This is the first year the the United States federal government has surveyed distance learning in Kindergarten - high schools. The report found tens of thousands of students enrolled in courses that are conducted via the Internet or through video and/or audio conferencing, where the teacher and student were in separate physical locations. The study found that nearly one of every ten public schools had students enrolled in distance learning courses.

Susan Patrick, the director of the U.S. Department of Education's office of educational technology, said the survey points to a "huge growth" in the availability of online and distance learning.

"We expect the growth to continue, consistent with the growth in higher education distance learning," she added.

Responses to surveys that the NCES mailed to more than 2,300 school districts around the country indicated that in 2002-03, there were an estimated 328,000 enrollments in distance learning courses among students regularly attending public schools.

Schools surveyed reported that they usually choose to offer distance learning courses online because they are otherwise not available to students at school, citing such examples as Advanced Placement courses. The report also notes that the availability of distance learning courses allows students to reduce scheduling conflicts they might have with other courses or school activities.

According to the report, some school officials said they plan to expand distance learning offerings in the future, but expressed concerns about the high costs of purchasing equipment and course development. School district administrators were also concerned that they could lose per-pupil funding from their states if students taking online distance learning courses offered by other districts were not counted as part of the home district's regular enrollment. Learn more at the US Department of Education website: http://nces.ed.gov/ . You can view the distance learning PDF report here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005010.pdf