K12 Inc. Changes How Schools and Districts Manage and Personalize Online Learning

June 21, 2012
Company Introduces PEAK12™, an Intelligent Management Center for Schools and Districts to Optimize their Growing Online Learning Programs

HERNDON, Va., June 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- K12 Inc., the nation's leading provider of proprietary curricula and online education programs for students in kindergarten through high school, today introduced PEAK12, a new way for schools and districts to implement, personalize and manage their online learning programs, all in one place.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110113/PH29436LOGO )

As online learning continues to proliferate – in many different models – and as more technology resources and options become available, schools and districts are seeking a higher level of integration across their various programs.  At the same time that administrators and teachers juggle multiple systems and vendors, they also face the challenge of growing their online learning programs to meet the needs of more students.

PEAK12, which stands for Personalize, Engage, and Achieve with K12, is an intelligent management center for online learning that enables schools and districts to manage and personalize their online learning program solutions – including K12 and third-party solutions, open education resources, and district-authored or -generated content – from one place.  PEAK12 eliminates the hassle of managing multiple accounts and roles and provides a consistent online environment for students, teachers and administrators, whether they are managing or participating in full-time online schooling, credit recovery, world language classes or in blending online learning with traditional classroom programs.

Beginning next month, schools and districts using K12 curricula, services, and support can take advantage of the intelligent management center.  Free to current and new customers for a limited time as part of promotional launch offer, PEAK12 also features robust personalization and program management capabilities.

Teachers can individualize content and instruction in just a few clicks by personalizing courses managed by PEAK12 using a variety of K12 curricula and content, as well as district-generated content, to better meet student needs. For example, teachers can easily tailor Aventa Learning by K12 courses using content from over 5,500 lessons and assessments in the PEAK12 library.  Soon, content from other popular third-party providers and open education resources, as well as PEAK12 compatibility with a growing number of learning management system platforms, will further augment the options for course personalization.

Also available through PEAK12 are new, powerful program management, enrollment, tracking and intelligent reporting capabilities.  Teachers and administrators can quickly and easily create and publish course sections, set up enrollments, communicate with students, monitor progress and analyze results across a full range of online programs that can span multiple schools.  Featuring new dashboard functionality available only through PEAK12, a multi-dimensional student engagement and performance summary categorizes each student's status in red, yellow, or green so teachers and administrators can know immediately which students require intervention. 

"We have eight different campuses involved in our secondary blended learning programs. We currently use two different online learning products. With PEAK12, I will be able to look at all students, all campuses and all products," said Jan Streich, Director of Instructional Technology for Spotsylvania County Schools in Virginia. "From a school division management perspective, PEAK12 will provide me with a 'one stop shop' for monitoring student progress, improving seat allocation, and producing timely, more accurate data reports on our current programs."

"The teachers at my school will love the student engagement summary in PEAK12," said David Knoche, Principal for Falcon Virtual Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  "Being able to quickly and easily see a complete view of each student's progress, no matter how many courses they are taking, will help our teachers focus their time and attention on providing more challenging lessons for those students who are progressing well, or additional help for students who may not be on track.  Teacher efficiency will increase as students receive further individualized instruction." 

"As online learning proliferates, schools and districts are demanding a higher level of integration and a single point for managing the many facets of their programs," said John Olsen, Executive Vice President of Operations for K12.  "We believe that by providing robust content and management tools, and by enabling a centralized yet open system to support all of their online learning programs, K12 will empower its clients to deliver highly individualized educational experiences for more of their students, at a dramatically reduced cost."

K12 provides the industry's most complete continuum of online learning solutions – including award-winning curricula and education support services for full-time online learning, online courses, world languages, credit recovery, remediation, assessment, and test readiness – for full-time virtual, blended, and traditional classroom learning environments.  Over the past decade, the company has served more than 2,000 schools and districts and delivered over 4 million online course enrollments from its award-winning portfolio. MDR's market research service EdNET Insight recently reported that K12 is the leading provider of online curriculum to school districts across the United States. 

About K12 Inc.

K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), a technology-based education company, is the nation's largest provider of proprietary curricula and online education programs for students in kindergarten through high school. Using 21st century tools to prepare 21st century students, K12 provides the broadest array of options for students to learn in a flexible and innovative way, at an individualized pace. K12 provides curricula and academic services to public and private schools and districts, traditional classrooms, blended school programs, and directly to families.  K12 is accredited through AdvancED, the world's largest education community. Additional information on K12 for schools and districts can be found at www.K12.com/educators.  

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We have tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "continues," "likely," "may," "opportunity," "potential," "projects," "will," "expects," "plans," "intends" and similar expressions to identify forward looking statements, whether in the negative or the affirmative. These statements reflect our current beliefs and are based upon information currently available to us. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. These risks, uncertainties, factors and contingencies include, but are not limited to: our potential inability to further develop, maintain and enhance our products described in this press release; and other risks and uncertainties associated with our business described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. All information in this release is as of June 21, 2012, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the Company's expectations.

© 2012 K12 Inc. K12 is a registered trademark, and PEAK12 and the K12 logo are trademarks of K12 Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE K12 Inc.

Beth Halloran, bhalloran@k12.com, +1-703-436-3263