.
• Prepare a report for the house and senate appropriations subcommittees on state school aid, the state budget director, the house and senate fiscal agencies, and the department on the number and percentage of teachers, school administrators and school board members who have received professional development services from the Michigan Virtual, and identify barriers and other opportunities to encourage the adoption of digital learning in the public education system.
• Identify and share best practices for planning, implementing and evaluating online and blended education delivery models with intermediate districts, districts and public school academies to accelerate the adoption of innovative education delivery models statewide.

Provide Leadership for the State’s System of Online and Blended Learning Education

• Develop and report policy recommendations to the governor and the legislature that accelerate the expansion of effective online learning in this state’s schools.
• Provide a clearinghouse for research reports, academic studies, evaluations and other information related to online learning.
• Promote and distribute the most current instructional design standards and guidelines for online teaching.
• Recommend guidelines and standards to the state superintendent for a new teacher endorsement credential related to effective digital learning instruction in collaboration with the Michigan Department of Education and interested colleges and universities.
• Pursue public/private partnerships to study and implement competency-based technology-rich online learning models.
• Convene focus groups and conduct annual surveys of teachers, administrators, pupils, parents, and others to identify barriers and opportunities related to online learning.
• Produce an annual consumer awareness report for schools and parents about effective online education providers and education delivery models, performance data, cost structures and research trends.
• Research and establish an internet-based platform that educators can use to create student-centric learning tools and resources and facilitate a user network that assists educators in using the platform. As part of this initiative, the Michigan Virtual shall work collaboratively with districts and intermediate districts to establish a plan to make available online resources that align to Michigan’s K-12 curriculum standards for use by students, educators, and parents.
• Create and maintain a public statewide catalog of online learning courses being offered by all public schools in this state; identify and develop a list of nationally recognized best practices for online learning and use this list to provide reviews of online course vendors, courses and instructional practices; provide a mechanism for intermediate districts to use the identified best practices to review content offered by constituent districts; review MVS online course offerings and make the results from these reviews available to the public as part of the statewide catalog; and ensure that the statewide catalog is made available to the public on the Michigan Virtual website and linked to each district’s website.
• The statewide catalog shall also contain all of the following:
  • The number of pupils enrolled in each online course in the 2012-13 school year.
  • The number of pupils who successfully completed each online course in the 2012-13 school year.
  • The completion rate for each online course.