Board Approves Idaho Online Class Requirement

It will become the first state to require at least two online credits for graduation

Idaho is set to become first state in the nation to require high school students to take at least two credits online to graduate, a move prompted by growing concerns that students need to be better prepared to take online courses in college and for job training.

Idaho now joins Alabama, Florida, and Michigan as the only states requiring at least one credit of online learning for graduation, as well as several school districts that have put similar requirements in place in recent years.

But the measure in Idaho—which is part of a sweeping education overhaul that introduces teacher merit pay and phases in laptops for every high school teacher and student—did not happen easily. There was heavy criticism of the plan at public hearings this past summer, well before the state board of education gave the requirement...