Arizona is one of the few states that allows students to choose from multiple online providers at the course and program levels, and allows the funding to follow the student down to the course level. Through Arizona Online Instruction (AOI), all approved providers can serve any student in the state. As a result, the state has seen rapid growth in the number of programs and the number of students served. Final audited AOI enrollment numbers were not yet available when Keeping Pace 2012 went to press, but the Arizona Department of Education has recently provided them. A total of 42,423 unique students were served through AOI in school year 2011-12 in both full- and part-time programs, which represented growth of 15% over school year 2010-11. This growth percentage mirrors what we are seeing in other states with online schools that have been in existence for several years such as Ohio (+14%), Oregon (+16%), Pennsylvania (+13%), and Wyoming (+18%).

As Arizona’s enrollment numbers are a unique student count, it is difficult to compare them to states that can specify the number of fully online students. However, it is clear that AOI is having a significant impact on Arizona students as almost 4% of the state’s K-12 student population took at least one online course through AOI in school year 2011-12.