But the firm says there is a long history of bad press surrounding K12 because of the threat of “virtual schools to traditional teachers and powerful teachers unions.
“There’s a risk a few bad actors fell through the cracks,” Morgan Stanley analysts write of K12’s 3,500 teachers who work directly for K12 or at schools they manage.
Five Florida universities rank among the nation’s top 100 for social mobility of graduates, research and service, according to Washington Monthly magazine.
New College of Florida is the nation’s sixth-ranked liberal arts college, according to the magazine. Beacon College in Leesburg, which specializes in students with dyslexia, ADHD and other learning disabilities ranked 85th.
The University of Florida scored the highest rank among state schools at 21st. Florida International University was 53rd, Florida State University was 70th, Florida A&M University was 80th and the University of West Florida was 99th.
The question is whether K12 used uncertified teachers for some of its online classes in Seminole County, and if the company asked certified teachers to sign class rosters of students which they did not teach.
Former U.S. Education Secretary Bill Bennett founded K12, the nation's largest online education company. The Florida Department of Education is investigating whether the company used uncertified teachers to lead classes.
Editor’s note: Trevor Aaronson is with the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.
Florida’s Department of Education has launched an investigation of K12, the nation’s largest online educator, over allegations the company uses uncertified teachers and asked employees to help cover up the practice.
K12 officials told certified teachers to sign class rosters that included students they hadn’t taught, according to documents that are part of the investigation.
In one case, a K12 manager instructed a certified teacher to sign a class roster of more than 100 students. She only recognized seven names on that list.
“I cannot sign off on students who are not my actual students,” K12 teacher Amy Capelle wrote to her supervisor. “It is not ethical to submit records to the district that are inaccurate.”
The documents suggest K12 may be using uncertified teachers in violation of state law.
In 2009, K12 asked Seminole County Public Schools if it could use uncertified teachers in some of its online classes. That uncertified teacher would be overseen by a so-called “teacher of record” — a certified teacher.
Seminole County Public Schools consulted with the Florida Department of Education and then denied the request, citing state law requiring certified teachers.
The company that turned YouTube into a tutoring service is coming to Florida’s private schools.
Step Up For Students, the non-profit that manages Florida’s tax credit scholarship program for low-income students, is partnering with Khan Academy to put its software in 10 Tampa Bay-area private schools.
It’s the first time the company has partnered with a private school network outside its home state of California.
The schools have agreed to use Khan software for at least one classroom in grades 4-8. The software is meant to supplement school curriculum and help students and parents target areas where more help is needed.
Tampa’s Gateway Christian Academy will show off the Khan Academy tools at an open house Thursday night. About one-third of Gateway Christian Academy students receive a tax credit scholarship.
Teacher unions say the move amounts to a 3-percent pay cut and the Florida Education Association (FEA) challenged the law.
Last spring, a Leon County Circuit judge agreed with the FEA that the law was unconstitutional because it changed the contracts of current employees and took away their collective bargaining rights.
DeSoto County High School has been struggling to find foreign language teachers.
Our story aired nationally on NPR, and the school’s principal says she has since received about 10 calls and emails from teachers around the country interested in a job at the rural school.
Principal Shannon Fusco says most are from out of the state.
Two of the candidates are from the West Coast…of California, not Florida.
Today, Fusco is interviewing a Florida teacher to take over one of the school’s Spanish classes.
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