Todd F.

My son was enrolled at Oklahoma Connections Academy's online school the past school year. Their Connexus system software that is used for assessments (Quizzes, Skill Check's, Tests, etc.) had issues since the beginning of the school year (2017). The scores he received on the assessments that he turned in would have discrepancies. He might get a 100%, and it would show up in their system as a 50%, 0%, etc., and sometimes it wouldn't even show up as having been done at all. My mother is a retired elementary school educator (still currently certified), and she monitored him, ensuring academic honesty. She has been the primary witness of these discrepancies. However, I have also witnessed my son taking these assessments from beginning to end, only to see at least one show up as a different and lower grade in their system. My daughter who is currently an 18-year-old college student with honors has even witnessed answers changing on their own in front of her eyes after my son hit the button to submit the grade. When we called about it in September of 2017, we were told by their tech. Support department that this has been happening to others, as well.

We then began taking pictures and screenshots of every grade that was sent. There are so many, that they haven't even graded everything from the autumn semester (2017) as of today (8/10/18), and they say they won't take any more picture evidence to replace the improper grades with. This had happened all year, but in the spring semester, they claimed that my son had been cheating, because they say they can see SOME (Most of the ones I've seen don't even have that.) screenshots with 2 tabs of the same test open. This is due to him sometimes accidentally double-clicking instead of clicking, which causes a second test tab to be open. The staff from their tech support are now claiming they have never heard of this happening to anyone else, despite some of their staff saying in the past that this has been happening to others, bad reviews (https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/connectionsacademy.com?page=3&rating=1#reviews) of people on sites pointing out that it has happened to them, and other schools using the Connexus software that admits it is glitchy. The vice principal said that it was the word of the math teacher to not accept any more multiple choice remediation (Their "work at your own pace" policy says they will accept it.). The math teacher told me it was the word the vice principal. When I called the principal, she said it was the word of the vice principal and herself. It seems audacious for them to claim we are lying and cheating when they aren't honest with us.

Our lawyers have even appealed to their administration on our behalf, but there is no legal precedent for your school to have any academic honesty.

We will not be continuing enrollment or be referring people to their school the way we did in the autumn semester. We will, however, actively suggest people never enroll their children in this school, as they are dishonest and claim the family is, probably due to wanting to save face about their growing number of technological problems. They have claimed my son was cheating even when they have no proof, and even in the face of proof (screenshots) showing that we have been honest.

Don't enroll your children in this school, so it doesn't end up destroying the confidence of even more students.