K-12 Stops Outsourcing Essay Reviews

September 5, 4:28 PMEducation Headlines ExaminerAndrea Hermitt

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When K12 students handing in essays and drafts to their online teachers, they had no idea that their online teachers were not seeing them.  Instead, the teacher would remove sensitive information from the papers and then forward them to a “reviewer” in India .  Some parents noticed that the reviewer’s comments were written in a way that suggested English was not their first language. 

It turns out K12, an online substitute for public schools, and publicly funded in many states, was outsourcing teaching again.  While K-12, is not longer paying reviewers to correct the papers of students in the US , they are still using it in other areas.  “At least one other company has enlisted personnel based overseas for educational support. Smarthinking Inc., which helps colleges, universities, and some K-12 schools connect students with tutoring services in a variety of academic subjects through the Internet, employs tutors living in Canada , Chile , India , the Philippines , and South Africa , according to Burck Smith, the chief executive officer and co-founder of the Washington-based company. …About 30 percent of the company’s roughly 800 tutors are located overseas, he said, which in part helps the company provide academic support for students at any time of day.”