A Study of Student Connectedness to Classroom Community in High School Online Courses

Abstract

Growing enrollment in full-time, K-12 virtual public schools has pushed education leaders to reexamine the strengths and weaknesses of online learning through the lens of child development and adolescent needs. This quantitative study informs K-12 education stakeholders and policymakers at the high school level on decisions regarding online learning. Preexisting quantitative data was analyzed from a student survey of high school students in central Oklahoma. This study examined the relationship between students’ sense of connectedness to the classroom community and other demographic factors, educational settings, and measures of academic performance. Results found that online students are less connected than their peers in a blended or face-to-face educational setting. Student characteristics of race and grade level did not produce significant differences in connectedness; however, nonbinary/third-gender students and students who preferred not to reveal their gender had significantly lower connectedness than their heterosexual and cisgender peers. Furthermore, attendance and grades were significant predictors of student connectedness. While student connectedness decreased as the number of days absent from school increased, student connectedness increased as course grades increased.