19—number of months since the State Board of Education voted to allow two virtual charter schools to open in North Carolina in the fall of 2016 as required by a law passed by the General Assembly (“NC approves 2 online charter schools to open this fall,” News & Observer, February 5, 2015)
11—number of months since two virtual schools opened in North Carolina, one run by K12, Inc. and the other by the British company Pearson (“First virtual charter schools open in NC, WRAL-TV, August 25, 2016)
14.5 million—amount in dollars of taxpayer funding received by the two companies to operate the virtual charter schools in North Carolina in the 2015-2016 school year (“North Carolina’s virtual charters off to a rocky start,” Progressive Pulse, January 21, 2016)
32—percentage of students at N.C. Connections Academy, operated by Pearson, that had dropped out of the virtual charter school as of its eighth month of operation (“State lawmakers poised to loosen rules for virtual charter schools,” May 21, 2016)
30—percentage of students at N.C. Virtual Academy, operated by K12, Inc., that had dropped out of the virtual charter school as of its eighth month of operation (Ibid)
25—maximum dropout rate allowed by virtual allowed in state law (Ibid)
4—number of days since Gov. Pat McCrory signed the 2016-2017 state budget that includes a provision that changes the way dropout rates for virtual charter schools are calculated, no longer counting students who leave for “personal” reasons, move out of state or withdraw within the first 30 days after enrolling. (“Accountability for NC virtual charter operators back in the spotlight after California forces K12 Inc. to pay $168.5 million settlement, Progressive Pulse, July 14, 2016)
90—percentage of teachers at virtual charter schools in North Carolina required to live in the state in the original law that ordered the State Board of Education to approve the schools (Ibid)
80—percentage of teachers at virtual charter schools in North Carolina required to live in the state in a provision in the state budget signed last week by Gov. Pat McCrory (Ibid)
10—-number of days since a settlement was reached between virtual charter school company K12, Inc.—the operator of the N.C. Virtual Academy—and the state of California over claims that the school manipulated attendance records, misled parents and overstated the academic progress of students at its online schools (“Company with ties to NC virtual school accused of misleading parents in California, WRAL-TV, July 14, 2016)
9—number of months since a national study, funded by a pro-charter foundation, found that students in virtual charter schools achieved the equivalent of 72 fewer days of learning in a year than students in traditional public schools and the equivalent of 180 fewer days of learning in math, or as one researcher put it, it was “literally as if the kid did not go to school for an entire year.” (Why profit-maximization at virtual charter schools is incompatible with high-quality education,” Progressive Pulse, May 24, 2016)
40 percent—the average graduation rate at virtual charter schools (Ibid)
82 percent—the national average graduation rate at traditional public schools (Ibid)
Creative Commons Attribution