Differences in the performance of Texas high school students in online courses and traditional classrooms

This study compared the performance levels of Texas high school students who took Algebra I, Biology I, English II, or United States History (target courses) online to the performance of students who completed these courses in a traditional classroom setting. Texas End-of-Course (EOC) exams scores for the 2001–2002 school year were used to measure student performance.; Three groups of students were analyzed in this study: (1)  Online-group. Students in Texas who completed one of the target courses in an online format and took the appropriate EOC exam. (2) School-group. Students who attended one of the schools where an online course was offered, completed one of the target courses in a traditional manner, and took the appropriate EOC exam. (This group does not include students who took online courses.) (3)  State-group. Students in Texas who completed one of the target courses and the appropriate EOC exam. (This group is inclusive of all Texas students who took an EOC exam regardless of presentation method.); In this nonexperimental, Ex Post Facto study, two nonparametric tests were employed to determine if a significant difference existed between the performances of student groups. A chi square test was performed for each comparison group and a Fisher exact test was performed for all categories where the number of students in the online group was less than 20 to confirm the results of the chi square test.; Though this study found that a statistically significant difference did not exist between the performance of students who completed courses in an online format and students who completed instruction in a traditional manner in most of the groups compared, a relationship between these two methods of instruction cannot be ruled out. It may be concluded however that online instruction is capable of producing results comparable to traditional instruction for all students including students of differing gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.