Richmond Leader

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted many parents to take a closer look at their children's school curriculum, Tillie Elvrum, founder of Parent Support for Online Learning, told the Richmond Leader.

"Parents have many concerns after several school years impacted by the pandemic," Elvrum said. "When schools closed and transitioned to remote learning, parents gained new insights into their school's curriculum and how their children learned. As we move forward, many parents want to understand what is being taught to their children, and most importantly they want to make sure their students recover any lost learning due to COVID-19 school  closures."

Online schools can can help parents address any of their education-related concerns, Elvrum explained.

"Parents value online schools for so many reasons," she said. "Online learning provides students and their families with the flexibility to control the time, pace and place of learning. Online schools provide a safe mental and physical environment for learning. Online schools allow parents to actively participate in their student's day-to-day learning while providing curriculum transparency."

During the pandemic, online schools gave students continuity in education, according to Elvrum.

"Online students weren't impacted by the learning loss students in traditional settings are now experiencing," she said.

Parental involvement is encouraged in public online schools, Elvrum added.

"Parents in public online schools are partners in education," she said. "They have input into their child's learning and oversee daily lessons with the support of educators. Parents and teachers respect the important role each play in educating a child and work together to set children up for success. As an online public school parent, I always knew what resources were being used in the curriculum and what information was presented during my student's classes. That empowered me to enrich my student's education in ways that I might not be afforded if I didn't have access to every lesson of the curriculum."

Parents can find resources and guidance at Parent Support for Online Learning, and they can find out more about Virginia's public online schools at Choose My School Virginia.

Virginia's population includes 1.9 million children, meaning millions of parents and children are affected by this issue of school choice, according to National School Choice Week.

The state has a private school choice program, which is a tax-credit program, according to Ed Choice.  

Virginia has an education improvement scholarship tax credit plan, where businesses and individuals receive a 65% tax credit when they donate to qualified scholarship foundations. In the school year 202-2021, 4,592 students participated in the scholarship fund program.