By Delilah Brumer
Over the past six years, more than 150,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District earned credits through online courses with partial or no real-time teacher interaction.
LAUSD has paid Imagine Learning — a private-equity backed education technology company that provides the courses and several other instructional materials — $100 million since 2022.
Through public record requests, Southern California News Group obtained and reviewed more than 1,000 pages of LAUSD contracts, documents and data, showing widespread use of the courses, which are online, for-credit and often administered without an LAUSD teacher.
SCNG also spoke to about 20 students, parents, teachers, experts and officials about how the online courses – although helpful to ensure that students graduate despite schedule conflicts or previous failing grades – can exacerbate learning gaps, can discourage students, and can be easy to cheat on.
Brenda Helfing, a longtime high school history teacher who supervised several Edgenuity courses before retiring from LAUSD in June 2025, said, “It was a quick, easy fix, just to say ‘yes, this kid checks this box off,’ and then enable them to graduate on time, which makes the district look good.”
The courses are offered to LAUSD students through Imagine Learning’s digital tool Edgenuity. An LAUSD student who takes an Edgenuity course typically watches lessons on videos, and completes online assignments and tests, many of which are then automatically graded.
According to an emailed statement from an LAUSD spokesperson, the district’s “focus is not simply on course completion or graduation rates, but on ensuring that students master essential skills and knowledge. We maintain high expectations for academic rigor and closely monitor student progress to ensure strong learning outcomes.”
These courses can be self-paced or structured. Between 2020 and 2026, two-thirds of the classes were led, at least in part, by an LAUSD teacher, while another third were not.
For the Edgenuity classes that are not led by an LAUSD teacher, “students receive support from a highly qualified Edgenuity instructor, along with a district-assigned mentor who closely monitors progress and provides ongoing guidance,” the LAUSD spokesperson said.
LAUSD – the second-largest school district in the country – has used Edgenuity for about a decade, originally as an option for students who had failed a class to recover the credits they needed to graduate. LAUSD widened its use of Edgenuity during and after the pandemic.
Data obtained through public records requests shows that the average grade in LAUSD’s Edgenuity classes is 78%, or a C, and that 66% of the online classes are fully completed. That completion rate includes classes in which Edgenuity is supplemental to a teacher’s live instruction, often meaning completing the entire Edgenuity course curriculum is not the intended outcome, the LAUSD spokesperson said in the emailed statement.
‘Frustrating’ online courses
Conner Gilbert, a 12th-grader at Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences, first took an Edgenuity course last school year. He signed up for an Edgenuity physics course because it seemed like an interesting and useful subject, and he was not told it would be offered online.
He said when he walked into class on the first day of school, students were instructed to log in to Edgenuity to watch lesson videos on their computers, which ended up being the method of instruction for the entire course.
Gilbert, a musician and varsity baseball player, said he frequently questioned the point of the class because so many students looked up the answers to assignments and quizzes online. “It makes students lose the drive to actually learn the subject,” he said.
“It didn’t feel like there was a lot of learning going on in there,” said Helfing, who worked in the district for 19 years. “And it was frustrating, as a teacher, to see that waste of time.”
Other than as a make-up option for students who had previously failed a class, the reasons why LAUSD schools place students in Edgenuity courses vary. Sometimes a course that a student needs to graduate conflicts with a different course, a sport or another obligation. Other times, a school does not employ enough teachers in a specific subject area to offer the necessary courses. Other times, a teacher uses Edgenuity or another Imagine Learning product as extra practice for students.
Like many forms of education technology, online course platforms can support students’ growth, or they can worsen learning gaps – it all depends on the context in which they are used, said Stephen Aguilar, a USC education professor whose research focuses on technology and its effects on learning.
If teachers have ample training with online platforms and choose to incorporate them into their courses as extra practice for students, then they can be a powerful tool, Aguilar said.
He said the problem arises when the use of online platforms or other technology does not come with clear reasoning or lacks buy-in from teachers and students.
Students are not limited to Edgenuity courses for recovering credits, and the district offers several alternatives, the LAUSD spokesperson said in the statement.
“School counselors work closely with students and families to determine appropriate options based on criteria including academic needs, scheduling considerations, and long-term goals,” the district spokesperson said in the statement.
Imagine Learning’s products, including Edgenuity, come with a hefty price tag. The district’s total annual budget is about $18.8 billion. Between 2022 and 2025, LAUSD spent about $100 million on Imagine Learning products, according to purchase orders obtained through public records requests. Those products include the Edgenuity online courses, as well as teacher guides, coaching, instructional materials, math programs and academic interventions.
“Los Angeles Unified uses Imagine Learning products to provide digital curriculum and targeted interventions in subjects such as math, reading, and language arts,” the LAUSD spokesperson said in the statement. “The platform offers personalized learning pathways that adapt to each student’s needs, helping to address learning gaps or extend learning when appropriate.”
The products also are used for students learning English as a second language, students with disabilities who have Individualized Education Plans and students who need to make up credits, the spokesperson added.
Parent Kate Brody said LAUSD’s widespread use of technology like online courses, gamified learning websites and one-to-one laptops is troubling.
Brody, a former high school English teacher, is involved in the group Schools Beyond Screens. This grassroots coalition of about 1,000 LAUSD parents and teachers advocates for the district to cut back on the time students spend using tech in classrooms. Schools Beyond Screens has also called for an audit of all LAUSD contracts with tech companies.
“Can we do things a little bit more intentionally, with a science-backed focus, and not just roll things out based on the marketing materials of tech companies who come in and pitch to the board and hand out these massive contracts?” Brody said.
Parental concerns about LAUSD’s education tech contracts have taken a spotlight after the LAUSD Board of Education voted to put Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on paid administrative leave in late February. The leave is in response to federal scrutiny of Carvalho for embracing an artificial intelligence chatbot provided by AllHere, a now-defunct startup.
Longtime LAUSD administrator Andres Chait took the role of acting superintendent. Chait declined an interview request from Southern California News Group.
Education technology vendors are vetted by the district “for a variety of factors including instructional quality, alignment with state standards, accessibility, data privacy, and cost-effectiveness, among other criteria,” the LAUSD spokesperson said in the statement.
The LAUSD Board voted 6-0 on an April 21 resolution to track and limit student screen time, including eliminating in-school screen use by kindergarteners and first-graders. The resolution did not specifically address Edgenuity, which is primarily used by high school students.
“During COVID, student devices became a necessary lifeline, and seemingly overnight, screen time limits were shelved to ensure every child had access to the technology they needed to continue learning and stay connected with their teachers and peers,” said Board Member Nick Melvoin, who introduced the resolution, in a statement. “Our charge now is to recalibrate, evaluate the role of educational technology in the classroom, and balance access to that technology with the kinds of instruction and interaction we know help students thrive.”
Learning gaps continue
By many measures, LAUSD has moved beyond the student learning challenges spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, the district reached a record-high 87% graduation rate. And, six years after widespread school closures, the district’s test scores recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
But a gap remains between the district’s high graduation rate and comparatively lower student test scores. Last school year, 46.5% and 36.8% of LAUSD students met or exceeded the standards for their grade level in English language arts and math, respectively.
As the gap between student learning and graduation rates has persisted, so has the district’s use of for-credit online learning platforms, including Edgenuity.
Helfing, the retired high school history teacher, first encountered Edgenuity shortly before the pandemic, during a training for teachers. In the years following the post-pandemic reopening of schools, Helfing was tasked with monitoring, or as she put it, “babysitting,” a classroom of students taking Edgenuity courses for a one-hour period each day.
The students who did well in the online courses were the students who would likely do well in any setting, she said. The students most hurt by the online courses were the students who were already struggling.
The following year, once Helfing was able to teach these students in a traditional, live-instruction setting, she noticed clear improvements among the teenagers who had previously struggled.
Students’ home situations can also create inequality when it comes to who succeeds and who is left behind in online courses. According to USC professor Aguilar, if a student has a quiet place to work at home, reliable internet access and a parent with the time and ability to support them in their online schoolwork, their success can be different compared to a student without these factors.
Concerns about cheating
Some teachers already had concerns about the oversight of LAUSD online courses by the time the pandemic hit. Then came the rise of generative artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT in 2022 and 2023.
Teenagers are using generative AI to create images, synthesize information and provide emotional support, researchers have found. Generative AI is also changing K-12 education. Many students report using generative AI to brainstorm essay ideas, create outlines and write essays.
Schools should be setting clear guidelines about what is considered allowable AI use and what is not, Aguilar said. When deciding on these guidelines and considering AI products, schools should weigh the needs of the people who would use the product, the specifics of the technology itself and how the people and technology interact, he added.
“I like to think of it as sort of a three-legged stool,” Aguilar said. “If one of the legs is wobbly or just not there, you’re going to fall. It doesn’t matter if a district heavily invests in AI, if they don’t have the training, if they don’t have the internal expertise or if they don’t have the capacity, then you’re not going to get the outcomes that you want.”
The district issued a policy bulletin in 2024, which outlines what it considers as responsible AI use. The policy says students, teachers and other district personnel should clearly acknowledge if they used generative AI for any work or assignments.
“LAUSD is committed to utilizing new AI technologies, in particular, generative AI, in an ethical, transparent, and responsible manner, while recognizing the importance of protecting student and employee privacy and ensuring that the use of these technologies is consistent with ethical and equitable considerations,” the policy states.
Helfing said she frequently saw students engage in plagiarism, unauthorized artificial intelligence use and other methods of cheating in their Edgenuity courses.
Many answers to Edgenuity course assignments and quizzes can also be accessed through searches on study websites or social media forums, SCNG found.
An Imagine Learning spokesperson said in an emailed statement that academic integrity is a high priority for Edgenuity, which the LAUSD spokesperson also emphasized. Edgenuity incorporates cheating safeguards like lockdown browsers and detectors for plagiarism and AI. The platform also tracks students’ time spent on assignments, their pace and their completion statistics, which teachers can review.
“Edgenuity’s role is to provide rigorous, research-based curriculum along with real-time reporting and progress monitoring tools that allow educators to track pacing, assessment performance, and mastery,” the company’s spokesperson said in the statement. “The platform is built to support educator oversight, not operate independently of it.”
It is the school districts, not Imagine Learning, that determine the level of live teacher instruction used in Edgenuity courses, the company’s spokesperson added.
Outcomes and circumstances vary
Student experiences with Edgenuity can differ based on their situations. A subset of Edgenuity students in LAUSD are high-achievers who have used the online classes as a way to accelerate their education. For other students, the flexibility of the courses is beneficial when juggling school, work and family responsibilities.
Judi Bikel, a Mid-City resident, is the mother of an LAUSD middle school student who previously used Edgenuity as a way to take math courses not offered by his school.
Bikel described math as a subject that brings out her son’s sparkle. He is currently enrolled in high school-level geometry despite being a seventh grade student.
“I think a lot of education tech is very bad and does not do what it promises to do,” Bikel said. “That being said, older, more traditional platforms, including Edgenuity, are honestly pretty fine.”
However, she added, her son is a gifted, self-driven student, meaning he has a better time with online math courses than students who are struggling in school.
“I understand that my kid is an outlier and that there are many, many more kids who need remedial support,” Bikel said. “But giving them credit recovery that only protects their grades does not bring them up to grade level.”
Maya Gelb, a 12th grader at Grover Cleveland Charter High School in Reseda, took a year’s worth of Spanish through Edgenuity over just a four-week span in the summer.
Gelb said she prefers her in-person courses with live teacher instruction, but she still learned through the Edgenuity courses. The online summer courses were a convenient way to make room in her school-year schedule to focus on honors courses, as well as extracurricular activities like yearbook and student government.
One challenge, however, was that for the first few days of the summer, she had trouble accessing her online courses and submitting assignments, she said.
“They had writing assignments and speaking assignments and videos to watch,” Gelb said. “There were a lot of different forms of learning. It was just that the program itself, I feel like the website was not very user friendly.”
Stephanie Perez, a recent LAUSD graduate from East L.A., took a math course and a chemistry course through Edgenuity while she was in high school, as a way to make up credits. She said that while she did not like the lack of teacher support, she appreciated that she could finish the Edgenuity courses in a condensed time frame compared to typical courses. This was especially the case in Edgenuity courses that gave her the option to skip certain readings and assignments by taking quizzes.
“It was so much easier to do, especially for a student like me, that I have other responsibilities and things going on during the summer,” Perez said.
Brody, a member of Schools Beyond Screens, said she hopes for greater accountability within the district’s tech policies and contracts, as well as increased parent involvement in the decision-making process relating to education tech. “Education tech is generally neutral at best and harmful at worst, and it’s also a really expensive thing for the school district to invest in,” she said.
This article was made possible with support from the Los Angeles Press Club’s Charles M. Rappleye Grant.
