Feedback Loop: In Defense of K12

Merrycrafts / Flckr

Readers say they've had a good experience with K12 courses.

Readers came to the defense of K12 after our series of stories this week looking at the nation’s largest online educator.

The Florida Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General is investigating the company after Seminole County schools turned over evidence that the company was using improperly certified teachers and asking teachers to sign off on students they had not taught.

But parents of K12 students said it’s parents who are most important in online education.

Melissa says the teacher is secondary online:

My son does k12, and this doesn’t bother me. Why? Because the teachers don’t teach the kids. We do, and the software does. The teachers role is an adviser and they also check to make sure we are doing the work by checking work samples. They do weekly “class connects” but it’s just a quick 45 min- hour screenshare where they go over a lesson. It’s no big deal.

Kristi Wilson agreed:

EXACTLY, MELISSA! Learning coaches are the teachers. The teacher send cute emails, and track the progress bar. Class connects are more social for the kids in my opinion. You can report errors to the teacher and they correctly load courses. I’m not a certified teacher.

KM noted that not all programs that use K12 are the same:

I really hope this is not true. There programs are a good option for so many, but every state runs them differently. Our school in OK that used K12 hires it’s own teachers. They are not K12 teachers….but stories like this can ruin perfectly good programs for kids who really need them and are thriving with them!

Thanks for reading. We’ll have more on K12 soon. Keep sending us your thoughts.

Reader reaction is an important part of building StateImpact Florida’s education coverage. Feedback Loop will be a regular feature highlighting your questions, criticisms and comments.