CH-UH City School District has announced that students in grades K-8 will be enrolled in Edmentum Exact Path for remote learning and students in grades 9-12 will be enrolled in Edgenuity for remote learning. Furthermore, they have also announced that they are unable to find licensed teachers for special education when the strike starts.
Edmentum and Edgenuity are both private equity-owned credit recovery providers that have pivoted to full-time virtual instruction to enhance their profits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neither platform is a sufficient replacement for the educational instruction provided by Cleveland Heights Teachers Union members.
Facts about remote education provided by CHTU members
CHTU members are part of the CH-UH community. They know their students, they can tailor individual instruction to help students reach their goals, and they have provided continuity of education this year during the unprecedented disruption of this pandemic.
As difficult it is to stay connected with students in a remote environment, CH-UH Teachers have provided consistency and routine for students during a time of social isolation. For-profit learning platforms can’t “know” students and their unique needs. Activities like these following examples will not happen with Edmentum and Edgenuity:
Elementary teachers have connected with their students through individual Google Meets, have held safely distanced playground play dates to foster safe social interaction, organized a book character car parade, and have even hand delivered materials to students.
Middle and High School teachers have made themselves available to students beyond normal school hours on Google Meet and other forums and they've found new ways to engage students in interactive discussions.
Social workers in the school district have been facilitating support to students' families with food resources, aid for utilities bills, health care options, and counseling support services. An elementary school social worker was recently successful in getting a family a refrigerator that was delivered on Thanksgiving with groceries.
Nurses in the district have made home visits to families of students needing immunizations to offer enrollment in MetroHealth clinics, and have arranged additional clinic days and locations and times to serve more families.
Without CHTU members, the district can not continue special education:
In the District’s own words:
“The District has not been able to secure substitutes licensed to provide special education and/or related services.”
“At this time, it is not expected that the special education and/or related services will resume until the 795 Union rescinds its strike notice or the strike ends.”
“The District considered no other options” to meet students’ needs.
This is a failure of the school district to make adequate plans to provide special education students with the education and services they need and are entitled to.
Facts about Edgenuity:
Cheating is widespread on the Edgenuity platform. Information on cheating with Edgenuity can be found on a dedicated subreddit page and on the Edgenuity Answers website. Furthermore, a hacking tool called EdgenTweaks is available for users to hack the system, showing them answers and giving them credit for work they haven’t done.
Because of these widely available methods of cheating on Edgenuity, there have been documented cheating scandals in Caddo Parish, LA; San Diego; Los Angeles; and Atlanta. We expect this is the tip of the iceberg regarding the actual scope of cheating with Edgenuity.
Researchers who studied the use of Edgenuity online courses in 18 Milwaukee high schools “found teachers struggling to monitor large groups of students, classes that effectively segregated students with behavioral problems, and students habitually searching the Internet for answers. Taking the classes also appeared to actually hurt students’ year-end math and reading scores.” (In this example, Edgenuity’s online classes were replacing in-person instruction).
Teachers, students and parents have also criticized or ended the use of Edgenuity in Forth Worth, TX; Ventura County, CA; and Rosedale, MS. Fort Worth schools stopped using Edgenuity earlier this year because they didn’t feel the platform was effective for their students.
Facts about Edmentum:
Edmentum is smaller and has attracted less scrutiny then Edgenuity.
Earlier this year, Westerville, OH schools stopped using Edmentum after less than a week on the platform because “It wasn’t meeting expectations of what we were promised.” It is unclear if they received a refund when they ended their use of the service.
Parents should ask the CH-UH Board about the following issues:
How much are you spending to contract with Edgenuity and Edmentum instead of working with CHTU members to reach a fair contract?
How will transitioning to a new online platform in the middle of the school year affect students’ academic progress?
What measures are being taken to prevent the widespread cheating that has happened in other school districts that have used Edgenuity?
Why is Edgenuity good enough for our students when they were deemed inadequate for public schools in Fort Worth, TX earlier this year? Why is Edmentum good enough for our students when they were booted from Westerville, OH schools earlier this year?
Why did the District fail to make adequate plans to continue education and services for special education students?
