Virtual and hybrid learning models, tailored to diverse student needs, are creating equitable pathways and fostering academic success nationwide. The post How Virtual and Hybrid Learning Helps Students Thrive: New Evidence from Five Public School Models appeared first on Getting Smart.
By: Rae Lymer
On a Tuesday morning in Bismarck, an 11th grader works from a local café, not because she’s avoiding school, but because she’s drafting a proposal to redesign the basement storage area for the business owner, earning her math and ELA credits through a project that connects to her long-term goal of becoming an interior designer. Hundreds of miles away in rural Colorado, a gifted middle schooler walks into a small classroom in her home school, opens her laptop, and joins a live geometry class taught by an expert teacher in a neighboring district. Meanwhile, a high school student in Washington, D.C., who once dreaded crowded hallways begins his day with a virtual advisory check-in, greeted by a teacher who understands how to support both his learning and well-being.
To the outside world, these students might appear to be in entirely different versions of school. In reality, they are part of the same story: public school systems are designing high-quality virtual and hybrid learning pathways that are tailored to student needs and create opportunities that didn’t previously exist.
Over the past year, our team at FullScale partnered with five districts to understand how these pathways accelerate learning and expand access to needed opportunities. Through a mixed-methods study that included analyses of academic data, surveys, and interviews, we found clear evidence that when virtual and hybrid models are intentionally designed around student needs, they serve as high-quality, rigorous, and effective options that keep students engaged in their learning and foster strong academic outcomes.
What We Found: VHL Supports Student Success Across Contexts
Across all five models, students demonstrated meaningful academic progress. In many cases, their outcomes exceeded those of peers in comparable brick-and-mortar settings. More importantly, each model offered new opportunities for students who often struggled in traditional school contexts to find success.
The students served by these models came for diverse reasons, including learners who were medically vulnerable, lived in rural communities with limited course offerings, needed more flexibility, were experiencing behavioral or attendance challenges, or required learning environments where they felt seen, safe, and supported. Because the student populations, and models, varied, our measurement of their learning needed to vary as well.
Rather than relying on a single standardized metric, we examined the indicators that best reflected learning in each context. Some sites used NWEA MAP assessments; others tracked credits earned, standards mastery, course pass rates, or engagement with career readiness practices. Across the sites, our findings indicate that VHL can be a viable, high-quality option that effectively supports learning for a wide range of students.
Examples from the Field: How VHL Supports Success for Different Students
Although the models differed in design, each provided compelling evidence that VHL can help students succeed when tailored to their needs.
Bismarck, North Dakota — Empower[Ed]
Empower[Ed] is a hybrid model that serves 11th- and 12th-grade students who felt disconnected or struggled to see the relevance of traditional high school. Their learners have the option to take one or all of their core content courses through the program and earn credits by demonstrating mastery of academic standards through interest-driven, community-based projects. This relevance-based approach helped students re-engage, earn more credits, and make progress toward graduation.
Los Angeles, California — Da Vinci Connect TK–8
Da Vinci Connect blends three days of home-based learning with two days of in-person, project-based instruction on campus. Teachers coach families who serve as educators at home, helping them guide their children through standards-aligned content while tailoring learning to interests and context. Students in this model described feeling confident, supported, and proud of their work, while also achieving above state averages in both Math and ELA on the SBAC.
Washington, D.C. — Friendship Collegiate Online
Friendship Collegiate Online is a fully virtual high school that offers students a high-quality option to engage in coursework while meeting their needs. The school serves many students with disabilities, students experiencing anxiety, and those with medical needs. To create a supportive and connected culture, students participate in advisory check-ins, virtual assemblies, and personalized coaching sessions. These supports, paired with high-quality instruction, contributed to their students outperforming their peers at two comparable brick-and-mortar high schools, demonstrating significant MAP growth and equitable academic performance among students with IEPs.
Novi, Michigan — Novi Virtual
Novi Virtual provides learning continuity for in-district students with medical needs, extended travel, or inconsistent attendance, as well as partner-district students experiencing chronic absenteeism or behavioral challenges. By aligning to the district curriculum and prioritizing relationships and consistent communication, Novi Virtual helps students rebuild or maintain academic momentum. Students in this model exceeded state averages in high school course pass rates, and students’ performance improved the longer they remained enrolled, showing the value of VHL as a stabilizing pathway for students who may otherwise disengage from public school systems altogether.
St. Vrain Valley Schools, Colorado — AGILE
The AGILE program expands access to coursework for students across rural school systems, addressing a challenge many small schools face: limited capacity to hire, train, or sustain teachers for specialized or advanced courses. Through hybrid synchronous instruction led by expert teachers at one of the district’s local schools, students join classes from satellite classrooms in their home schools. Nearly one-third of AGILE students are identified as gifted, far above district averages, speaking to the role the model plays in expanding access to advanced learning opportunities that may otherwise be unavailable. Students enrolled in the model achieved higher GPAs, PSAT, and SAT scores compared to their district peers.
Why These Findings Matter
Each model was built in response to distinct student needs, including students disengaged from traditional high school, rural students needing access to advanced or specialized coursework, students with anxiety or medical needs, or learners whose attendance patterns made in-person schooling difficult. Many of these students are often invisible in aggregate district data, and their progress can easily go unrecognized.
By adapting measurement strategies to each context, such as credit accumulation, MAP growth, standards progressions, course pass rates, or demonstration of durable skills, we were able to capture learning that traditional accountability systems often miss. This matters because these programs illustrate that VHL does not need to be a fallback or a compromise. It can be a high-quality pathway that expands opportunity when it is intentionally designed for the students it serves.
With national narratives often suggesting that VHL is a lesser option than traditional in-person learning, these models demonstrate that when designed purposefully, high-quality VHL is a valuable tool to meet diverse student needs. Rather than following a single blueprint, each district used VHL to respond to real challenges faced by students and families. In doing so, these models expanded opportunity, fostered strong academic outcomes, and built connected learning communities where students could thrive.
Read the full report to explore cross-site findings and in-depth studies for each model.
Rae Lymer is a Partner, Research, Measurement, & Policy at FullScale.
The post How Virtual and Hybrid Learning Helps Students Thrive: New Evidence from Five Public School Models appeared first on Getting Smart.
