K12 Inc. Plans to Enter For-Profit Career Academy Market

11 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

1. moeone2015 says:

   December 13, 2018 at 10:55 am

   Appears to me to be just another Teach for America (TFA) scam. Our school district has pretty much gotten rid of the few TFA personnel that worked in our classrooms. Note I did not call them “Teacher”. That would have been an insult to the teaching profession.

   LikeLiked by 1 person

   Reply
   • dianeravitch says:

     December 13, 2018 at 11:59 am

     Calling a TFA recruit a “teacher” is akin to calling a 5-year-old a “scholar.”

     LikeLike

     Reply
     • Zack Taylor says:

       December 14, 2018 at 2:44 pm

       What I know about TFA mostly came from you, and a couple lower profile sources, but I did notice that James Foley started out with them. He went on to report for USAID, Stars and Stripes, and had close ties to the military, which is curious.

       I’m not sure how much it matters to this article but, his ties were to the elite, and in his case it looks a lot like CIA.

       Michelle Rhee, of course seems to be tied to wealthy corporate reformers as well.

       LikeLike

   • ciedie aech says:

     December 13, 2018 at 1:12 pm

     Perhaps even TFA jumping on board with the “school accountability” opportunism scam? When in trouble, change up the program name and a few personnel…the public apparently can never guess what’s going on behind each sleight of hand.

     LikeLike

     Reply
2. retired teacher says:

   December 13, 2018 at 11:01 am

   K-12 is looking the fill the void in the for profit college market. They want access to the federal GI Bill dollars and low income grants. They hope to cash out big dollars before they are found out to be a waste of money. They are grifters.

   LikeLike

   Reply
   • dianeravitch says:

     December 13, 2018 at 11:58 am

     Grifters is the word of the era.

     LikeLike

     Reply
3. Mal Caravatti says:

   December 13, 2018 at 11:04 am

   K-12 will probably try to go after a different pot: Perkins Career and Technical Education grants, Workforce Investment funds etc.

   LikeLike

   Reply
   • Laura H. Chapman says:

     December 13, 2018 at 3:21 pm

     Mal….you are on the right track. I looked at the newest Perkins Act, and it clearly states funds can also go to middle school career-prep courses, not just high school.

     k12 already has a lot of courseware that can be rebranded and tweaked to tap these funds (see Perkins Act SEC. 135. 20 U.S.C. 2355- LOCAL USES OF FUNDS). Also, ESSA state plans require “coordinated attention” to Perkins and “career and technical” courses as part of a “well-rounded education.” https://s3.amazonaws.com/PCRN/uploads/perkins_v.pdf

     The US News article also mentions funding for STEM in connection with ” a five-year strategic plan for science, technology, engineering and math education….for how to better prepare students for the workforce of the future. The plan calls for an increase in, among many other things, apprenticeships, dual enrollment programs, access to digital education platforms and computer science – essentially, everything K12 is moving toward.”

     The Trump “strategic plan” for STEM is a warmed over version of the STEM initiative of the Obama administration. An overview is here https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/STEM-Education-Strategic-Plan-2018.pdf

     It is worth noting that k12 is already in the career academy business in thirteen states. https://www.k12.com/virtual-school-offerings/online-public-schools/destinations-career-academies.html

     One question (among many) is whether online instruction can and will become a proxy for a real-world apprenticeship. I would not be surprised if k12 finds some investors willing to incorporate online avatar-based training of the kind now being used in teacher education (e.g., NOTE exam that competes with edPTA) and in other workplace environments. That would probably be a “premium” offering. https://mursion.com/industries/corporate-learning.html

     K12 might also follow the lead of Bridge International Academies, most in Africa, offering low-cost virtual reality headsets and VR apps that allow students to see laboratory experiments or take virtual field trips to workplaces. Goggle’s Arts and Culture apps have cornered many VR programs for museums and world heritage sites but there are also startups like nearpod.com offering digital images you can see in three dimensions (e.g. for human anatomy, major arteries or the structure of the heart) https://nearpod.com/nearpod-vr

     LikeLike

     Reply
     • 4pubedu says:

       December 13, 2018 at 3:47 pm

       Look for the low hanging fruit of “career exploration” – which is basically what CTE in middle school consists of. O-Net has built the database already and tech cos simply add on another interface, a few bells and whistles like an avatar…et voilà you have a “new and improved” product to sell.

       LikeLike

4. Roy Turrentine says:

   December 13, 2018 at 12:20 pm

   Tennessee has great state area vocational schools, some of which regularly place students in positions all around the country. They have had several private vocational schools open down through the years, some of which have gotten in trouble in the news for not giving students a good education.

   Our present gov-elect has made it clear that he wants to enhance vocational opportunities for students. He has not said how he will pay for this. He has chosen a person as education commissioner said to be a privitazation proponent.

   These two narratives may come together here.

   LikeLike

   Reply
5. Chiara says:

   December 13, 2018 at 1:15 pm

   They’ll keep sucking dollars out of public schools.

   It’s the new CTE focus in ed reform- cheap, gimmicky prepackaged garbage public schools will be encouraged to buy.

   Stop buying what these people are selling. Say “no”. The public in your local area will thank you.

   We won’t get any regulation out of lawmakers, so let’s start using some market discipline- stop buying. Send the salespeople packing. No one is forcing public schools to fall for every gimmick and fad ed reformers pitch to them.

   LikeLike

   Reply