Online Education Firms Facing Increasing Scrutiny

Ian Quillen writes at the Philadelphia Public School Notebook (3/19) that private virtual school firms are coming under increasing scrutiny from education researchers and policymakers. "Recent studies suggesting declining achievement among full-time public virtual school students don't always distinguish between publicly and privately run schools. Still, the private sector and its two biggest for-profit providers-K12 Inc. and Connections Education-appear to be taking most of the heat." The piece notes that researchers "have warned that virtual public schools run by independent for-profit and nonprofit organizations are growing faster than states can hope to regulate them."