Students in one-third of the nation's public school districts took distance education courses in the 2002-03 school year, illustrating such classes' growing popularity, says a report released last week by the National Center for Education Statistics.

The report-which the NCES says is the federal government's first-ever survey of distance learning in K-12 schools-found thousands of students enrolled in courses that are conducted via the Internet or through video- or audio-conferencing, w...