Georgia Cyber Academy

“Georgia Threatens To Close K12-run Online Charter School.” StateImpact, NPR, (GA) 11/26/2012 

The Georgia Department of Education is threatening to close an online charter school run by K12, the nation’s largest online education company, over issues with special education students.

The agency issued a report last week that the K12-run Georgia Cyber Academy has repeatedly failed to comply with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and has violated student civil rights by failing to provide services required by the law.

The school has 1,100 special education students, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The 12,000-student school is the largest public school in the state.

The agency will begin the process of closing the school in April unless the concerns are addressed.

The Florida Department of Education is investigating whether K12 online programs used teachers who were not properly certified and then asked other teachers to help cover it up. In addition, company documents show student-to-teacher ratios of 275-to-1 in some K12 classes, while some Florida school districts have raised concerns about a network of K12-run online charter schools which have applied across the state...

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“Georgia DOE blasts Georgia Cyber Academy, threatens to pull charter in report.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA), 11/20/2012

The Georgia Department of Education has told the Georgia Cyber Academy that it will begin proceedings in April to shut down the online charter school if it fails to address numerous issues in its handling of special education students.

Those concerns, spelled out in a report delivered to GCA on Tuesday, include failure to obtain individualized education plans special education students are taught from, problems in resolving parental complaints and failure to offer the individualized instruction special education students are eligible to receive under federal law.

With 12,000 students, GCA is the largest public school in the state. The report says GCA’s special education problems stretch back to 2009, when the scores of its special needs students were among the lowest in the state...

During an October review of GCA, department officials found “continuing and significant failures to comply with federal and state laws and regulations,” according to the report...

GCA’s charter was granted by the state, and the state board has the authority to revoke it. Some board members have expressed frustration with what they described as GCA’s ongoing problems and said they will pull the school’s charter if those problems are not resolved.

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Online schools (extreme spending on marketing)

“Online schools spend millions to attract students.” USA Today, 11/28/2012 

Virtual, for-profit K-12 schools have spent millions in taxpayer dollars on advertising, an analysis shows...

An analysis by USA TODAY finds that online charter schools have spent millions in taxpayer dollars on advertising over the past five years, a trend that shows few signs of abating...

The USA TODAY analysis finds that 10 of the largest for-profit operators have spent an estimated $94.4 million on ads since 2007. The largest, Virginia-based K12 Inc., has spent about $21.5 million in just the first eight months of 2012...

A look at where K12 is placing the ads suggests that the company is also working to appeal to kids: Among the hundreds of outlets tapped this year, K12 has spent an estimated $631,600 to advertise on Nickelodeon, $601,600 on The Cartoon Network and $671,400 on MeetMe.com, a social networking site popular with teens. It also dropped $3,000 on VampireFreaks.com, which calls itself "the Web's largest community for dark alternative culture."

Kwitowski declined to say what percentage of K12's per-pupil expenses goes to advertising, but Kevin Welner, a University of Colorado professor who tracks virtual schools, estimated that K12 is on pace this year to spend about $340 per student on advertising, or about 5.2% of its per-pupil public expenditures...

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Florida virtual schools provider K12 (43 school districts)

“State Investigating Virtual Schools Provider K12.” Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FL), 9/11/2012

The Florida Department of Education has launched an investigation of K12, the nation’s largest online educator, over allegations the company uses uncertified teachers and has asked employees to help cover up the practice.

K12 officials asked state-certified teachers to sign class rosters that included students they hadn’t taught, according to documents that are part of the investigation.

In one case, a K12 manager instructed a certified teacher to sign a class roster of more than 100 students. She only recognized seven names on that list...

The state investigation started in January, when a former K12 employee forwarded a series of emails to Seminole County Public Schools officials...

After reading these emails, Seminole County officials followed up with a survey of parents whose kids were enrolled in K12 classes. Parents were given a list of teachers who reportedly instructed their children.

More than one-third of parents said the listed teacher did not teach their child.

Only 36 percent of parents said their child’s teacher was the one K12 had listed. The rest could not be reached or said they couldn’t remember.

The survey and emails prompted Seminole County officials to request that the Department of Education investigate. They warned the state that the problems they uncovered with K12 may be widespread...

K12 has a financial incentive to skirt Florida’s law requiring the use of certified teachers. Simply, K12 can pay uncertified teachers less than certified teachers while collecting the same amount per student from state public school districts, increasing profits for shareholders.

Founded in 2000 by William Bennett, a former U.S. education secretary under President Ronald Reagan, K12 is an $864 million publicly traded company whose stock price has more than doubled in the last year.

In recent years, K12 has increased profits while student performance has suffered, raising questions about whether the for-profit virtual schools provider is making money at the expense of academics.

A July 2012 study by the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado found that students at K12 schools fell further behind in reading and math scores than pupils in traditional schools.

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Tennessee Virtual Academy

“TN virtual school draws criticism.” The Tennessean (TN), 9/10/2012

As state officials lambaste the Tennessee Virtual Academyfor low achievement scores and discuss new oversight methods, the school’s management company is facing an investigation in Florida, overcoming a list of citations issued in Georgia and recovering from reports of poor results in many of its schools.

The virtual academy allows students in grades K-8 to take all their classes online, monitored by a certified teacher. It is managed by K12 Inc., a publicly traded for-profit company that has contracts for differing levels of involvement with at least 2,000 other schools across the nation.

In its first year, the Tennessee academy ranked among the bottom 4 percent of districts in the state on a measure that shows student progress from year to year.

State Rep. Joe Pitts, D-Clarksville, called the school “a risky experiment that blew up in our face.”...

However, Tennessee is not the only state where the management company has been criticized.

A research paper published in July by the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulderrecommended national education officials slow down the approval of virtual schools while examining effectiveness and cost. The study showed achievement scores of K12 students were not on par with those of traditional schools.

A class-action lawsuit against K12 is pending in a U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia claiming the company made inflated claims about its student achievement in an effort to inflate stock prices...

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More at http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2012/09/tennessees-k12-inc-virtual-school.html?spref=tw

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Idaho Virtual Academy

“Idaho for-profit online students lag in math and reading skills.” Deseret News (UT), 7/21/2012

BOISE — A new report takes aim at the nation's largest for-profit online education provider and finds students taking K12 Inc. classes in Idaho and four other states are falling more behind in math and reading than their traditional school counterparts...

The latest report looked at schools managed by Virginia-based K12 in Idaho, Arizona, Arkansas, Ohio and Pennsylvania and found that on average, they had a consistently lower proportion of their students meeting or exceeding state standards in reading, according to 2010-2011 test scores.

The report also said math scores were lower compared to the state average. The on-time graduation rate for K12 students was about 49 percent for that year, compared to about 79 percent for the states, according to the study. In Idaho, where K12 provides curriculum for the state's largest online charter school, state officials say students beat slightly the statewide average for graduation rates in the most recent year.

K12 has managed online schools in 29 states with mixed academic success...

The debate over virtual learning has become heated in states like Idaho, where students have to take at least two credits online to graduate high school, under education reforms that were approved in 2011 and will go before voters in November.

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K12, Inc.

“Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Announces Investigation of K12, Inc.” Press Release: Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, 12/16/2011 

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential securities fraud at K12, Inc. (“K12” or the “Company”) (NYSE: LRN - News).

The investigation focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by failing to disclose that: (1) according to various academic benchmarks, K12 students were chronically underperforming their peers at traditional schools; (2) K12 has aggressively recruited students to their schools, regardless of how well-suited they might be for the Company’s curriculum; (3) as a result of K12’s haphazard recruiting process, the Company experiences student retention problems resulting in high rates of withdrawal; (4) K12 schools often have far larger student-to-teacher ratios than the Company advertises; and (5) K12 teachers have been pressured to allow students to pass regardless of academic performance, in order to receive federal funds.

On December 12, 2011, after several months of research, the New York Times published an article entitled “Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools.” The article raised serious concerns about K12’s business practices, alleging that Company schools inflate their student rosters, are underperforming academically, have detrimental student-to-teacher ratios and gain wrongful access to public funds. On this devastating news, K12 shares collapsed almost 24%, closing at $22 per share on December 13.

Request more information now by clicking here: www.faruqilaw.com/LRN

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“Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools.” New York Times, 12/12/2011  

By almost every educational measure, the Agora Cyber Charter School is failing.

Nearly 60 percent of its students are behind grade level in math. Nearly 50 percent trail in reading. A third do not graduate on time. And hundreds of children, from kindergartners to seniors, withdraw within months after they enroll.

By Wall Street standards, though, Agora is a remarkable success that has helped enrich K12 Inc., the publicly traded company that manages the school. And the entire enterprise is paid for by taxpayers.

Agora is one of the largest in a portfolio of similar public schools across the country run by K12. Eight other for-profit companies also run online public elementary and high schools, enrolling a large chunk of the more than 200,000 full-time cyberpupils in the United States...

Kids mean money. Agora is expecting income of $72 million this school year, accounting for more than 10 percent of the total anticipated revenues of K12, the biggest player in the online-school business. The second-largest, Connections Education, with revenues estimated at $190 million, was bought this year by the education and publishing giant Pearson for $400 million...

The New York Times has spent several months examining this idea, focusing on K12 Inc. A look at the company’s operations, based on interviews and a review of school finances and performance records, raises serious questions about whether K12 schools — and full-time online schools in general — benefit children or taxpayers, particularly as state education budgets are being slashed.

Instead, a portrait emerges of a company that tries to squeeze profits from public school dollars by raising enrollment, increasing teacher workload and lowering standards.

Current and former staff members of K12 Inc. schools say problems begin with intense recruitment efforts that fail to filter out students who are not suited for the program, which requires strong parental commitment and self-motivated students. Online schools typically are characterized by high rates of withdrawal...

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K12, Inc. / LRN stock price trends @ http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/LRN

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South Carolina Virtual Charter School

“Test Result: No School for Student with Asperger Syndrome.” Education Week, 10/14/2011

At the moment, South Carolina mother Gretchen Herrera isn't worried about whether her son has to take state tests in reading and math this year.

He has to be in school for her to worry about that.

Last week, Ms. Herrera told me about how she doesn't want her son Anthony, 12, to take the tests because his two diagnoses, Asperger syndrome and Type I diabetes, are a somewhat lethal combination. Anthony did well on the one test he did take, but his blood sugar spiked to a dangerous level during the exam. She kept him from most of the testing last spring as a result, unable to get official permission from the school to do so despite a note from a doctor.

Then last weekend, Ms. Herrera staged a petite protest outside the South Carolina state government buildings in Columbia.

When she got home, there was a letter waiting for her. The online charter school her son attends said Anthony is no longer welcome.

The school said because Ms. Herrera signed a contract when she enrolled Anthony, a contract that includes a clause about taking state tests, and violated that contract, her son was being withdrawn from the school, effective immediately.

Ms. Herrera told me she did sign that contract—"except the part about testing," she told me. The school, which didn't make adequate yearly progress as measured by No Child Left Behind, hasn't called me back to explain more about its decision. The immediate question: Why unenroll Anthony now, and not months ago when he didn't take the state tests?

As Ms. Herrera researches schools that she believes would be a good fit for Anthony, he has been sitting at home, his access to the online charter school cut off...

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More @ http://grumpythings.blogspot.com/search/label/Gretchen%20Herrera

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Maurice J. Moyer Academy Charter School

“Six staffers laid off at Moyer; Low enrollment reduces funding, forcing layoffs.” The News Journal (DE), 10/20/2011

The Maurice J. Moyer Academy Charter School failed to recruit enough students to meet its enrollment goal for the second straight year, resulting in layoffs of several people this week.

The school is also without a leader. Its principal, Dawna Thornton, announced this week she is leaving for another job.

The layoffs were a result of budget problems caused by the Wilmington charter school's inability to reach an enrollment of 300 students, said Dan Cruce, state deputy secretary of education. The missed enrollment cost the school an estimated $830,000 in funding, Cruce said...

A week ago, a school resource officer arrested a teacher and three students, leading to a dispute between police and the school about what transpired. Cruce said the school told the state Department of Education that the principal's resignation this week was not related to that incident.

The positions cut through layoffs included an assistant principal, two other administrators and three clerical workers, said Ed Fredie, a vice president at K12 Inc., the company running Moyer [2011-2012 is K12's second year as the school's manager]. Two of the six resigned prior to being laid off, he said. The principal resigned formally Tuesday. A lab coordinator resigned a few weeks ago...

...Moyer also failed to meet its enrollment goals last school year, and test scores remain among the worst in the state. A tiny fraction of students were able to meet test score goals in math and reading on last year's academic tests.

Low enrollment, a new computer-based school model and low test scores are concerns for Wilmington City Councilman Mike Brown, who said Gov. Jack Markell's administration made a mistake when it picked K12 Inc., a Virginia-based for-profit education company, to run the school after the state Board of Education voted to revoke a local group's control...

Moyer, which opened in 2006, serves students in grades six through 12.

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“New life for Wilmington's Moyer Academy.” WHYY (PA), 7/16/2010

Maurice J. Moyer Moyer Academy Charter School will be open for students this fall under new management.  The Delaware Department of Education terminated the school's charter in February after finding the school deficient in several areas including student performance, curriculum and highly qualified teachers.

This fall, the school will be run by the educational corporation K12, under  the auspices of the Delaware Department of Education.  State Secretary of Education Lillian Lowery says after seeing the  community support for the school, state leaders had special legislation passed to allow the Dept. of Ed. to supervise the school while applications for the charter are being evaluated.  "We were so moved by the sentiment of the community when they learned that the current charter was being non-renewed.  Nobody wanted an empty building sitting here," Lowery said.

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“Moyer Charter School co-founder says ‘We gotta sue’" WHYY (PA), 2/22/2010 

The director and co-founder of the Maurice J. Moyer Academy Charter School says he'll go to court to fight the Delaware Department of Education's decision not to renew the school's charter.

"We gotta sue,"Theopalis Gregory, director of Maurice J. Moyer Academy Charter School, said...

So, the charter school that just opened its doors on 17th Street in Wilmington in 2006 will have to shut down after this school year. It currently serves 484 students in grades 6-12. Gregory says the school, which was approved for enrollment for up to 530 students, has a list of 75-100 students interested in attending Moyer.

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“State Board of Education votes not to renew Maurice J. Moyer Academy Charter.” State of Delaware Press Release, 2/19/2010 

(Dover, DE.)  The State Board of Education has voted not to renew the charter of the Maurice J. Moyer Academy Charter School.  Following the recommendation from Secretary of Education Lillian M. Lowery based on the recommendations of the Charter School Accountability Committee (CSAC), the State Board voted unanimously to terminate the charter at the end of this school year.

Located on 17th Street in Wilmington, Moyer Academy first opened in September, 2006 with an approved enrollment of 300 students in grades 6, 7 and 9.  In its fourth year, Moyer currently serves 484 students in grades 6-12 with an approved enrollment of 530 students.

In October, 2009, Moyer submitted a five-year renewal application which is required by law for each charter school.  In the renewal application, a charter school must demonstrate compliance in 14 criteria in order to have their charter considered for renewal.

In November, the CSAC met with Moyer Academy representatives to discuss the renewal process.  The following month, in December, 2009, the CSAC met to draft a preliminary report on Moyer's renewal application.  In the preliminary report, all 14 criteria were analyzed; the CSAC identified numerous deficient areas including, but not limited to, Student Performance, Curriculum, and Highly Qualified Teachers.

Based on these findings, the CSAC recommended that the charter not be renewed.  Moyer Academy was then given time to comment on the findings in the Preliminary Report.

The CSAC met again on January 5, 2010 to draft a final report after taking into consideration the responses from Moyer representatives.  Following review of that information, the  CSAC's final recommendation remained that of  non-renewal.

On January 25, 2010, a public hearing was held at the Townsend Building in Dover to receive comment regarding the renewal application and the recommendation from the CSAC.  Approximately 30 people representing both Moyer Academy and the community spoke at the hearing.

Today, on the recommendation of the Secretary of Education, the State Board voted not to renew Moyer Academy's charter. The Academy will continue to provide its current instructional program as specified in the school's charter.  It must also administer the Delaware Student Testing Program in accordance with regulations and policies. The Department of Education will work with the Moyer Academy administration to ensure an orderly transition of student records, equipment and other resources.

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