There are some online schools here in South Carolina. The state has a virtual school and there are some online schools operated by companies (one is owned by the same that owns the Pearson textbooks). I know a little about them because I have a couple of friends who quit working in public schools to stay at home and teach virtually.
One friend taught middle school science and now she's an online teacher with the charter school owned by Pearson. She said that she wanted to do it to stay home with her younger kids. (However, I looked online to see about employee requirements, and they say they don't want the teacher to have children at home during their school hours.) They require her to be online to teach a live module at least once per week for one hour. The students know that day/time so they can make arrangements to watch, but it's recorded so they can tune in later if they want to do so. She sets office hours and has to be online 8 hours each day in case any students need help. She also grades work and submits feedback during that time. The company can tell whether or not she's logged in and working. They schedule some virtual staff meetings using a platform like Google Hangout, but she also has to drive about 1 1/2 hours away for staff meetings every other week.
Sounded like a pretty good gig, but here's what surprised me: she has more than 400 students! Plus the pay is much less than she would be making in the local public school. I asked how she managed so many students, and she said she's been assigned a virtual homeroom of about 40 students that she must regularly contact and support, and the other teachers have similar homerooms. If a child is failing math or missing history assignments, she's supposed to step in and offer support even though she's a science teacher. Sometimes it's a matter of contacting those teachers to see what the student needs then act as a go between. In the meantime, she has homeroom teachers contacting her about science assignments, or she contacts homeroom teachers to have them follow up for her about science assignments. So she focuses on 40, but makes sure she's available for the other 360+.
About testing: students complete assignments at home, and when they enroll they are supposed to provide a name of the person (mom, dad, etc.) who will be their home support person. However, all of these virtual students are expected to take the end-of-year state exam. The company reserves conference rooms in various parts of the state and the virtual teachers gather to administer the state exam similarly to how the regular public schools do it.
My understanding is they advertise virtual schools for students who are really into sports or arts programs and need a flexible schedule. They also think of themselves as the alternative for the students who just weren't successful in traditional settings.
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