K12 stock price drops

[Bang!Zoom!]

Remember the conversation about the NYT article & K12?

 

Here's some follow-up

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/faruqi-faruqi-llp-announces-investigation-000000902.html

[aly9712]

Kinda scary.....

[LisaKinVA]

Yeah... scary that one-sided, opinionated piece had such an impact.

 

We were in a K12 Virtual Academy... and we left. But not because of anything they've been accused of in that article. Makes me a bit sad. Virtually no research was done into who actually attends the virtual schools... in our VA we had as many autistic, downs, and other kids as there were average to above average. In many situations, the children started off way, way behind and improved dramatically.

 

If one only looks at the "end" numbers and not where they began you can get a very skewed perspective of how the school actually performs.

 

Also, each VA is so different, and K12 has to modify what it does in every state. Additionally, those requirements change each year. The focus on passing state tests increased to a point that it was just sucking up too much of our daily time. My children spent anywhere from 30-90 minutes each day working on test prep on top of their regular school work. And for what? So they could go take a history test that asked them who invented the CD? And who created Facebook? I am NOT kidding.

 

I know that our teacher spent a LOT of time with kids who were struggling (daily, if necessary). They are under as much pressure as a classroom teacher to bring up the scores of the bottom 25%.

 

The one thing I will grant is that I think the *parents* have a false idea of what is expected of them with the program. But, that information was all presented accurately... what the parents took away from the presentation, I do not know.

 

As to why people leave the VA's... the reasons vary. I would have liked more flexibility, but that was a STATE issue, not a K12 issue. K12 could have and would have accommodated me, the state monitors would NOT.

[Caroline]

Essentially I agree with you but thats how the govt looks at all schools not just the virtual ones. Its the main reason I find NCLB so ridiculous. A high performing school gets down graded if it fails AYP even if its already many many percentage points above its competitors. SN students are counted in the whole and adversely impact all scores. When the reality is some SN kids are completely incaable of any yearly progress whatever.

 

Its a fundamental flaw with our current measuring stick for schools.

 

Actually, SN kids are counted at least twice, and can be more times--whole school, male, special needs, Hispanic, white, economically disadvantaged, and ELL subgroups for example.

[Caroline]

Ok, so again, the SN child is measured against his capable peers rather than being measured against his own significantly different capability. It impacts the whole data set and means its virtually useless.

 

I was agreeing with you. I don't think people realize how much one child can impact the NCLB status of a school. Special needs students are required to pass the same test (with extra time, small group, read to accommodations) at the same rate as general ed kids. So if 98% of all students must pass the test, then 98% of SN kids must pass the test.

[Caroline]

it just makes so little sense.

 

Do ALL sn kids have to test? Because in my district we had something called the tri county co-operative which was for profoundly disabled students. Children who's day was not spent reading or writing but being toiletted, diapered, learning to walk a little, fed with tubes or by hand and etc. I mean profound disabilities. Surely these kids are not forced into any sort of testing?

 

SID/PID kids are not required to take the same test as the gen ed population. However, there is a portfolio requirement that is somehow part of the NCLB status. Since we have awesome SIP/PID teachers and parapros, I have never looked into it.

[LisaKinVA]

Just thought I'd post this response by K12 to the NYT article... and investigation.

 

In response to the investigation, K12 said:

 

First, there have been reports that our major investor Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) sold 4 million shares of K12 stock representing the entire $125.8M investment it made in April 2011, and suggesting that TCV had a loss of confidence in the Company. That report was false. What actually happened is that on December 8th, K12 filed to publicly register with the SEC the shares of common stock it had sold to TCV in April in a private transaction. The timing of that registration filing had nothing to do with the New York Times article. Rather, in the stock purchase agreements that were signed in April, TCV originally requested K12 to register those shares within six months, but because our annual report was delayed, we did not file the registration statement until early December. Not only has the SEC not yet acted on the registration, TCV has sold none of its shares. Indeed, if it had, the securities laws require that it make public such a sale within 48 hours by filing a so-called Form 4 with the SEC, and none have been filed.

 

Second, I also wanted to address your concerns about a law firm press release alleging that K12 has violated the federal securities laws, and soliciting shareholders to act as a plaintiff. When the stock price of a publicly-traded company takes a steep drop in a short period of time, it is quite common to see these types of press releases by law firms soliciting potential clients. Stock price declines can often follow Company-initiated disclosures or events, such as an acquisition or an earnings report. What is unusual here is that this law firm issued a press release based on an article written by the New York Times, and not based on any statements made by the Company. In any event, there is no merit to the claims alleged by the law firm and should a lawsuit follow, the Company will respond accordingly.

[Guest]

Gee, I just signed my son up for K12 as an Independent. I have used their materials quite happily in the past. I have no complaints about K12. This just shows how influenced people are by the Media. Kinda scary, if you ask me.

[homeschoolchic]

Same here. I've got four doing K12..and I have used many, many curriculums over the years. This is one of the best.