Dive Brief:
- Student athletes who completed coursework at 24 K12 Inc. virtual schools in nine states will no longer be considered eligible at any NCAA Division I or Division II college or university, Education Week reported Wednesday.
- The NCAA's revised regulations for nontraditional courses require "ongoing access" and "regular interaction" between students and teachers throughout a course, but K12 argues that the NCAA doesn't define a measurable standard for that interaction.
- The 24 schools include 11 California Virtual Academies, the San Francisco and Silicon Valley Flex Academies, and virtual schools in Washington state, Colorado, Ohio, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Nevada, and Georgia.
- The NCAA says coursework completed during the 2013-2014 school year will be examined "on a case-by-case basis.
Dive Insight:
This is the latest round of bad news for K12 Inc. The company was one of five featured on an American Federation of Teachers site dubbed "Cashing In On Kids," which detailed alleged substandard grades and profits made on public education funds. Those accusations, as well as stock sales by former CEO Ron Packard, preceded the company's recent rebranding as Fuel Education.
And this isn't to say the NCAA doesn't have its own issues to deal with, either. It has faced accusations in the past of acting outside of its jurisdiction, with its fines against Penn State also being criticized — and that's not even including the debate over whether its student athletes are actually employees who should be paid by their universities.
Regardless, the states where K12 Inc. schools are affected by this decision amount to only a third of those where the company has a presence, but it's probably just a matter of time before the list expands.
