This summer, the country's largest private online education provider was anxiously awaiting its Florida school grade, which had the potential to cost the company dozens of contracts with district virtual education programs and upend its expanding network of virtual charter schools.
Those problems have been averted.
After an initial delay, K12 Inc. has received a provider grade of C for 2014. Its improvement of one letter grade puts it back on solid ground under the state's accountability system.
As a virtual education provider, K12's letter grade is based on the combined performance of students in its virtual charter schools and the students in more than 40 virtual education programs overseen by school districts that hired it to complement their own offerings. Consecutive grades of D or F can cost virtual school operators their status as "approved providers" in Florida.
The company earlier this year raised concerns that it was having problems obtaining student information from school districts, which it worried could make its school grade unreliable. As a result, K12 received an initial grade of "incomplete" during the latest round of school grades released this summer.
Department of Education spokeswoman Cheryl Etters said the state needed time to verify student records and other data needed to calculate its letter grade, and it received a grade once those issues were resolved.
The company's representatives have also raised questions about how it can improve student performance when it doesn't always receive timely or accurate information about the students enrolled in the district virtual instruction programs it helps operate.
In a May letter responding to school grading concerns, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart assured K12 executives that the department would work to improve the way school districts report student information for virtual education providers.
