Full-Time Enrollment Exception - Wayne State University: Fill & Download for Free

Are there any military academies that allow you to go into the reserves instead of active duty?Short Answer: Yes.Long Answer: there are five U.S. Federal Service Academies, six “Senior Military Colleges,” four “Junior Military Colleges,” and six “State Maritime Academies,” graduates of which may be tendered reserve commissions, which may require more or less active duty service before and after commissioning.The US Federal Service Academies each offer 4-year baccalaureate degrees, rigorous preparation for a military lifestyle, and commissions in the Service of which the Academy is a part at graduation:US Military Academy (Army), West Point, NY,US Naval Academy (Navy/Marine Corps), Annapolis, MD,US Air Force Academy (USAF), Colorado Springs, CO,US Coast Guard Academy (USCG), New London, CT,US Merchant Marine Academy (special purpose, but primarily feeds to the US Navy Reserve and US Coast Guard Reserve), King’s Landing, NY.The Senior Military Colleges each offer 4-year baccalaureate degrees, rigorous preparation for a military lifestyle with similar standards as the Federal Service Academies, Senior ROTC programs of one or more Services, and commissions in the US Army at graduation for those qualified and recommended:Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont,Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas,The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina,Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia,Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia,University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, Georgia.The Junior Military Colleges, all of which offer 2-year Associate Degrees in addition to a rigorous 2-year Senior Army ROTC program leading to eligibility for a US Army Reserve or National Guard commission through the “Army Early Commissioning Program”:Georgia Military College, Milledgeville, Georgia,Marion Military Institute, Marion, Alabama,This JMC is the only one of the four that offers an ROTC program other than Army; MMI offers the first two years of the USAF ROTC program, as well, for graduates who may wish to transfer to a baccalaureate program with an USAF ROTC scholarship. (But the USAF does not offer an early commissioning program.)New Mexico Military Institute, Roswell, New Mexico,Valley Forge Military Academy, Wayne, Pennsylvania.The State Maritime Academies are 4-year baccalaureate programs operating as colleges within State universities, and do not require a Congressional nomination, but still include all the instruction, theory, and at-sea training required to become a commissioned officer in the armed forces and a US Coast Guard-licensed merchant mariner. They do not require military service after graduation and licensing, unless the student contracted with an officer accessions program such as ROTC or the USCG Direct Accessions Program. The majority of officers commissioned out of these Academies are US Navy Reserve “Strategic Sealift Officers” (SSO), who typically receive significant financial aid (from the same source as the US Merchant Marine Academy!) in exchange for an 8-year reserve officer commitment and service in the merchant marine industry (similar to the post-graduation military obligations of the USMMA). (The USNR SSO program was known as the “Merchant Marine Reserve” program for about 100 years before re-branding itself in 2011 for the 21st century…)California State University Maritime Academy, Vallejo, CA,Maine Maritime Academy, Castine, ME,Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Buzzards Bay, MA,Great Lakes Maritime Academy, Traverse City, MI,Texas A&M Maritime Academy, Galveston, TX,State University of New York Maritime College, Fort Schuyler, NY.The purpose of four of the five Federal Service Academies (less the USMMA) is to commission officers to serve on active duty (whether they may have a reserve commission initially or not). All cadets and midshipmen of these Academies are sworn into their Service (less the Marine Corps, which only tenders commissions upon completion of an Academy); are sworn into their Service and appointed to their Office by the President’s direct authority (not delegated, and not scrolled through the Senate for “advice and consent,” again, less the USCG which delegates appointments to the Superintendent); are neither commissioned nor warrant officers, or enlisted members, but are members of their Service’s Regular Component on active duty while so serving as cadets/midshipmen; are subject to the UCMJ 24/7/365; are paid 35% of the basic pay of an O-1 with less than 2 years of creditable service for pay; do not receive Service credit for either longevity (pay) or retirement (unless they subsequently serve as enlisted members); have a 5-year active duty service obligation upon graduation; are required to either reimburse the US Govt for the cost of their (extensive) education or must serve in enlisted status if they refuse their commission or otherwise fail to honor their service obligations; but may request — and are sometimes granted — a commission in another Service (an “Inter-Service Transfer”) or in the reserves.The USMMA exists to provide professional education and licensure for the US merchant marine industry, but all students at the USMMA are sworn into the armed forces and appointed to their Offices as “Midshipmen, US Navy Reserve,” by the Secretary of the Navy; appointed to the Academy by the Superintendent of the USMMA; are neither commissioned nor warrant officers, or enlisted members, but are members of their Service’s Reserve Component in a reserve status (except during certain periods while undergoing active duty for training pursuant to lawful orders) while so serving as cadets/midshipmen; are only subject to the UCMJ when in an active duty status for training; are only paid while on active duty orders for training, but are then paid at 35% of the basic pay of an O-1 with less than 2 years of creditable service for pay; do not receive Service credit for either longevity (pay) or retirement (unless they subsequently serve as enlisted members); must maintain their USCG mariner license for 6 years after graduation; have some combination of a 5-year active duty, 8 year reserve, and/or civilian maritime industry (ashore or at sea with selected US-flagged vessels and companies) service obligation upon graduation; are required to either reimburse the US Govt for the cost of their (extensive) education or must serve in enlisted status if they refuse their commission or otherwise fail to honor their service obligations; but may request — and are sometimes granted — a commission in another Service (an “Inter-Service Transfer”) and are USUALLY commissioned in the reserves.The Senior and Junior Military Colleges are typically highly regimented in a military lifestyle, but beyond the primary difference of 4-year or 2-year degrees at graduation, all share the commitment of the US Army to tender commissions to qualified graduates, either onto active duty or in the reserves. In one sense, they are full-time ROTC programs, or in another sense, they are very similar in orientation to the Federal Service Academies. Take your pick of viewpoint, since both effectively end at the same place: a tender of an Army officer commission, whether at the 2-year mark (for JMCs) or at the 4-year mark (for SMCs). Those Army officers commissioned before completion of a baccalaureate degree are given 3 years to do so after commissioning; they must also have completed their 4-year degree before they are eligible for promotion to Captain/O-3, because they cannot be promoted to captain without the 4-year degree. Students at the SMCs and JMCs who are enrolled in the ROTC program leading to a commission may receive the standard ROTC educational and financial benefits; are sworn into their Service as enlisted members and appointed to office as Cadets, US Army Reserve, by the Secretary of the Army; are only subject to the UCMJ while on active duty for training orders; receive standard ROTC living stipends when not serving on active duty for training orders (during which they are paid at the rate of 35% of an O-1 under 2 years longevity, on a day for day basis); are members of their Service’s Reserve Component in a reserve status (except during certain periods while undergoing active duty for training pursuant to lawful orders) while so serving as cadets; have a 4-year active duty (or in some cases a 6-year Selected Reserve) service obligation upon graduation; are required to either reimburse the US Govt for the cost of their (extensive) education or must serve in enlisted status if they refuse their commission or otherwise fail to honor their service obligations; but may request — and are sometimes granted — a commission in another Service (an “Inter-Service Transfer”) or on active duty or the reserves (including the Army National Guard).The State Maritime Academies each provide at least one method to obtain an armed forces officer’s commission, whether through one or more Senior ROTC programs (Army, Navy [or Marine-option NROTC], or Air Force), the Navy’s Strategic Sealift Officer program (which is administered by, but is not a part of, the NROTC at each Academy), the USCG Direct Commission program, or other Service officer accession programs such as Navy STA-21, USMC Platoon Leader’s Course, etc. Common to all officer commission programs (other than the Federal Service Academies), those who receive financial aid must enlist into their Service, sign a service agreement, will serve various amounts of time on active duty for training before their commission, and if not already enlisted on active duty will receive either monthly living stipends of varying amounts or active duty pay while on training orders (typically at the pay rate of E-5, even though almost all such officer candidates are enlisted at E-1 and remain so for the duration of their candidacy until commissioned). While the officer accession programs may vary significantly at the SMA’s, graduates may ALWAYS request — and are sometimes granted — a commission in another Service (an “Inter-Service Transfer”), or service on active duty or the reserves (including the Army National Guard)…based on each Service’s own requirements.CONCLUSION: There are (at least) 21 separate “Academies” in the US (possibly overlooking civilian institutions with special officer accession pipelines to certain Services…) that are either wholly, or partially, devoted to preparing the next generation of US commissioned officers…both Regulars on active duty and Reservists on active duty AND/OR reserve-specific duties (typically known as the “Selected Reserve,” and most commonly understood as the standard “one weekend a month, 2 weeks a year, plus various entry-level training courses at commission, and the potential for varying lengths of short-tour active duty or mobilization during contingencies”).From the full-time US Military Academy (which commissions nearly all cadets onto a 5-year active duty obligation leading to the Regular Army), to Junior Military Colleges that commission after only 2-years into the Army National Guard (for subsequent Selected Reserve service while completing entry level training, followed by any remaining coursework to qualify for the baccalaureate degree within the next 3 years), there are actually many more than just 21 separate Academies…there are possibly dozens of different approaches to officer accessions, either leading to active duty or reserve commissions.And this already lengthy essay did not attempt to do more than mention in brief passing the various Service enlisted-to-officer programs, warrant officer programs, or the possibilities for specialized programs leading to commissions in the health services and allied fields, the chaplaincy and law, pilots, or even commissions into the US Public Health Service and NOAA (both of which have a Corps of Commissioned Officers that, for the most part, are similar to their armed forces counterparts).Beyond your Answers, Comments, and research on Quora, etc., you should seek specific and up to date information from each of the Services about their current officer accession programs, how those programs work at the 21 listed Academies, how to be nominated or accepted to any one of those Academies, or whether another avenue of approach might fit your requirements better (become a US Army warrant officer helicopter pilot, or a NOAA scientist, etc.).The necessary references are:Junior Military Colleges and the Army Early Commissioning ProgramThere are four junior military colleges:Georgia Military College (Milledgeville, Georgia)Marion Military Institute (Marion, Alabama)New Mexico Military Institute (Roswell, New Mexico)Valley Forge Military Academy (Wayne, Pennsylvania)10 U.S. Code § 531 - Original appointments of commissioned officersUS Military Academy (for a Regular Army commission): 10 U.S. Code § 4353 - Cadets: degree and commission on graduationUS Military Academy (for a Reserve of the Army commission): 10 U.S. Code § 4348 - Cadets: agreement to serve as officerUS Naval Academy (for both Navy and Marine Corps Regular and Reserve commissions): 10 U.S. Code § 6959 - Midshipmen: agreement for length of serviceUS Air Force Academy (for both Regular and Reserve commissions): 10 U.S. Code § 9348 - Cadets: agreement to serve as officerUS Coast Guard Academy (for both Regular and Reserve commissions): 14 U.S. Code § 182 - Cadets; number, appointment, obligation to serveUS Merchant Marine Academy (for both Regular commissions in any of the US Uniformed Services, and for Reserve commissions in any of the US Armed Forces [the USPHS and NOAA not having Reserves]): 46 U.S. Code § 51306 - Cadet commitment agreements“(4) apply for, and accept if tendered, an appointment as a commissioned officer in the Navy Reserve (including the Strategic Sealift Officer Program, Navy Reserve), the Coast Guard Reserve, or any other reserve component of an armed force of the United States, and, if tendered the appointment, to serve, meet the participation requirements, and maintain active status in good standing, as determined by the program manager of the appropriate military service, for at least 8 years after the date of commissioning;”“Senior ROTC” (both Regular and Reserve commissions): 10 U.S. Code § 2106 - Advanced training; commission on completion“Senior ROTC” “non-Advanced Program” commissions: 10 U.S. Code § 2103a - Students not eligible for advanced training: commitment to military service“Senior ROTC” “Advanced Program” commissions: 10 U.S. Code § 2104 - Advanced training; eligibility for“Senior ROTC” “2–4 year Scholarship Program” commissions: 10 U.S. Code § 2107 - Financial assistance program for specially selected members“Senior ROTC” “Guaranteed Reserve Forces” commissions: 10 U.S. Code § 2107a - Financial assistance program for specially selected members: Army Reserve and Army National GuardUS “Senior Military Colleges”: 10 U.S. Code § 2111a - Support for senior military colleges“(f) Senior Military Colleges.—The senior military colleges are the following:(1) Texas A&M University.(2) Norwich University.(3) The Virginia Military Institute.(4) The Citadel.(5) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.(6) The University of North Georgia.”(“Note” included with statute) “(3) In recognition of the quality of the young leaders produced by the senior military colleges, the Department of Defense and the military services have traditionally maintained special relationships with the colleges, including the policy to grant active duty service in the Army to graduates of the colleges who desire such service and who are recommended for such service by their ROTC professors of military science.”DOD Instruction 1322.22, “Service Academies,” of 24 September 2015: https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/132222p.pdfAs supplemented by new Policy to be drafted by the SecDef within the next few months: Memorandum on Policy for Military Service Academy and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Graduates Seeking to Participate in Professional Sports | The White HouseDoD Instruction 1302, “Original Appointment of Officers,” of 26 March 2015: https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/131002p.pdfDoD Instruction 1304.26, “Qualification Standards for Enlistment, Appointment, and Induction,” with Change 3 of 28 October 2018: https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/130426p.pdf?ver=2018-10-26-085822-050

The easy answer is that you cannot have two Kings in one castle and that castle is called the City of Los Angeles, Hollywood and the Entertainment Capital of the World. With only the exception of maybe Houston, Texas where you have the U of H and also Rice U. sharing a city, where else do you have two major universities, which share a major city and are only separated by about 14 miles? This automatically creates tension and world-class competition across all of the country. There are college rivalries all across our great country but no where else are there two universities that are both truly outstanding by most all measures and they happen to share the very same geography with no natural boundaries or border.USC and UCLA are always fighting because they are actually more similar than different and thus are typically competing in basically everything in life. Beyond the obvious head to head competition of our athletic programs, we compete academically between departments and majors, in national rankings and also compete in the Boardroom later in our careers.SIMILARITIESLos Angeles is a very large city, in a very large state, but our two very impressive universities are almost next door to each other. Despite the fact that USC is a private school established in 1880 and UCLA is a public school, part of the University of California system and opened in their Westwood location in 1929, their current enrollment is similar at 43,000 total students. Both universities are very selective with UCLA only accepting 18% of its applicants vs. 16.5% at USC in 2016.ACADEMICSIf you look at the current US National Review ranking they are both tied at 21st. The main difference is that the UCLA used to rank in the high teens in the US National Review, with USC ranking much lower in the 50's, however that was decades ago. Since then USC has skyrocketed to 21 in the national ranking while UCLA has fallen back to 21, which does NOT go over very well with the Bruins since they've prided themselves as academically being the best and cheapest, which they can no longer claim.COLLEGE SPORTSThough college basketball is an extremely popular college sport on TV and one that UCLA has dominated in the past, college football actually brings together 6 times more live spectators in one venue per game and it is the sport that truly takes over a city when the team is at the top nationally. USC Football has been the team that has both dominated UCLA in head to head competition and has been one of the top-5 program in all college football history having won 11 National Championships. UCLA split a National Championship in Football back in 1954, which is a year before Disneyland opened. The last time that UCLA won a Rose Bowl game was at the end of the 1985 season. I was in high school then and I am told that I am now old. If you want to re-watch that game, you had better have an old VHS system.The Cross-town Rivalry comes alive the week before their annual Football game. Beyond the Trojan and Bruin alumnus and their families who have very obvious team allegiances, it seems that everyone else in the city is asked to take a side and choose a team to support for at least that one week, for that one game.UCLA boasts about being the first to win their 100th NCAA national championship, but when that happened 22 of those were in sports that USC does not field a team (mostly women’s sports) and when you consider the fact that the NCAA does not award Football national championships and USC claims 11 of those that apparently do not count, you can see how this math seems very lopsided.OLYMPIC ATHLETESPrior to the outcome of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, USC and UCLA are the two most dominant supplier of Olympic Athletes to the Summer Games. USC has brought the number one collegiate total of 288 Olympic medals ranking them 16th in history (that is more than the country of Canada) and they have won at least one medal in every Olympics since 1904 and a gold medal in every Olympics since 1912.UCLA has a very impressive 245 medals, ranking them #20th in Olympic history and second in Collegetic rankings, Stanford is right behind with 239 medals and Cal Berkeley with 176. This proves that the Pac-12 conference truly is the “Conference of Champions” with the Top-4 Olympic Medal winning colleges in the US, all being from the Pac-12. For you to truly understand this… if the Pac-12 conference were it’s own country we would rank second, behind only the United States of America. That is very impressive for our Pac-12 conference!RIO UPDATE: USC athletes won 21 Olympic medals in 2016 and UCLA won 9.FAMOUS ALUMNIAll of the other universities in the world would love to have the long list of notables and famous names that are attributed to either USC or UCLA. Based mainly on the fact that both universities are located next to Hollywood, each one has attracted more than their fair share of celebrities, either before or after they became famous.USC can claim film legend John Wayne, the first man to walk on the moon Astronaut Neil Armstrong and the creator of Star Wars George Lucas, to name a few. Other famous on screen USC Alumnus include Ron Howard, Forest Whitaker and Will Ferrell. As an example, Tom Selleck is only 4 units short from getting his business school degree but he cannot be counted as a USC graduate because he is not.UCLA’s most famous attendees are Jackie Robinson who broke the Major League Baseball color barrier (but did not actually graduate), Jim Morrison of the “Doors” as well as George Takei from Star Trek. ‪ With the help of a UCLA Alumnus I have learned that the following child TV Stars actually did graduate from UCLA such as Winnie Cooper, Mayijm Bialik‬, and “Steve Urkel” played by Jaleel White.UNIVERSITY STEREOTYPESBoth universities have been a victim of how the media portrays them. In the San Fernardo Valley where I grew up, I was bought up to believe that only rich, white people went to USC, and thus I only met half of that equation sadly. UCLA fans when playing USC, love to flash their credit cards and shake their car keys at USC students during games. The most common joke is that USC stands for the “University of Spoiled Children.” USC people counter with t-shirts that say “My maid went to UCLA” or “I would have gone to UCLA but father had a fulltime job so I had a choice.”It is simply not true that UCLA is full of low-income, academically inferior students that could not get into UC Berkeley. That is NOT true! The reality is that you can find just as many BMWs and Mercedes cars on UCLA’s campus as you can on the USC Campus. Statically the average household incomes of UCLA students are only $4,000 less that USC student households. It is funny to me that UCLA students attending college in Westwood, one of the most expensive areas of Los Angeles, make fun of USC students living in one of the poorest area of Los Angeles for being spoiled. Really?Most UCLA students chose that college because they felt that the ratio between quality of education and to cost to attend was very high ratio. Most people never factor in the fact that 70% of USC students do not pay the full cost of their high tuition cost, but rather get some level of financial aid package that makes it affordable for them to attend USC.I am a very proud example of the USC student who did not have to pay the full tuition cost to attend USC but rather received a very generous financial aid package. I can proudly state that USC was cheaper for me to attend than if I would have attended UCLA, a pubic school, where financial aid packages are not awarded as generous.When looking at the price of tuition at public universities and private universities it's not an apples to apples comparison. If you live in California then the cost of public school education is very cost effective due to it being subsidized by state tax payers, however out of state students have to pay a substantially higher rate, almost comparable to the cost of tuition at USC. On average 63% of the USC student body is made up of out of state students, 13% of which are international students, which is typically the highest percentage of all universities in the country. The vast majority of these students receive financial aid from USC and do not pay full tuition, were they to attend UCLA they would not qualify for California's in state tuition pricing and with less financial aid available their price of tuition could very well be as much as they would pay at USC.SCHOOL PRIDENeither USC nor UCLA lack anything when it comes to college pride. Both truly think that they are better than the other which is okay, we both have tons to be proud of. However, those proud UCLA students from decades now have children and a number of them are now sending their children to USC (God forbid) because they know that USC gives them a better competitive advantage in the Real World.Spend any time in Los Angeles, and you will see USC and UCLA banners, license plate frames and even tattoos. What our alumni groups forget, is that a lot of our non-alumni fans are some of the most passionate fans that I know. They never attended USC but they always talk about any relatives that did. They can name every Heisman trophy winner, in what years the football team won the national championship or the outcome of every USC/UCLA game. I love that! They typically are “truly” the ones with blood in their eyes….MAJOR DIFFERENCESOne of the biggest differences between these great institutions is that UCLA as a public school has much more state bureaucracy that USC as a private school does not have to deal with. If USC wants to make a major change in anything, it does not have to go to Sacramento and ask the eight other campuses for permission.There is a lot of honest talk about how you are a Bruin for 4, 5, 6 years whatever it takes to get your required classes to graduate over there in Westwood, but you are always a Trojan for Life! USC people never complain like bruins do about access to required classes. That is the lack of promise from attending a public school. Is it really cheaper to attend UCLA for 6 years to get all of your required classes than to attend USC for only 4 years?One of my favorite USC vs. UCLA stories is when a UCLA alumnus Biomedical entrepreneur Alfred E. Mann wanted to donate $100 Million to his alma mater for the creation of a science research institute but he reported to the LA Times that he was having difficulty with UCLA in accepting this huge financial gift. Former USC President Dr. Steven Sample read this in the paper and they got a hold of Mr. Mann and convinced him that giving that gift to USC would be a better decision. "He pointed out that they"--officials at USC--"are more entrepreneurial than a public institution that is overwhelmed with bureaucracy and politics," Mann said. "He's a very clever guy."http://articles.latimes.com/1998/feb/05/news/mn-15695HOUSES DIVIDEDMy fellow USC Alumnus friends have asked me to make sure that I mentioned that some families have divided loyalties among this rivalry. Thought I cannot explain it myself, I am aware of enough families that I know personally that actually have this flag proudly displayed in front of their house. These people are much stronger than myself.FIGHTING IN LOS ANGELES?As much as New York City loves to pat itself on the back, the city of Los Angeles is the true center of the universe along the Pacific Rim. Los Angeles is where it's at and both USC and UCLA are located in the right place, at the right time! It is both good and bad that we share a world-class city but in the end, it makes each university stronger due to the constant competition in multiple areas of life.USC and UCLA fight like brothers…and we all know who is the older and more powerful brother is in that fight!OCTOBER 2016 UPDATE:The initial Wall Street Journal / Higher Times Education ranked over a 1,000 US Universities and they claimed that USC is the #15 best university in America. UCLA did make it to 25th place.

It not only won’t solve the problems, it will make the problems worse while channeling taxpayer dollars into a for-profit company.No #1: Schooling at home requires one parent to stay home. In the US 64% of 2-parent families both work. One-third of families with children under 18 are single-parent families. To make it possible for one parent to stay home with the children, society would need to provide Universal Basic Income.No #2: K12 is a for-profit business. They manage charter schools. Their success depends on the charter they manage, the students they attract, and how well they can fudge their numbers.It’s a fact of life that when people feel a threat, real or imagined — like failing public schools — their ability to critically evaluate a solution plummets. The bigger the threat, the more limited their options, the more easily they are persuaded by the unscrupulous that their solution is the answer to all their problems. When people feel desperate they don’t want to see the cons. All they see is a way out of their dilemma standing in front of them.Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools (Published 2011)By almost every educational measure, the Agora Cyber Charter School is failing.Nearly 60 percent of its students are behind grade level in math. Nearly 50 percent trail in reading. A third do not graduate on time. And hundreds of children, from kindergartners to seniors, withdraw within months after they enroll.By Wall Street standards, though, Agora is a remarkable success that has helped enrich K12 Inc., the publicly traded company that manages the school. And the entire enterprise is paid for by taxpayers.Agora is one of the largest in a portfolio of similar public schools across the country run by K12. Eight other for-profit companies also run online public elementary and high schools, enrolling a large chunk of the more than 200,000 full-time cyberpupils in the United States.The pupils work from their homes, in some cases hundreds of miles from their teachers. There is no cafeteria, no gym and no playground. Teachers communicate with students by phone or in simulated classrooms on the Web. But while the notion of an online school evokes cutting-edge methods, much of the work is completed the old-fashioned way, with a pencil and paper while seated at a desk.Kids mean money. Agora is expecting income of $72 million this school year, accounting for more than 10 percent of the total anticipated revenues of K12, the biggest player in the online-school business. The second-largest, Connections Education, with revenues estimated at $190 million, was bought this year by the education and publishing giant Pearson for $400 million.The business taps into a formidable coalition of private groups and officials promoting nontraditional forms of public education. The growth of for-profit online schools, one of the more overtly commercial segments of the school choice movement, is rooted in the theory that corporate efficiencies combined with the Internet can revolutionize public education, offering high quality at reduced cost.The New York Times has spent several months examining this idea, focusing on K12 Inc. A look at the company’s operations, based on interviews and a review of school finances and performance records, raises serious questions about whether K12 schools — and full-time online schools in general — benefit children or taxpayers, particularly as state education budgets are being slashed.Instead, a portrait emerges of a company that tries to squeeze profits from public school dollars by raising enrollment, increasing teacher workload and lowering standards.Current and former staff members of K12 Inc. schools say problems begin with intense recruitment efforts that fail to filter out students who are not suited for the program, which requires strong parental commitment and self-motivated students. Online schools typically are characterized by high rates of withdrawal.Teachers have had to take on more and more students, relaxing rigor and achievement along the way, according to interviews. While teachers do not have the burden of a full day of classes, they field questions from families, monitor students’ progress and review and grade schoolwork. Complaints about low pay and high class loads — with some high school teachers managing more than 250 students — have prompted a unionization battle at Agora, which has offices in Wayne, Pa.A look at a forthcoming study by researchers at Western Michigan University and the National Education Policy Center shows that only a third of K12’s schools achieved adequate yearly progress, the measurement mandated by federal No Child Left Behind legislation.Some teachers at K12 schools said they felt pressured to pass students who did little work. Teachers have also questioned why some students who did no class work were allowed to remain on school rosters, potentially allowing the company to continue receiving public money for them. State auditors found that the K12-run Colorado Virtual Academy counted about 120 students for state reimbursement whose enrollment could not be verified or who did not meet Colorado residency requirements. Some had never logged in.“What we’re talking about here is the financialization of public education,” said Alex Molnar, a research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education who is affiliated with the education policy center. “These folks are fundamentally trying to do to public education what the banks did with home mortgages.”K12 Inc.: Virtually Failing our StudentsStudent PerformanceWhen it comes to student performance, the data is even more explicit in condemning K12 schools; at least in terms of the six schools that we analyzed. With no exceptions, students enrolled in K12 schools performed worse in math than their district and state counterparts. With only one exception, they performed worse in English and language arts (ELA) (though even with the one exception, Michigan Virtual Charter School, it only performed better than the district, not the state – and marginally so). Data was not available for the Upper Merion Area School District in Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin’s statewide data only had two categories: proficient and not proficient.These data seem to make an incredibly strong case against K12’s for-profit, online charters as a way of properly educating students. It is difficult to conclude for certain, though, that the data represent some failure on the part of the schools. The poor performance could be attributable to selection bias, or the schools’ higher enrollment of special education students, or some other extraneous variable. Still, the results do not bode well for K12, and it would be wise for parents and policymakers to be wary of these schools and their analogs, unless they can somehow turn their currently abysmal performances around.Accountability and OversightK12 Inc. is held accountable for its spending by both its private investors and its public clients, both of which have voiced strong objections to the company’s lack of transparency about spending.On multiple occasions, K12’s lack of transparency regarding the way it spends student money has led charters to pull out of their contracts.In 2013, K12 Inc. lost a management contract with Colorado Virtual Academies—the state’s largest online charter—after complaints from parents and the school that K12 was mismanaging resources (Hood, 2013).In 2014, Agora Cyber Charter School in Pennsylvania, a school that accounts for 14% of the company’s $848.2 million in annual revenue decided to not to renew its management contract with K12 (Raden, 2014).In 2016, K12 Inc. had to pay a $160 million to 14 of its group of schools in California known as California Virtual Academies and $8.5 million to the state of California to resolve claims that the company violated California false claims, false advertising, and unfair competition laws (Kieler, 2016).ConclusionWhile K12 Inc. may have started out as an effort to bring public education into the 21st century with corporate efficiency and online curriculum, giving students across the nation the chance to learn what they might in a brick-and-mortar public school from home, it has since failed to produce satisfactory results. In fact, every virtual charter in the districts studied performed worse than their respective district schools.Policymakers should be mindful of K12 Inc.’s abysmal track record of failing its students, recruiting only a narrow selection of students while accepting government dollars, lying to shareholders, and serving monetary interests before students. K12 has done everything within its power to increase profits while mismanaging public education resources taken away from district schools.Independent reviews. Since K12 isn’t providing education but management of online schools, that’s one reason for the vastly different reviews. The other reason is the child happens to fit the program. Parents are mistakenly assuming that one child’s success with K12 means the program caused the success and therefore any child can succeed. That’s like assuming if one person looks awesome in an outfit, then everyone will look awesome in it. But success comes from how well an outfit fits and suits a person. Some people can look great in a garbage bag. ;-) Many people can look awful in a designer outfit.200 K12 ReviewsK¹² Reviews | TheHomeSchoolMom