The Keystone School

The Keystone School Reviews

About The Keystone School

Pros
  • Flexible education options available
  • Supportive administration and staff
  • Quality of educational materials
Cons
  • Poor customer service and support
  • Technical issues with online platform

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The Keystone School Reviews

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    Page 1 Reviews 0 - 10
    Punctuality & Speed

    Reviewed Jan. 5, 2025

    I was looking for a good quality curriculum that provided feedback and some online meets. When I was looking into Keystone that's what they advertised. I have no problem with sticking to a schedule. I have no problem with most learning being online but there has to be some meets or feedback for proper clarification- it's kids trying to learn, not adults doing the teaching. The role of the adult cannot be to do research or read everything to find out answers. In that case I would not need to pay and would just get the books myself! For free!

    In order to make sense there has to be some level of interaction and guidance from the teachers. If kids need clarification, then clarify. Point towards more practice, etc. Even if we are there, we do not know everything that's expected in each course. Grading- not consistent. The few meets- not consistent. Very disorganized. Even teachers didn't know policies had changed.

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    Response from The Keystone School

    Thank you for your feedback. Teachers are available by phone, chat, and email through Teacher Link, our academic help desk, when students need help understanding the material or assignments. Teachers provide detailed feedback directly on the written assignment. When students need help, they reach out to the teachers for clarification. While we do hope that students can work independently through the courses, parents play an important role in helping their student navigate online learning.

    Resolution In Progress
    PriceStaff

    Reviewed Nov. 23, 2024

    THIS SCHOOL WAS THE WORST SCHOOL ON EARTH. Per the words of my 12 yr old! I agree to some degree. The work can be hard and difficult, and never explained well! If they don't like the way something was presented they'll send it back. You have to have everything turned in or you won't get credit for the course! Stupid rule to us! The work seems to gear towards college students for 6th grade! He's now in 7th grade but we're still trying to finish up 6th grade work as well! I must note, he's back in Public school, however, if I ever do home school again I'll go back to buying the school books and doing the work ourselves! This wasn't worth it to us!

    P.S. My son had been home schooled since Covid and that was the plan before it happened. He did extremely well with me teaching plus he had a tutor to come in 4 days a week for added support! He honestly learned so much on his own. I loved home school because of the benefits of being independent but I would not pick this school again. I'm all for kids finishing and completing their work but they leave NO room for errors! Heck, even I missed an assignment here and there when I was in school! This will not happen again! I had bought school material off of Amazon and our local store called Lakeshore Learning Center, they offered great material to work through! Choose wisely....

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    Response from The Keystone School

    We appreciate you sharing and we're sorry to hear that you were unhappy with your Keystone experience. Keystone's Middle School program is built to prepare students for the rigor of high school and as such is a scaffolded approach to learning. Students are expected to complete all of the work in the class as there are no seat time requirements, this is the best approach to showing completion and mastery of the subject. If there is anything we can do support your student in completing their 6t

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      Verified purchase

      Reviewed July 11, 2024

      My son had attended private online HS since 2016. However after 4 years Keystone online refused to accept prior private academic credit. Connections Academy and private Pearson Academy both confirmed his credits validity, however, Keystone refuse to accept credits stating they were duplicates. This poor kid had finished 4 years worth of courses in 2 years hoping to catch up and now they advised us he will not get a HS diploma after all of these years. I paid nearly $8K for this academy. He does not have enough credits. I scheduled him for GED in September already, but I was wondering, if I can file possible civil litigation? They really ripped us of and left him with no HS degree. I have all official credits from Parchment.com. I would like to sue Keystone. Have a consultation with attorney already.

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      Response from The Keystone School

      The claims are not supported by our records. We will contact you directly to discuss.

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      Customer ServicePunctuality & SpeedStaffProcess

      Reviewed July 7, 2024

      I had two children enrolled at Keystone this year (7th grade and 9th grade). I don't think this program is meant for children with academic difficulties as your assistance will be needed either way. I don't think it's a program for Homeschool if you are thinking "self pace". While it is advertised self-paced Keystone is a very demanding program and you will need to keep at a certain pace and schedule if your goal is to finish it on time (following a regular school year). Our goal was to come back to school (private school). In order to do that you need to keep in mind the pacing at which Public (magnet/charter) or Private school are expecting you to provide information (such as teachers and director/counselor recommendations, report cards, transcripts, testing and classes certifications).

      I am mentioning this so when buying your classes you do so with that in mind. You need to buy by semester instead of the whole year (even if you have a discount if you do so). Why? Because their reporting system is a bit confusing to send (it will be on a % done of the total year class and your semester grade won't be showing if bought for the year). If your goal is to come back to a regular school, buy your classes by the semester (especially for high school!, Each semester will be 0.5 cr). While the reporting is great on your screen it does not translate as good on paper since the system FORCE a logo on your printer (regardless of which layout you choose!) and you can't remove the logo. So it will appear very messy.

      What I did was screenshooting it and saved as PDF file (for the quarter report cards) for semester. They actually have a very "Academic record or Unofficial transcript" which is pulled out at PDF format with all the certification. This format is great but again the current semester won't be showing if you choose to buy by the year for 1 full credit, instead of buying by the semester for 2 times 0.5cr. Only matters if your goal is to come back to school as you will be asked to show some semester and quarterly reports. Semester grades (and yearly grades) automatically transfer to the transcript/academic record once a class closes.

      Be mindful that if you are on a deadline, the system still needs a 24h refresh update to transcribe, also all your assignments need to be graded (sometimes long assignments will take a few days to be graded by the teacher so please be mindful of that if you are waiting to send your transcripts/academic for the semester or year end.)

      Do not use IPAD we have had a few issues with computer based tests (I think they do mention not to use it, but daughter at the beginning was using it and it worked until we realized many of her assignment were lost in limbo in between the program and the teacher interface). Tech support fixed it but we needed to understood first what happen and so tech are better than others (the tech support is for the all K12 companies). Once we used regular computer we no longer had the issue. Follow your child assignments and grades so you know when something has not been graded (lost in the system) or your child somehow missed it. Saying this because you do not want to be trying to get back grades from the beginning of the year... There are redo options depending on the type of quiz (practice tests) so push your child to do his/her best.

      We used the teacher link often (and I suggest to do so as the pool of teacher will answer quicker than if you just email your assigned teacher). Not everyone is on the same time zone. We requested teacher recommendations and we got them (please make sure if it is done through the school system you are trying to get into that you are using the right email, and as such as the teacher link which name and which email. ). If they ask you for a director recommendation, you will get none (Ms. ** did not reply, besides she does not know us!), this recommendation could be replaced by the counselor (Mrs. ** is very available, I suggest you get a meeting with her and discuss your needs).

      If you are on your last year of high school and need recommendation, you will be asked to fill out a long thing so the teacher gets to know you better than by your grading exchanges. We had that but had to let them know we were not going to college but trying to go back to school from middle school... So the teacher ease up her demands and filled out the new school forms for rec.Registrar is just like tech support, you could get a good one or someone who do not understand your needs. Ms. ** understands, the others not really. Anyhow if you ask registrar to send your unofficial academic records or unofficial transcripts to your new school (as a semester and as a report cards) they will do it. They won't send finals, this will be done through PARCHMENT (you can choose electronic or / and papers). Arrives in the next 5 min if you do emails!

      Parchment provides also info if it has been downloaded/received or if it is still sitting in the mailbox after being sent (so to speak). You will need to be on top of it or to hire a tutor (regardless if you have academically driven kids) because that's how you understand a class or elevate in a class (especially with math or ELA). I do not expect an online program to drive the brain... System is slow at time and a bit confusing at first. (Yu also have as a parent/tutor) your own interface. I suggest to look at BOTH every morning. What you see as a parent is not what has been done necessarily by the child. You see nothing until graded but on your child interface you see it has been submitted. You do not see the teacher feedback, but they do on their own interface. We did not like the forum board, I don't think it brought anything to the academic but some assessments are mandatory on it. Felt like "bots" replying at times...

      You don't have to do the "Keystone classes" if your goal are to come back to a school. (Though they will still show on your progress report card as unfinished or % not done, you will have to explain what it is). You do have to do them fully if you plan on graduating from Keystone (those are 2 credits required to get your diploma). I suggest you buy your 2nd semester quickly (if you like the way the first semester is going). Why? Because in order to follow the regular school system you would need to provide your second semester report cards before May and your final transcript /academic by June usually. Keystone does not allow to rush through the classes (and I do not advise to do so, I don't even think it's doable, as there is like many reviews mentioned before, tons of work to be done.

      A very demanding program, like I wrote before). The minium is 8 weeks, so by buying it earlier you will not have to worry about the time frame, your only time frame will be the one you set for yourself as a goal (the timeline of the school you are trying to get into will be your timeline). Keystone does not do Testing as part of the regular program, but they offer to do MAP (though If I remember right you can sign up for it but it will be advertised in the news link). I suggest to do it on your own instead (SSAT, ISEE) as many school ask for it anyway (register on those program websites). Too many emails from the system. I suggest to just keep the news link (has all the best info about clubs, testing, zooming live, everything school "alive").

      I suggest also to have a student ID card done, not just for discount but as a proof of enrollment and also have at least one school t-shirt done so when you go someplace (doc appointments and all) you avoid the bizarre question as "you don't go to school??). We had good teachers for the most part but as mentioned by other parents' reviews some courses are better than others (not for the quality of the content but the quality of the instructions when it come for assignment and work to do). Clarifications were needed at time or pleading for a redo when unfairly reviewed (because of poor instructions). Overall we do not regret doing Keystone as it was fully recognized by all the schools we applied. Children got into them all (COGNIA CERTIFIED is the best labels). But it was stressful since the Keystone timing is for 12 months and a regular school year is merely 9... so different timeline and more work.

      I think Keystone might be best if your goal is to graduate from it and if your child/children have no difficulties learning. In any case, I hope this help. We finished in May for my 7th grader and mid June for my 9th grader. Both got their transcripts and records in a timely manner. Thank you Keystone, you are tough and we are glad we are DONE! PS: Be careful when buying your class (do not do one cart only if you have 2 children, even if you have a coupon), the classes needs to be bought under each child profile. I made the mistake to buy all 7th grade with all 9th grade and had to spend some times to get it fixed (they did fixed it).

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      Response from The Keystone School

      Thank you for your thorough and clear overview of your experience at Keystone. We appreciate the recommendations that you provided to help us improve as a school.

      Customer ServicePriceStaffProcess

      Reviewed June 7, 2024

      I truly wonder what these teachers and administrators are doing sometimes. I'll turn in all assignments by the due date, even several days before. Sometimes, not even one single assignment will be graded, so you have to get an extension for the teacher to grade it again. Also apparently the due date is also the due date for the teacher to finish grading? It makes no sense. A due date is when you have to turn in your assignments by, finish your work by. The teacher should not be locked out of even looking at your assignments (what I was told on the phone) on the day following your due date?? Another thing, I'm not sure why there even is a multiple point grading scale. If I don't follow all of the requirements for FULL CREDIT (not any of the given partial credit options) I am endlessly reset to do the assessment again and again. This is not learning, it is busywork.

      By the way, extensions cost money. It seems everything takes as long as possible to get you to get another extension. They also screwed up me and other people's transcripts that were very clear in what courses were completed, and I ended up having to basically pay for a second Junior year when I already finished my Junior year. That cost thousands of dollars. They want you to be stuck in a cycle of repeating and paying. Teachers are also unresponsive most of the time, and most of them don't offer much help, especially in the Print courses (Ex: Art & Music History Print, Economics Print).. The curriculums are horrible, genuinely. The only good one was the Image Design course, which also had one of the few actually good, as well as responsive teachers. I don't remember his name since it was a year ago, but if you are in this school and have a choice of elective, I suggest that class.

      One of the only good curriculums otherwise was for the programming class, but that wasn't even their curriculum- it was Code HS! Digital Photography and Culinary arts are decent classes but both of them, especially Culinary Arts, have so much busywork. In Culinary arts, much of it does not even help you grasp the course material. Don't even get me started on the math classes like Precalculus. The course material is so unrelated to one another, and there are no actual STEP BY STEP explanations. They do not show where each value goes throughout the process, just the end of one step, and the end of the next. Understanding where each value goes is crucial for mathematics, especially when you start getting into PreCalculus and above.

      I had to end up watching a DIFFERENT TEACHER who uploads his explanations in his class to YouTube in order to understand half of the PreCalculus class, because nothing was explained well. In my opinion: Just go to a regular high school. You don't have to pay and they won't screw up all of your credits and keep making you redo everything to pay them thousands of dollars. You will also have a better experience and be able to have the social abilities to make friends.

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      Response from The Keystone School

      Thank you for your feedback on The Keystone School. We advise completing courses a week before due dates for grading time. Extensions include a free 30 days, but further time incurs a cost. Notify us before the due date for the free extension. Teacher Link offers support for core courses; other queries receive a response within one business day. Teachers assist with additional resources. We value your feedback; please reach out with any concerns for resolution.

      Staff

      Reviewed March 27, 2024

      I will never again use this school for my 6th graders! The amount of work they require is ridiculous and they make the quizzes and tests impossible to understand. The questions answers to choose from are so similar, that as a parent I couldn’t even figure most of the answers out. Don’t get me started about the amount of papers they have to write in Language (also one in History) and the fact that they have sixth graders studying Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is ridiculous!!!

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      Online & App

      Reviewed Feb. 26, 2024

      This website help their family break apart not learn. My 11 year old daughter and me had a fight about how to do this and that and it was all over the place. This website is horrible. Don't put your kids in this school. Put them in regular school or another home school website.

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      Response from The Keystone School

      We are sorry to hear that you and your daughter did not have a good experience with Keystone. Acclimating to a new online program can be challenging for some students and that is why we have a team of Student Success Advisors available to help in group orientations and 1:1 with a student as needed. They are available to help students understand the online classroom, set up a schedule, give pointers for success and much more. We appreciate your feedback.

      PriceOnline & App

      Reviewed Jan. 8, 2024

      They charge all this money for an online course, and then the website is insanely slow, no matter how good the internet connection is. It's like going back to the dial up days, or worse! It's frustrating enough that the Algebra course is very difficult to follow for my son, but the website speed makes it truly miserable.

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      Response from The Keystone School
      Thomas,
      Thank you for your comment and I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing slow speeds. This is not an issue that we've heard our students encountering. I encourage you to reach out to technical support to see what we can do to help fix the issue. Please call 1-800-255-4937 and follow the prompts to be connected with tech support.

      The Keystone School

      Customer ServiceStaffEase of Use

      Reviewed Nov. 9, 2023

      The teachers are totally useless, if you ask a question they just try to push you away and answer the quickest way possible, so you end up sending 10 more emails trying to get an actual response. Then on top of that the courses are ridiculously difficult, I asked a tutor to help me with math and I still got a 40%. There is literally no reason for the courses to be this difficult and not to mention the interface is completely terrible. It is difficult to use to say the least.

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      Response from The Keystone School

      Hello Blaze! I'm sorry to hear that you did not have the best experience at The Keystone School. Our teachers are available by chat and phone, in addition to email. This may help you get all of your questions answered without going back and forth through email. We also recommend that you speak to our guidance team to make sure you are in the most appropriate classes to provide the foundation knowledge to complete the more difficult classes. Please give us a call at 1-800-255-4937.

      Profile pic of the author.

      Reviewed Aug. 31, 2023

      I had to retake Algebra and the stupid thing would overlap, leaving me unable to finish the question. The worst online school ever! I personally would rather retake the class than deal with the horrible site. Another thing is are the tests, sometimes I wouldn't even touch to retake button and it would tell me to wait for one minute.

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      The Keystone School author review by ConsumerAffairs Research Team

      The Keystone School is a private, tuition-based online school. Started in 1974, The Keystone School was one of the first in the industry to develop distance learning and online schooling. The Keystone School has had students from all 50 states and nearly 100 countries.

      • Enrollment options: The Keystone School allows students to enroll in grades K-12 for a comprehensive education or to simply purchase individual course modules to supplement another schooling program.

      • Flexible tuition: Students who enroll full-time can receive a discount. There are also discounts for military families and those with more than one student enrolled. Discounts will only be applied if enrollment is done over the phone.

      • College acceptance: Students with Keystone diplomas have been accepted at all types of colleges including prestigious institutions such as New York University, Dartmouth, Duke, Notre Dame, Stanford, Yale, Rice and West Point.

      • Accreditation: Keystone is accredited by AdvancED/Northwest Accreditation Commission and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

      • Student support: Keystone offers many ways for parents and students to get support, including access to teachers, learning coaches, counselors and staff. There are also class discussion forums, clubs, and social media pages.

      The ConsumerAffairs Research Team believes everyone deserves to make smart decisions. We aim to provide readers with the most up-to-date information available about today's consumer products and services.

      The Keystone School Company Information

      Company Name:
      The Keystone School
      Year Founded:
      1948
      Address:
      920 Central Road
      City:
      Bloomsburg
      State/Province:
      PA
      Postal Code:
      17815
      Country:
      United States
      Website:
      keystoneschoolonline.com