As online programs have become more popular, states have been working to determine how best to regulate them. Schools operating in Washington must be approved by the Office of Superintendent for Public Instruction and teachers must pass the same requirements as any other teacher. Legislation passed this year cuts the per-student funding by 20 percent unless online teachers have at least one hour a week of virtual classes, termed “synchronous digital contact.”

Caldwell lets her students vote on which day they’ll be in session together.

Donning a headset, she opens a window into her virtual classroom.

Three-quarters of the screen is filled with either a slide or video from the lesson.

To the left is a list of which students are logged in and a chat window where students can ask her or other students questions publicly or privately. Caldwell can see everything they’re typing and sometimes has to remind distracted students that she can see their whole conversation.

However, Caldwell said, “It’s not for everybody.”

Students need to learn time management and how to stay on task.

The students who choose to go to online school do so for a wide variety of reasons: to continue learning at home, to escape the torment of bullying, to take care of an ailing family member, to give birth, to train for the Olympics or to take advanced placement courses not offered in their local school.

“We get a lot of students that mainstream schools can’t serve,” she said.

Caldwell’s own children attend regular schools, though her son takes math and German courses he couldn’t take at his school.

Those wary of online schools say students lose the benefit of interacting with a group and making a connection with a teacher.

But Caldwell says she gets to know her students better than she did when she taught a regular class.

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