Nevada 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 |
Nevada has three multi-district fully online schools, an extensive digital learning program in the Clark County School District (CCSD) in Las Vegas (which is unique in that it serves about 70% of all Nevada public school students), and a growing number of district online programs. Nevada’s three multi-district fully online schools served 3,427 students during the 2021-22 SY, down slightly from the 3,887 in SY 2020-21, and from its peak of 5,190 students in SY 2019-20. There is no state virtual school.
The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) is responsible for approving and renewing distance education courses. The program application, approval, and renewal processes available on the NDE’s distance education website.
Nevada Learning Academy at CCSD (NVLA) launched in fall 2004 and enrolls students statewide. It served approximately 450 full-time students during the 2020-21 SY. Although Nevada Learning Academy serves some out-of-district enrollments, the large majority of its enrollments are in-district. NVLA has an online option for K-5 students.
Nevada Digital Learning (NDL), created by the Nevada Department of Education, provides digital learning resources for teachers, students and families. The NDL provides digital content in select subject areas and professional development on using online tools and pedagogy for teaching online and in a blended model.
School districts and charter schools must be approved by the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) to provide distance education. The NDE maintains a list of approved distance education programs - 15 districts and 16 charter schools - as of October 2022.
In addition to Clark County, some school districts serve at least some fully online students through either school or single-district programs. District programs include:
North Star Online School (formerly the WOLF program) in Washoe County is a K-12 program for fully online students.
Carson City School District launched its Pioneer Academy for fall 2021. The Academy consists of three related but separate schools; Pioneer Online Elementary, Pioneer Online Middle, and Pioneer Online High
Elko County School District’s Northeastern Nevada Virtual Academy offers a full-time program for students in grades K-12.
State Policies
No major legislation impacting online and/or blended learning was passed January through August 2022.
Extensive legislation surrounding distance education policy can be found in the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS388) and Nevada Administrative Code (NAC388), or on the NDE web page on distance learning. In 2011, the state board of education adopted alternatives to seat-time policies based on AB 233.
SB58 (2013) gave students the ability to enroll in out-of-district options in either part- or full-time programs.