South Carolina Digital Learning Landscape
VirtualSC, a DLC State Affiliate, was instrumental in conducting the research for this profile.
| State virtual school? | YES |
| Multi-district fully online schools? | YES |
| Online learning requirement for graduation? | NO |
| State approval process for online providers? | NO |
| State approval process for online courses? | NO |
South Carolina has a state virtual school (VirtualSC), five multi-district online charter schools, several significant district programs and at least one consortium. VirtualSC served 57,837 course enrollments in SY 2021–22 after providing 83,850 course enrollments during the 2020-21 SY.
The multi-district online charter schools enrolled 15,734 students in SY 2021-22. These five schools served 11,257 students in SY 2019–20 and 16,950 during the peak of the pandemic in SY 2020-21. There are no enrollment limits for fully online schools in South Carolina under state law.
In addition to VirtualSC’s direct course enrollments, it also offers a robust franchise program to districts and schools across the state. The VirtualSC Franchise Program provides standards-aligned course content, course technology, training and support to district franchisees. The district provides the program management and online teachers. The franchise program served 15,414 course enrollments during the 2019-20 SY and grew rapidly during the 2020-21 SY in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, serving 144,107 course enrollments and 19,527 unique students across 18 active franchise schools and districts.
VirtualSC offers a blended learning Virtual Learning Lab program to provide an interactive online learning solution for schools that may have limited abilities to offer courses due to staffing issues. Students work on a virtual course in a lab setting, while a course facilitator at the school monitors students and provides classroom management. Instruction is provided both synchronously and asynchronously by the VirtualSC teacher and through the online course.
Some districts have significant online programs to support their own students, including:
Horry County School District has a district-wide personalized digital learning initiative through HCS Virtual, offering supplemental course options.
Greenville Public Schools’ GCS Virtual provides a full-time online option for students in grades K-12 and supplemental online courses for grades 7-12.
Pickens County Virtual Academy offers full-time online learning for district students grades K–12.
The Low Country Education Consortium collaborates with school district members to develop and implement virtual learning that includes a K-8 full-time online program and supplemental online courses for grades 9-12. The Consortium also provides online learning technical assistance and training to districts.
State Policies
No major legislation impacting online and/or blended learning was passed January through August 2022.
The SC legislature passed a proviso temporarily impacting online learning in 2021 that was renewed in 2022 (provisos require an annual approval to remain in effect). The proviso allows school districts to offer a virtual education program for up to five percent of its student population without impacting any state funding. School districts submit their plans for the virtual program to the State Board of Education for approval. As a result of the proviso, the SC Department of Education approved 51 virtual programs for operation. It is uncertain how many of these virtual programs will remain active during the 2022-23 SY.