The National Education Policy Center recently issued a bulletin about the negative results of virtual charter schools. To see all the links embedded, open the NEPC report. Betsy DeVos wants more of these fraudulent “schools” to open.
It is no secret. The news media is full of reports about problems with cyber schools. Some recent examples include:
In January 2018, the nation’s largest virtual school, Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), closed. There was a subsequent failure to determine what happened to 2,300 of 11,400 students. The school shut down after the state of Ohio found that ECOT had overstated its enrollment by more than 9,000 students, resulting in a $60 million overpayment.
The Akron Digital Academy quietly closed last month because it could not repay the state the $2.8 million it owed for failing to correctly track enrollment. Akron Public Schools dropped its sponsorship of the school in 2013 due to problems such as poor student performance.
The state of New Mexico is in the process of shutting down the state’s largest virtual school, also for poor academic performance.
An Education Week resource, updated through 2017, includes hundreds of news stories, state audits, and reports about online schools, many highly negative, dating back to the early 2000s.
Some of the best and most updated information about these schools is provided in the NEPC’s Sixth Annual Report on Virtual Education, titled Full-Time Virtual and Blended Schools: Enrollment, Student Characteristics, and Performance. The report provides a census of the nation’s full-time virtual schools as well as institutions that blend online learning with face-to-face instruction. The report also includes student demographics, state performance ratings and, where available, analyses of school performance measures.
Michigan public radio station WKAR mentioned the NEPC report in a piece about another study that found that a quarter of the 101,000 Michigan students enrolled in online classes did not pass a single one. In an interview with the outlet, Gary Miron, author of the Virtual Education report, said: “We need a moratorium right now; we have to stop. No more growth for the schools; no more schools. The schools that are performing extremely poorly, we have to take sound steps to dismantle them.”
Ed tech-focused EdScoop devoted an article to the NEPC report’s findings, noting that: “While the average ratio in the nation’s public schools is 16 students per teacher, virtual schools reported having close to three times as many, and blended schools clocked in with twice as many.” In a piece about a rural school district that partnered with for-profit virtual education company K12 Inc., NBC News quoted the report’s finding that district-operated online schools tend to perform better than charter school versions. Yet the latter continue to dominate the sector. And despite the highly publicized problems with virtual schools, the sector continues to thrive.
“It’s rather remarkable that virtual schools continue to grow even while study after study confirms that these schools are failing,” Miron told NEPC. “Students are clearly being negatively impacted when they attend these schools, and revenues devoted to public school systems are being siphoned off to the private companies that dominate this sector.”
Why is this happening?
Based on interviews with more than a dozen policymakers, advocates, and researchers, a 2016 Education Week report concluded: The reasons are often a mix of weak state regulations, the millions of dollars spent on lobbying, and the support of well-connected allies.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It is disheartening to see the uptick in ads for virtual charters and for profit schools this time of year. We know we are flushing public money down the drain and inviting students to put themselves into deep debt. Our government representatives protect the interests of shady businesses more than helping their people. It is time for a change!
Television advertising for failing online charters – our tax dollars at work.
Diane here is a related post from http://www.nonprofitquarterly.com that begins with this heading:
Bankrupt Nonprofit: A Nest of Nepotism
“Nepotism and malfeasance abounded at this youth-serving nonprofit; in this case, we are not only asking where was the board, but what took regulators so long? Perhaps political ties had something to do with it?”
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2018/08/03/theft-bribery-and-death-threat-at-arkansas-nonprofit/?utm_source=NPQ+Newsletters&utm_campaign=d110c1718d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_11_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_94063a1d17-d110c1718d-12886885
The NEPC report is on point, but so is the fact that Betsy DeVos, just lie Arne Duncan, wants more of these schools, including so-called blended models. In other words, the cronyism at the state level is not the only problems with the proliferation of profit-generating computer-centric schools.
One of these franchises, Rocketship, was started with the blessings of the Obama Administration and is continuing to thrive as a darling of DeVos.
In 2018, the ROCKETSHIP charter franchise had about 16 schools organized and furnished to enable computer-based instruction in a “blended” model for online education.
A typical elementary school day (K-5) includes these studies: Humanities, STEM, Learning Lab (remedial work in 3R’s), and Enrichment (art is one of several). Teachers of math also teach STEM. Teachers of literacy also teach the Humanities (social studies and the arts are integrated into the Literacy block). At any given time of the day, a school with four Kindergarten classes would assign one class will be in Learning Lab, two in Literacy and one in Math. This allows Rocketship to hire three Kindergarten teachers whereas traditional elementary schools must hire four.
A typical classroom has about 35-37 students, two teachers and several aides. Students spend from 80 to 100 minutes a day at computers in the Learning Lab. Software tracks the minutes online and the percentage of completed tasks for each student. The Learning Laboratory is for reading specific grade-level books, homework, plus online literacy and math instruction.
The day begins with a school-wide “launch”—reminders, cheerleading and some follow-the-leader activity (while dodging backpacks). You can see part of “Launch’ here. After the launch, no-nonsense quiet time is enforced for many of the day’s activities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyHMkIIZ2fA
In a recent job advertisement for Rocketship substitute teachers, the job title is for “consultant.” NO security clearance is needed. (That is scary). Pay is $175/day for 6 to 7 hours on campus 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 (about $25 to $29 per hour) or $87.50 for less than 4 hours ($21 to $22 per hour). https://www.milwaukeejobs.com/j/t-substitute-teachers-contractors-e-rocketship-education-l-milwaukee,-wi-jobs-j31632809.html?pbid=39
In 2017, Secretary of Education DeVos sent this ”blended learning” franchise a $12.6 million grant for replication. http://progressive.org/public-school-shakedown/betsy-devos-just-gave-12-6-million-grant-to-rocketship-chart/
A Rocketship Charter Petition from 2010 is still posted at the website. It is over 250 pages long. It gives a lot of information and serves as an extended sales pitch to the California charter authorizer. The petition discloses how much money is going into computers, software and ready-to-use online programs, fees to the charter management company, payments to outside contractors and so on. I am not aware of state polices that offer public access to such petitions/promises, or the criteria for rating these.
The Tennessee Democrat running for governor believes in school privatization in urban areas (evidently, a false sense of choice supersedes the right to local democratic control if you live in the city). He opposes vouchers and for-profits, which brings up an interesting question. How fast would the hedge funds bail if there were no profits to be had in “school choice”.
His Republican opponent backs the Trump/DeVos team. So, the vote is clear.
It brings up another interesting question: why doesn’t the DNC oppose any candidate who supports privatization of public services? Could it be that the hedge funders who want to profit from privatization have captured both political parties?
Good questions. I believe these hedge funders are corrupt, and want Jim Crow DAZE back. You know separate text and unequal seems to be the norm in this America, a not so democratic country.