Do On-line Courses Help Struggling Students?

An article in Colorlines here raises the issue of whether or not on-line course help students who are not high achievers in school.

I think Ms. Hing makes an excellent point.  In my 35 years of teaching high school English, I saw that students who, for whatever reason, were having a harder time with academic work, benefited from a nurturing teacher.  Just the minute or two we could take every day to ask how these students were doing paid off big time in their ability to work. Also, keeping a closer eye on them meant that we could see right away when they were starting to slip, and could intervene before they got too far behind.

I am so saddened to see the direction of education--all of the standardized testing and curriculum.  I don't think it serves our neediest students very well.