What is the story on the changes to the step limit? What does it mean, and what is the reasoning behind it?

Dear Acellus Parents,

Thank you for the thoughtful questions you continue to send in. I firmly believe that you, the parents, are the primary decision makers in your children’s education, and that Acellus is at its best when we work as partners. Many of the improvements we have made over the years began as suggestions — and sometimes as pushback — from parents like you. Please keep it coming. As always, the comment section below each post is open, and I read what you write there, whether it is in support of our plans or in opposition to them.

For many years, we had no need for a step limit of any kind. The students drawn to Acellus were seriously interested in a quality education, and they moved through their courses at a pace that reflected real learning. After we became accredited, however, we began to see a new kind of enrollment: students with little interest in learning who simply wanted to “grab” a high school diploma as quickly as possible.

This is not a problem we discovered last month. A year ago, I brought it to the attention of our community and announced that we were developing software to limit this kind of abuse of the system. If you would like the fuller background, I invite you to read my paper, “A Quality Education Requires Time and Effort.” We then deliberately delayed turning the step limit on until this summer, when most of our students are on break, to minimize disruption to families in the middle of their studies.

I want everyone to understand just how extreme the situation had become. We had students completely finishing AP Calculus — one of the most important and most challenging courses we offer — in just three weeks. Others were completing AP Statistics in four. These are full-year courses whose lessons, by their very nature, require sustained time and effort to master. Not even the most gifted student could genuinely move through these courses that quickly. Something was amiss — and the answer shocked us. A few of students were having their coursework done for them, usually by paid parties overseas. We immediately went to work building new tools that can determine whether work is original or hired out, and where we found lessons that were not completed by our own student, we removed that credit.

I will be candid with you: those removals are the source of much of the loudest anger you may have seen directed at Acellus, and at me personally, in recent weeks. At the same time, I know that not every parent who has raised concerns about the step limit falls into that category — far from it. Many of you have sincere questions about how the limit will affect your own diligent, hardworking student, and I welcome those questions. That is exactly what this forum is for. What I would gently ask is that we keep the conversation respectful. Our support team members are good people doing their best to protect the integrity of your children’s education, and when they are met with profanity and abuse on the phone, we risk losing them. They deserve better, and I know the overwhelming majority of our parents agree.

Here is what I am fighting for: the integrity of the Acellus diploma. If we allow hired work and empty transcripts to stand, that diploma will no longer carry the prestigious reputation it enjoys today — and it is your children, the ones doing the work honestly, who would pay the price. Acellus is the platform for students who want to earn a real education. Students looking for shortcuts will need to find them somewhere else.

Now, to set the record straight on how the limit actually works: every course has its own step limit, set specifically for that course and the nature of its lessons. In every case, the limit is set higher than the pace we recommend for most students. A serious student working at a strong, even accelerated pace will not run into it. The limit exists only to stop the kind of activity no genuine student could produce. We do not want to be a shortcut school. We want to be known for highly qualified, well-prepared graduates — and we want the Acellus diploma to open doors and launch our students into successful futures.

Finally, a heartfelt shout-out to the many parents who have reached out in support. Your posts, your letters on rogerbillings.com, and even your cards and mail through the Post Office have sustained me during this time of transition. Thank you… thank you!

-r

Related questions