This book is designed to provide practical information about planning and operating virtual, or online, schools. It discusses and illustrates promising practices and successful models and approaches; provides planning resources for implementation; presents costs and benefits of launching virtual schools; offers preventive strategies that help districts anticipate and avoid common pitfalls; and features profiles of successful virtual-school programs. Chapter 1 looks at basic issues and concerns. Chapter 2 considers differences between face-to-face and online teaching and learning and discusses course design and professional development for the online environment. Chapter 3 presents profiles of seven online schools active in 2002 and includes sample online education policies in force at the time the profiles were drawn. Chapter 4 features print and electronic resources related to virtual schools. Included are appendices that include sample student and teacher evaluation forms, excerpts from an online school handbook, and an online course standards document. (WFA)