In their rush to privatize public education in Tennessee, the Governor and the legislature enacted legislation in 2011 authorizing the Tennesee Virtual Academy, an online charter school run by K12 Inc.
K12 is a for-profit corporation started by Michael and Lloyd Milken. It is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It earns millions for its owners but has received bad reviews in the New York Times and the Washington Post. The National Education Policy Center wrote a devastating critique of its academic results, as did CREDO in a report about Pennsylvania. In that state, virtual charter schools do worse than either public schools or brick-and-mortar charter schools.
Nonetheless, Tennessee wanted to be in the vanguard of the privatization movement. K12 partnered with Union County public schools, which collect 4% of K12’s proceeds. K12 pockets the other 96%, which is drawn from public schools across the state. The K12 virtual school is one of the lowest performing schools in the state, but Commissioner Kevin Huffman lacks the grit to shut it down. Despite its poor results, enrollment continues to grow. The company uses public dollars for recruiting, marketing, and advertising, and parents are persuaded by the sales pitch and the free computer to try homeschooling. Unfortunately, students often lack the motivation to stick with the program, and many drop out and return to their local public school, minus the state tuition grant.
Instead of shutting the school down, after three years of poor results, Commissioner Huffman announced that he would not permit the next entering class of 626 students to enroll. If the TVA were a public school, it would have its doors nailed shut. But Huffman decided to give TVA more time and to ignore its dismal results.
In a pattern that is typical for virtual charter schools, the students at the TVA have low test scores and high attrition. When the students return to their public schools, they have low proficiency. Meanwhile, their home district loses money, and K12’s bottom line grows.
Meanwhile a Washington-based organization that advocates for school choice blasted Huffman. The Center for Educational Reform said:
“The Center for Education Reform strongly condemns the recent directive by the Tennessee Education Commissioner to un-enroll 626 students from the Tennessee Virtual Academy (TNVA), denying them their school choice rights.
“It’s an outrage that these 626 legally enrolled students are now being forcefully turned away, just two weeks before the start of the school year,” said Kara Kerwin, president of The Center for Education Reform. “This represents an unreasonable attempt by Commissioner Huffman to virtually block the schoolhouse door.”
To CER, school choice is far more important than school quality. No matter how low the test scores or the graduation rate, no matter how high the attrition rate, CER will fight for students’ right to choose low-quality schools. How this is supposed to improve U.S. education is a mystery.
Except for a small number of students with compelling reasons to stay home instead of going to school, virtual charter schools are a waste of public funds.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
I cannot believe how twisted the choice notion has gotten.
Does being the member of a community or the citizen of a state matter anymore?
I also find it puzzling that progressives are often the ones made fun of for being whiny, because I am observing quite the opposite in terms of “reform.”
Governments should not be in the scholarship business (nor the gambling business–ah la state lotteries– in my opinion). Everything is backwards. Corporations should fund contests for scholarships, not states or the DOE.
Where will we be in ten years with all this?
While K12, Inc.’s model might not be great for kids, it appears to be awesome for their corporate executives….
School Choices: K12 Inc execs taking $2K per student in salary. 8 execs, 75K students, $21M in salaries. 20% of revenue in 8 pockets.
Morningstar Executive Compensation:
http://insiders.morningstar.com/trading/executive-compensation.action?t=LRN
Pennsylvania’s Agora Cyber Charter, managed by K12, Inc. never made adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind
· In 2006 its AYP status was Warning
· In 2007 its AYP status was School Improvement 1
· In 2008 its AYP status was School Improvement 2
· In 2008 its AYP status was Corrective Action 1
· In 2010 its AYP status was Corrective Action 2 (1st Year)
· In 2011 its AYP status was Corrective Action 2 (2nd Year)
· In 2012 its AYP status was Corrective Action 2 (3rd Year)
· In 2013 Agora’s Pennsylvania School Performance Profile score was 48.3 on a 100 point scale; Acting Sec’y of Education Carolyn Dumaresq has indicated that a score of 70 is considered passing
In addition to never making AYP. Agora’s 2012 graduation rate was 45% while the Philly SD graduation rate was 57%
http://thenotebook.org/april-2013/135820/cyber-charter-graduation-rates
K12 is also in the middle of a huge advertising push online. I see ads for them on almost every site I go on. And it is discouraging that you can’t get them out of your sight.
I saw a television commercial this morning.
My 13 and 16-year-old sons scream and change the channel when those commercials come on.
It’s the same with the Pearson owned online charter in Indiana. They are running commercials right now with blonde haired & blue eyed kids working at their computers with smiles on their faces while sitting in their upper middle class homes. Very slick advertising. Very poor academic results.
I find this issue troubling as I admin the Stop Tn Testing Madness Facebook group and there are several parents there who are crushed that this school is being taken away from them at this point. There are many parents who are very pleased with the education their children are getting through TNVA. They are committed to homeschooling but really like this format that pairs them with an actual certified teacher so they don’t have to “go it alone.” So on the one hand while I am disgusted by the “for profit” nature of this school and its stripping of money from my local public schools while the president gets rich I feel for the parents and children who were finally getting an education that worked for them. And yet again it seems like test scores are driving the decision of what success looks like.
I should clarify that the president I am referring to is the president or major stockholder of TNVA
As someone who homeschooled one of my own kids for a couple years, I don’t think the taxpayers should be subsidizing K12. I’ve never understood how people get riled up over the fact that homeschoolers might be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities but don’t mind the private-school level tuition payments made to the virtual K12 academy – an organization with no buildings, buses, professional level salaries to cover.
“And yet again it seems like test scores are driving the decision of what success looks like.”
I think the chaos is unfair too, particularly because they were sold “choice” and this is their choice. Presumably those parents could make the same argument ed reformers use- they were “trapped” in public schools or charter schools (and maybe also private schools- does TN have vouchers?) why should they be singled out for their choice of school?
Honestly, though, the measurement on test scores is inevitable in ed reform systems. What else can they possibly measure? How are they supposed to rank schools in ed reform systems without a reliance on test scores? They’d have to hire an army of regulators and evaluators if the measure was anything more nuanced and comprehensive than test scores. What would the “soft” measures be, even if they did want to rank on something other test scores? Who decides what is a “good” choice without test scores?
I don’t know what he’s complaining about. When they set out to relinquish public schools to private actors and tore down the whole basis of public schools as community-based public entities where there’s a “common good” that has to be considered in addition to individual choice they set this in motion.
These parents were sold something different than what they’re getting when they were sold “choice”. Public school parents got a bait and switch, too. We were told existing public schools would be “improved” by ed reform leaders and instead our schools are either actively undermined and weakened or completely ignored.
It’s not just incredibly low test scores that are a measure of the failure of online charter schools. The graduation rate of these schools is absolutely horrifying. Sometimes in the single digits, and certainly not higher than 50%. If a brick and mortar school had graduation rates that low, it would be shut down.
Coreen H,
Thank you for writing at the blog.
I’m relatively new to recognizing the massive offensive against public education.
I agree with you. The “testing and standards” front was designed for profit-making, by tech and testing companies. The charters and on-line schools were developed to make profits for hedge funds and people like the Michael Milken (see Wikipedia) and the TNVA owner.
Turkish nationals, associated with Gulen schools, created a school system that is troubling.
I offer the opinion that the Tea Party jumped in, with the goal to ultimately defund all education and eliminate the primary paid profession for women, in the U.S.
Self-serving politicians are taking money to ignore the interests of parents and students.
Wrapping up, the individual stories we hear about people we know who do home schooling, seem very different than the compiled research I’ve read, on the subject.
Respectfully.
Linda
“Despite its poor results, enrollment continues to grow. The company uses public dollars for recruiting, marketing, and advertising, and parents are persuaded by the sales pitch and the free computer to try homeschooling. ”
This is tragic without a doubt. IMO, the greater tradegy is reflected in the effectiveness
of recruiting, marketing, and advertising. It seems “Snake Oil” sales are in proportion to
cultural consciousness (perception)…THINKING.
And they already have 725 supporters petitioning K-Huff to keep it going… http://www.change.org/petitions/commissioner-kevin-huffman-reopen-enrollment-of-tnva-students-and-allow-the-current-600-newly-enrolled-students-to-be-allowed-to-attend-tnva-this-school-year?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=110455&alert_id=MqrBdjXZnN_JROqUAJ4TzQiu3kbtmmoex0OQJRKCDrs3akR1RrFgNTucmkT3d9%2BbC0wwyzv%2FLq7
K12 is in big financial trouble so it’s unclear how they would make any money in TN if they are not permitted to enroll kids. Last year they had been accused of changing grades and falsifying their enrollment lists to boost their per pupil subsidy but Huff & the lege willfully ignored the evidence. How long can this asset scam go on before we have another bubble burst and we lose MORE of our pensions & savings?
K12 is the subject of a lawsuit by OK firefighters pension fund:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/marketplacek12/2014/04/investor_lawsuit_targets_k12_inc_and_stock_sales_of_former_ceo.html
and its stock is overvalued (e.g. it’s junk)
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/marketplacek12/2013/09/hedge_fund_manager_to_investors_k12_incs_stock_is_overvalued.html
Impoverished and remote, Union County in TN was the state site that managed K-12,Inc. Union county received 2% of K-12 profits (in 2011 K-12 profits in TN was 6$million) and to this poor Appalachian community the money was more than they’ve ever had for schools. They were duped into supporting the CER’s position and leveraged Huffman’s unpopularity to keep the school open.
No public employee pension fund should be invested in a business whose fundamental strategy fails to create value, i.e. those that privatize public services.
The pension funds that do so, should have to answer for it. The unions should demand better investment practices.
Diane,
Your opinion notwithstanding, the facts do matter here. TNVA is a public school. Last year, the school improved its results in every category, both proficiency and academic growth. Commissioner Huffman acknowledged that the school’s 2nd and 3rd year students showed positive gains and scored a Level 3 out of 5. The educators and teachers at TNVA are not satisfied and committed to improving results, but this is real progress. Public schools that improve year over year, and show students making gains at this level do not have their “doors nailed shut” as you claim. But online schools and charters are held to higher standards. No other public school in TN is threatened with closure for scoring a level 1. None. And there are many Level 1 schools throughout TN.
You rightly point out there are children with “compelling reasons” to learn from home rather than at traditional schools. They deserve access to public education, too. That’s why the parents of the 626 newly enrolled students in TNVA were so outraged that they were being forced by the Commissioner to un-enroll. Listen to their stories. Many of these 626 were bullied in school, or have special learning needs and medical challenges that make learning in a classroom difficult or impossible. Every child has a his or her own story, and their parents care deeply about them. These parents are not naive. They know their children better than anyone, and they made an informed choice. They were not zoned in or compelled to attend TNVA, but they were being forced by the state to un-enroll, which is why they were so outraged by the Commissioner’s actions. It would be worth taking time to listen to their stories before rendering such faulty conclusions about these families, and why they chose alternative public schools for their children.
Jeff,
There is a large body of research showing that virtual charter schools have high attrition, low graduation rates, poor test scores, ill-paid teachers. And big profits. K12 is the worst. Not my opinion. I can give you research citations if you want them. Some might call them a Ponzi Scheme.
Kwitowski,
The experience in Ohio, is huge campaign donations from the owners of alternative schools to Republican politicians. If bought, the standards required of on-line and charter schools, which are lax when compared to public schools, are an outrage.
The entire process is as contemptible as a situation where a man is convicted, imprisoned and legally barred from his profession, who then reaches out to take tax dollars intended for Ohio students, to fund his lavish lifestyle in New York.
I hope TN. residents avoid the fate of Ohio.
Reblogged this on Peggy Browning : Author and commented:
Diane Ravitch wrote this, but I agree with these thoughts about on-line schools. Everybody wants testing results to determine the best schools, right? Or at least the states do…as well as the federal government. No child left behind? Then shut down k-12 virtual schools.