Maryland Digital Learning Landscape
| State virtual school? | NO |
| Multi-district fully online schools? | YES |
| Online learning requirement for graduation? | NO |
| State approval process for online providers? | YES |
| State approval process for online courses? | YES |
There is online and blended learning activity at the district level in Maryland, an online consortium, and a state online program. There are no multi-district fully online schools in Maryland.
The state program, Maryland Virtual Learning Opportunities (MVLO), offers locally developed and vendor-provided online courses approved by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to all 24 local school systems. Districts reported 4,664 supplemental course enrollments in core and credit recovery enrollments and 2,416 Special Education course enrollments during the 2019-20 SY. Districts also reported 24,770 enrollments where courses were used in a blended learning environment. More recent enrollment data was not made available to us for this profile.
Most online learning activity in Maryland is at the district level. Maryland districts that want to offer full-time enrollment must submit an application to the MSDE for approval.
Howard County Public Schools (HCPS) currently offers supplemental programs for district students using three instructional models: synchronous courses, fully online courses, and blended courses.
Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) offers supplemental programs to secondary students through Frederick County Virtual School (FCVS). FCPS also offers a remote learning option to students K-12 called the Blended Virtual Program (BVP).
Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Washington County Public Schools, Prince George’s County Public Schools, and Baltimore City Public Schools have online programs with some synchronous components.
Montgomery County Public Schools Virtual Academy offers online and hybrid options for grades Pre-K-12.
Baltimore County Public Schools’ Virtual learning Program offers online and hybrid options for grades Pre-K-12.
The Eastern Shore of Maryland Educational Consortium (ESMEC) consists of nine county public school districts and provides online course options for students in grades 6-12 that reside within the nine districts in the consortium. The consortium uses a single online course provider.
State Policies
No major legislation impacting online and/or blended learning was passed January through August 2022.
The Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) defines credit-bearing online courses as those in which “80% or more of instruction is conducted online.” Courses that provide up to 80% of the instruction online do not have any requirements other than those that apply to all courses in Maryland. COMAR also requires the MSDE to create online course approval processes as outlined in the process and procedures document; it allows the MSDE to charge a vendor fee of $1,400 per course evaluation. If an approved contractor reviews a course, MSDE may charge the vendor a $360 course fee for the final approval process. Additional online course evaluation and approval responsibilities are defined in SB461 (2013), which requires the MSDE course evaluation process meet the accessibility needs of students.
In 2012, the MSDE released Process and Procedures for Offering Student Online Courses in Maryland Public Schools. This sets forth school system responsibilities, minimum training requirements for facilitators, an online course review process, the process for converting face- to-face courses to online courses, and MSDE/School System responsibilities in the course approval process. Online facilitators for Maryland sponsored online courses must successfully complete an MSDE-approved online three-credit course followed by a shadowing experience with a mentor facilitator.