Districts Weigh Blended Costs, Savings

One of the earliest hopes for blended learning -- along with the promise that it would nurture students' technology skills and foster personalized instruction -- is that it would help schools and districts save money. But those who have studied strategies for combining online and in-person instruction say that there is no simple recipe for producing savings and that the potential for cost-cutting, or added expenses, linked to blended approaches depends on myriad factors at play in individual schools and districts.

As the economy has faltered in recent years and school budgets have shrunk, the pressure on districts to keep costs in check has grown. And in some cases, blended learning strategies have shown the ability to reduce expenses, by allowing, for instance, school leaders to share resources, redesign instruction, increase class sizes, and replace textbooks with free or low-cost online curricula and materials. In other situations, however, districts moving into blended learning have absorbed new costs, not only associated with purchases of computing devices and technology infrastructure but also linked to professional-development and other expenses.