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The TV ads pitch a new kind of school where the power of the Internet allows gifted and struggling students alike to “work at the level that’s just right for them” and thrive with one- on- one attention from teachers connecting through cyberspace. Thousands of California families, supported with hundreds of millions in state education dollars, have bought in. But the Silicon Valley- influenced endeavor behind the lofty claims is leading a dubious revolution. The growing network of online academies, operated by a Virginia company traded on Wall Street called K1. Inc., is failing key tests used to measure educational success. Fewer than half of the students who enroll in the online high schools earn diplomas, and almost none of them are qualified to attend the state’s public universities.

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Elizabeth Novak- Galloway, 1. A student, received Cs because she was missing work she never knew had been assigned, her mother said. (Dai Sugano, Bay Area News Group)An investigation of K1. Launched with fanfare and promise, online schools such as K1. In California, however, those students make up a tiny fraction of K1.

The result — according to an extensive review of complaints, company records, tax filings and state education data — is that children and taxpayers are being cheated as the company takes advantage of a systemic breakdown in oversight by local school districts and state bureaucrats. At the same time, K1. Sometimes I feel like a terrible parent for enrolling them,” said Carol Brockmeier, a single mother from Santa Clara whose teenage daughters for a year attended K1. San Mateo County- based academy, which serves an area stretching from Santa Cruz to San Francisco. K1. 2 is the nation’s largest player in the online school market. In California, it manages four times as many schools as its closest competitor, filling a small but unique niche among the state’s roughly 1,2.

And despite a dismal record of academic achievement in California and several other states — including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee — the business regularly reports healthy profits.“This company has shown an inordinate level of failure, yet it’s continually given lifelines by policymakers who have irresponsibly ignored what’s going on,” said Luis Huerta, a Columbia University associate professor of education and public policy who is one of the nation’s leading experts on online education. Taking a closer look. K1. 2 was launched in 2.

Ronald Packard, a former Goldman Sachs banker, and William Bennett, U. S. secretary of education under President Ronald Reagan, with seed money from Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison and disgraced junk bond king Michael Milken. The company opened its first California Virtual Academies in San Diego, Kern and Tuolumne counties 1. Under state law, each academy may enroll students who live in adjoining counties. That means California children who live almost anywhere south of Humboldt County can sign up for one of K1. Watch Android Insurrection Online Free HD here.

To understand how the network of online academies operates, this newspaper reviewed hundreds of pages of education and tax records, examined complaints filed with public agencies and lawsuits, and interviewed dozens of parents, teachers and students affiliated, or once affiliated, with the schools. The investigation found: • Students who spend as little as one minute during a school day logged on to K1. About half of the schools’ students are not proficient in reading, and only a third are proficient in math — levels that fall far below statewide averages.• School districts that are supposed to oversee the company’s schools have a strong financial incentive to turn a blind eye to problems: They get a cut of the academies’ revenue, which largely comes from state coffers.• Michael Kirst, president of the State Board of Education, worked for K1. Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him to the post in 2.

In March 2. 01. 5, the board voted against shuttering a school run by the company that California Department of Education staff said should close because it was in financial disarray, marking the only time such a recommendation has been ignored. K1. 2 repeatedly declined this newspaper’s requests to interview its executives about its California schools’ academic programs and finances, citing an ongoing investigation by Attorney General Kamala Harris into California’s for- profit online schools. In a series of emails, however, K1. Mike Kraft defended the schools’ academic performance, arguing that “they will not have the same test scores as schools in high- funded districts with favorable demographics.”“Many families choose online schools because they are fleeing a school or situation that wasn’t working for their child,” wrote Kraft, K1. Their academic performance expectations should be put into context.”Students’ struggles. K1. 2’s virtual schools have no classrooms, no buildings and no routine face- to- face interaction between teachers and students. Instead, teachers sign on mostly from home and connect to students over the Internet.“Being in this school can feel so lonely,” said Alexandria Brockmeier, 1.

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Santa Clara High School. Her school day began whenever she booted up her computer and logged on to the company’s programs. Since all lectures are recorded and can be listened to later, the students aren’t required to attend class or participate in real time. So, Alexandria said, she rarely did. If questions popped up while she was working independently, she would often email her teachers seeking help. But Alexandria said they didn’t always respond and weren’t always available to tutor her one- on- one, even though the company heavily promotes personal attention in advertisements. Kraft, K1. 2’s spokesman, said the schools’ policy is for teachers to reply to student emails within 2.

Occasionally, however, responses take longer — for example, when teachers are out sick or on leave, he said. Watch Online Watch Comic Costume Race Full Movie Online Film. Alexandria had been failing several of her classes when, in January, she suddenly lost access to K1. Her mother, Carol, said she learned the following day that Alexandria and her sister, Jenna, had been locked out without warning because they’d fallen so far behind in their schoolwork.“I’m disappointed in myself, my kids and this school system,” said Carol, who works full time at Mission College in Santa Clara and has been raising the girls on her own since her husband died in 2. Alzheimer’s disease.

I’m stressed to the nth degree.”As a special education student, Jenna — before she and her sister were forced to withdraw — was supposed to receive extra time to complete assignments and extra support from teachers. But, her mother said, she didn’t get it, and that made things even tougher for Jenna, 1.

If I could stay home with the kids and say, ‘OK, let’s do this lesson,’ maybe it would have worked out for them,” Carol said. Jenna isn’t the only K1. California who has gone without special education services, according to formal complaints filed by academy teachers with local school districts and county offices of education last year seeking investigations into the adequacy of special education provided by K1. The services students are being denied range from speech therapy to counseling to daily in- person tutoring, the complaints allege.

Kraft said the company believes the complaints are “without merit.”Not all parents and students are dissatisfied with the K1. Lillian Lewis, an 1. Pleasanton gymnast who trains at least six hours a day and dreams of competing in the Olympics.

That discipline, along with support from her parents, makes her a good fit for her online school, California Virtual Academy at San Joaquin.“We didn’t know what to expect at first, but so far it’s working out great,” said Lillian’s mother, Milly, who signed her up last summer. Elizabeth Novak- Galloway, 1. Gabriela Novak and sister Kira, 8, was pulled from a K1.