Alyssa E.

We enrolled our daughter half-way through her junior year because she was dealing with a lot of social anxiety at school. We thought the flexibility of Oregon Connections Academy would be beneficial for her and would allow her to work at her own pace and have some additional free time to work or volunteer. Unfortunately, our expectations were not reality. After six months, our A & B student is now receiving poor grades. She has lost motivation and doesn't really seem to care. At this point, she does the least amount required, which is essentially a lot of busy work and multiple-choice questions. Also, this is a very challenging format in which to teach or learn math. Our daughter has always done quite well in her math classes, yet she's currently failing her CA math class. My brother, who has a degree in computer science and math, attempted to assist her with her math assignments, but it didn't seem to help because she was already so far behind.

I believe the teachers are intelligent and well-intentioned; however, they are limited by the horrible interface and limitations of the online learning platform. My biggest complaint is their confusing system. I struggle to figure out what is due and when, and how she is supposed to complete her assignments. I have a graduate degree, yet it makes little sense to me. I can fully see why my daughter is struggling with this, as well. We are disappointed with her experience at Oregon Connections Academy and will be re-enrolling her at her local high school for her senior year.

On a side note, I did not find out Connection Academy is owned by Pearson Education (publishing company) until after we enrolled our daughter. All CA textbooks are from Pearson, and I recently read they've seen continued increases in revenue from these "public" schools. So, Connections Academy is essentially the K-12 equivalent of the troubled for-profit colleges.