This week in the War on Workers: The cyber charter school scam (Click on this headline to read more)
Saturday, October 05, 2013, 2:16 pm
Privatization of basic government services is a major trend in recent years, driven by—who else—the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Education is one of the key targets, with 157 bills passed in 39 states (including the District of Columbia) to expand cyber schooling. There are a couple huge problems with that. For one thing, they don't work. By a host of measures, including graduation rates, kids aren't learning like they do in real schools. And no wonder:
One former teacher from Pennsylvania’s Agora Cyber Charter School, which is run by K12 Inc., talked about being assigned 300 students and not having any idea how many attended class: "A huge portion of my students never showed up or did anything. I have no clue what happened to them, though I have no doubt Agora was charging the state for them," she said.
Another former teacher from K12 Inc.’s Colorado Virtual Academy said, "Three-quarters of my credit recovery kids never logged in, never completed any work, never answered their emails or phone calls, yet they remained on my class rosters. I began wondering about the state-mandated hours for students at the high school level. No one is monitoring this as far as I can see."
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