Are Virtual Schools Better Than Regular Schools?

Within the past 5-10 years or so, there has been a push for virtual schools- where a student stays home and takes their courses on-line instead of going to a regular school in a building.  So, are the virtual schools doing better than the brick and mortar schools?
Gannet Newspapers conducted a study of virtual schools in Wisconsin and the statistics show for the most part that regular schools do better than the virtual schools.
From the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune: Enrollment in Wisconsin’s online schools has doubled in the last five years, but students who have chosen class without a classroom often struggle to complete their degrees and repeat grades four times as often as their brick-and-mortar counterparts, according to a Gannett Wisconsin Media analysis.
Standardized test results also show that virtual school students trail traditional students in every subject but reading and are far less likely than their peers to take the ACT or Advanced Placement tests.
But virtual schools have more than four times the turnover of traditional schools and teach students who often bring a history of academic struggles. So are mediocre results indicative of a flawed system or flawed students?
“That’s really the $10,000 question, maybe the million-dollar question,” said Matthew Wicks, vice president of strategy and organizational development for the International Association for K-12 Online Learning. “We have an assessment system that isn’t effective in general, and I think is especially ineffective in online and virtual.”Virtual charter schools — those that allow students around the state to enroll full time in online classes — have operated in Wisconsin for 10 years, growing from four schools with 265 students in 2002-03 to 25 schools with nearly 5,000 students in 2011-12. Three more virtual schools will open for the 2012-13 school year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction....
 According to a Gannett Wisconsin Media analysis:
• In the 2011-12 Wisconsin Student Assessment System testing, virtual students fared slightly better in reading than their brick-and-mortar counterparts, with 83.1 percent scoring proficient or advanced, compared with 81.9 percent statewide. But virtual students fell short in other subjects, with 5 percent to 12 percent fewer virtual students scoring proficient or advanced in math, social studies, language arts and science compared with the statewide average.
• Virtual students also scored lower on the ACT in 2011-12, with students statewide averaging a score of 22, and virtual students averaging 21.5.
• Virtual school students scored slightly better on Advanced Placement tests in 2010-11, with 70.9 percent scoring three or higher, compared with 67.6 percent of all students statewide. But far fewer students took AP tests — 4 percent of all high school students, compared with 10.4 percent statewide....
 DPI data shows a stark contrast between virtual and brick-and-mortar schools when it comes to students’ ability to complete their coursework.“I wholeheartedly recommend virtual school … but you do have to have a level of self-initiative, of maturity, of independence to be able to succeed,” said Sue DeHaan Palubiak, whose daughter, Tia DeHaan, graduated this year from eAchieve Academy in Waukesha. “It is a more passive learning environment in which children have to reach out and have to have the drive to complete the work. If they’re not inclined to do so without big brother or teacher looking over their shoulder, then certainly it’s something at which they could fail.”  http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/article/20120826/WRT019802/308260118/Virtual-charter-schools-Wisconsin-not-making-grade
I've taken 2 on-line classes and you have to be dedicated to take the course.  There are so many distractions that can affect how you do in the course.  But if you are willing to ignore the distractions and don't like the socialization of being in the brick and mortar schools, then the virtual schools may be for you.