
The Keystone School Reviews
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About The Keystone School
The Keystone School offers flexible online education for K-12 students with a variety of courses, including core subjects, electives and credit recovery options. Since its inception in 1974, The Keystone School has provided a self-paced learning environment to accommodate different student schedules.
- Flexible education options available
- Supportive administration and staff
- Quality of educational materials
- Poor customer service and support
- Technical issues with online platform
The Keystone School Reviews
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Reviewed Aug. 18, 2022
I'm taking Keystone individual courses. I unfortunately lost a vast majority of my credits due to moving and this school offers individual credits. At first it was confusing to navigate, but once you get the hang of it, it is easy. I saw a lot of other reviews mentioning that they struggled with credit transfers to public schools. The only way to avoid this is contacting the counselor and CONFIRMING the classes you'll be taking will fall under course codes in your state. Yes, some of the courses are vague but the communication towards teachers are significantly more easy than what other reviewers said. They must have changed their policy.
Reviewed March 22, 2022
I did the U.S. History course and I went in to check my grade and it still said I had 7 assignment that weren't submitted. I submitted the assignments and the teacher refused to grade them. It's been four months and my course finally expired and the teacher still did not go in and grade those assignments. The transcript was sent to my school as 'withdrawn'. I have called them 7 times to get those assignments graded or at least to be given some help as how to do them, and when I called them again about my transcript they did not even answer the phone. The writing assignments are absolutely impossible and some of the assignments are just straight up ridiculous I will NEVER be using this company for myself or recommending it to anyone else again. I would give 0 stars If I could.
Reviewed Sept. 30, 2021
The most frustrating thing about Keystone School is that they don't answer the phone, they're stubborn, and tech support is horrible. I was on hold for like two hours one day. It was in the morning so I fall asleep after hours of being on hold then I woke up two hours later and I was still on hold. How ridiculous is that I'm pretty you're able tell my frustration. I don't usually give bad reviews nor go out of my way to write complaint but I had enough.
Reviewed Sept. 28, 2021
Everything about The Keystone Online School is worst. It takes 5 to 8 seconds to go to next page, many errors and links not doing anything, each section broken down to too many pages, terrible instructions. Youtube has better explanation. Organization and navigation of browser page is terrible. They basically took a bad text book and put it online. It would be better to just read through a textbook than use the online course. The online part doesn't help you at all, it's actually an impediment to learning. If you are thinking about this, don't do it.
Reviewed Sept. 27, 2021
First year of Keystone I hardly noticed any problems except when in Art online my teacher did not grade my assignments. I wrote the school going through the usual bot messages until someone finally responded. A teacher apologized and immediately switched my teachers. I was happy to get that fixed. Until I found out in changing teachers it puts me back to the beginning of the class again.
This year they have reported that they have discontinued math lab. Math lab is where the teachers when you have trouble with something actually teaches you. Though they specified free tutoring in the subjects when you buy, I was told since math lab was gone and I would have to pay for a teacher. Oh, but their solution for that is peer tutors where a whole bunch of kids who don't know what to do try to help each other out.
Art though you spend a lot of money. They send you no materials to make the art. Lessons are so repetitive that it causes great disinterest. Teachers seem so busy that they can't help, or even send a message even though I am pretty sure they just grade your work. There is constant maintenance. I honestly think that I might as well be in public school. At least there the teachers help. I would not get this school unless somehow you can do everything without help at all.
Reviewed Feb. 19, 2021
This school gave my family and I false information about graduation requirements. When I started they told me I needed 5 general credits with Keystone to graduate. I started with them and am ready to start my next classes to complete the 5 credits. They now tell me it is a 1 full credit requirement per subject which I do not need, I finished the other subjects in order to graduate by law but they are now saying I need to take more classes because I do not have a full credit in Science and Math even though I finished those through keystone but the rest of it was finished through a different school. The lady we spoke to did not even know that you need 1 full credit in each subject until she talked to her colleague. Now it I may not be able to graduate on time because MULTIPLE people gave me false information who are representatives of keystone.
Reviewed Sept. 11, 2020
This institution is composed of fraudsters, swindlers, con men, and thugs. They collaborated with one of their student to steal $280 from me through one of the online service providers. When I emailed them reported the case, they told me they will look into the case. They requested for evidence which I provided. Afterwards they told me there is nothing they can do about it. Deal with them or anyone from this institution at your own peril!
Reviewed June 26, 2020
If I could show the evidence I have here, I would but in short I have had the worst time with Keystone. They give the most taxing and lengthy assignments and plagiarise a lot of their test questions, too (most of which are at least a decade old at this point). And that doesn't even begin to describe my frustrations with trying to contact the so called "teachers" behind the scheme. If you want to do that you will have to go through multiple bot emails, dig through their site and say EXACTLY what they tell you to say to these bots, and then get a code you're never even told about to then finally get in contact with a human being.
I only managed to do so probably because of my own stubbornness and would definitely not recommend trying that. In short, if I could upload my images as proof and give a rating lower than 1 star, I would. But at the very least I can confidently say to NEVER trust your own or your children's education with this awful excuse for online education.
Reviewed Dec. 21, 2019
For my freshman year of high school I had to attend online high school since I would be moving to a different country. Since I was moving to Panama I had to do the international program. If you're considering the international program I highly advise against it. Each course I took had errors in the program itself. Especially the English 1 print program. Many assignments were misnumbered, incorrectly titled, or unorganized to the point that I had to call the school to finish various exams. Also I was provided with zero art materials even though I was enrolled for a Fine Arts course. Keystone expected me to pay for all the required materials out of pocket. Another problem I had with keystone is how TEDIOUS and REPETITIVE the assignments are. I could go on with the numerous issues I've had with this excuse for an online school but to summarize my experience I would say never enroll into the keystone school especially the expensive international program.
Reviewed Nov. 22, 2019
My son enrolled in 12th grade. We went through the process of getting all his credits recognized and the admission person helped us a lot, always available. Then after one year, my son was not finished because of his career and I was in contact with the head of school and she found the best way to make sure my son can finish high school. I recommend this school to any family with a child who has a career and cannot follow a presence school program. We are very thankful to Keystone School!
Reviewed Oct. 21, 2019
I took AP Statistics through Keystone because the course would not fit in my schedule in my high school. I felt that the material was very outdated, and the computer-graded quizzes contained so many typos and missing graphs that I constantly received poor grades on them even when I understood the material. When I tried to contact the teacher to get these fixed, there was no response. I took ten other AP courses and exams in high school and received a 5 on each of them, but for the AP Stats exam I received a 3. I would not recommend this course.
Reviewed Sept. 11, 2019
If you are thinking about using Keystone high school recovery credits, don't do it. The credits will not transfer and Keystone will not provide a transcripts which is what is needed to transfer the credit. Think about it this way, my Texas high school rejected the credit, as a last option I called to inquire about transferring the credits to their own program Keystone online high school, and they will not accept their own credits? DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY.
Reviewed Aug. 30, 2019
You may think your high schooler is a great learner and good self starter but no amount of efficiency in either of these things can stand up to Keystone's general lack of communication and confusing class structure. Coming from a normal, physical high school, I had structured my previous high school years in a vigorous manner so that my senior year would be simple. Even though I needed only 2 more credits to graduate, Keystone required me to take 5 courses with them off the bat. They did not send me my book for one of my courses and when I realized that fact at the end of the year, they refused to allow me to graduate with them (despite taking 5 courses).
Learning experiences are impersonal and just generally out of touch with what you need as a student. They continued to send me inaccurate progress reports that sent me into an even deeper depression and anxiety, something that I had hoped to avoid by leaving my physical high school. I feel that I learned very little, besides how to effectively skim poorly written courses. Various of my courses (Consumer Math and English) were written with incorrect answers and just a general lack of care for the student. Please do not put your child through this.
Reviewed Aug. 22, 2019
I am halfway through 8th grade with The Keystone School. I am only enrolled in history. For starters, the history is ALL about the US and I already learned all this stuff in 6th grade with a different school but that was expected. The layout is semi confusing and hard to navigate. Some things are missing or not explained well. When you are in one of those scenarios and try to contact support they get back to you with two words or once a completely blank e-mail!! There is one essay a week with one subject... I can't imagine being in 6 subjects! When we called them before I enrolled they promised me my own teacher and when I enrolled there are 3 general teachers that reply to inquiries half-hazard. I gave two stars because the actual curriculum was fine. It is the service I am dissatisfied about.
Reviewed Aug. 13, 2019
My daughter suffered severe bullying in regular H.S. to the point she spent several months in a hospital recovering from attempted suicides. The last one was horrific. We were optimistic about The Keystone School. We waited 2 months on the "waiting list" for the public option but after my daughter started missing almost a full school year I found the "private" one. It cost as much as putting my son through his first semester of college. The "help" answered but when web pages froze when she tried submitting assignments we called her teacher. Her teacher told us to call Tech Support. Tech Support told us to call her teacher.
In the end, numerous over numerous times they tossed out her work and told her to redo it. After 4-5 months we were both so frustrated I stopped encouraging her to log in each day. They still took $200/mo out of my bank account. I didn't stop it with the hopefulness something would get better. 9 mos later. My daughter is back in regular H.S. She is a 2nd year sophomore @ will be a 5 yr senior, thanks in part to Keystone & their "Superior" Sales Staff!
Reviewed Aug. 12, 2019
Son Submitted assignments and assignments were deleted. He redid them and screenshotted the Submission Screen and it shows all were submitted. The Customer Service Rep says they reset the assignments because they weren't done. They are a bunch of liars. Poor Service. You can't get a Supervisor or manager on the phone and they wonʻt return calls. A waste of money. Find a better solution.
Reviewed July 11, 2019
This is the worst experience we have had in a long time. It is hard to move around in the system and almost impossible to send the work in. The work does not get recorded about half the time. If my granddaughter calls, they treat her as a liar. If I call, they treat me as an idiot. There is no competent information technology support and the attitude of those they have is rude and arrogant. I have sent papers in four and time times and they do not get registered, or only one page goes through. When you ask for help, none is forthcoming. Don't send your child here. It is a demoralizing experience for them and for you!
Reviewed June 21, 2019
When I first considered this option the person who signed my child up assured me that each child has a student advisor, requires no parental help and can be submitted from any computer. First we never got any sign on info or class info until WE called and asked for it. Next, in October 2018 I called to find out why his student advisor hadn't reached out to him. He's struggling. I was told there is no such thing. It's all parent and child. Then we find out that 2 months of assignments that he submitted on a laptop were graded but lost. We have a copy of the grades. They won't honor it. We have to have our computer taken apart for them. How could he have gotten these grades on their site? He was given a warning for violation of policy and we did the class they required on June 30, 2019.
Ever since we have used the formula that person gave us but now we started another subject and they said that formula is a violation on 6 assignments. They are not consistent with the rules. This year has been a total nightmare. The teachers never explain what was wrong and/or why. Isn't that the teaching? NEVER, NEVER put your child through this. I had a smart, confident child until now. They have beat him down.
Reviewed May 30, 2019
We enrolled my daughter in her junior year online with Keystone as we were in an area of the country where she wasn't feeling safe and supported at her bricks and mortar school. We weren't sure if she would like it, so I told her not to open any courses she wasn't sure about (per the instructions of the agent who registered her). When we decided it wasn't a good fit, they then told us we had to PAY FOR THE COURSES WE HADN'T OPENED because their money back guarantee only applies to courses you have worked on. It makes no sense. Six years later they still have debt collectors coming after us. Avoid them like the plague.
Reviewed May 8, 2019
When my child enrolled we were under the impression that the work load would be similar to a public high school. This is not so. In a geography class my daughter did little actual geography and project after project on top of quizzes, exams, discussion posts etc. She was writing papers on World Economy and things that my son was actually doing in his college level economics course. When she moved on to her English class the first thing she read was, “This is going to be harder and more work than a public school English course.” It was also very disheartening that they offered us no refund when we paid for four classes and claimed not enough assignments were done monthly. I would not recommend this program. It was so unrealistic to expect of a freshman just getting their feet wet!
Reviewed March 12, 2019
I sent Keystone School the following email about my son's experience in their sixth grade math course. The course design itself is poorly done and difficult to navigate. For example, a sixth-grade student has to both discover a written assignment and then go to a link called "Classroom Resources" to get the *actual* rubric, when there is an assignment rubric right there which is not the one that is used. This is cumbersome even for adults, much less a middle schooler. There is not enough just plain good old math practice at solving problems. The lesson slides, where content is presented, is assessed by a *five-question* lesson check. These 5 questions are not always a thorough assessment of the concepts covered.
In these extremely short lesson checks, there is no opportunity for the student to remediate and increase mastery. These little quizzes are "one and done," so if the student discovers from the lesson check that he/she didn't understand the lesson, then there is no opportunity for the student to remediate the skill. There are not even suggestions of external websites or practice problems to increase the ability to work on the skill.
There are a number of tedious written assignments, which are cumbersome for the student and extremely tiresome for the parent, in that they have to be printed out, handwritten, then scanned in, then uploaded. My son, like I can imagine is the case with most middle schoolers, does not have the scanner access to do this himself; I have to do it. The student should be able to complete the course basically independently with a little help, not constant parent intervention. However, I would not have minded the written assignments so much if they were GOOD assignments. They are not. At best, they are sketchy coverage, and at worst, they are confusing.
On 2.08 with the parallelograms, the problems were unnecessarily confusing to solve - if solvable at all. I showed this to my husband, who has a master of science degree in biology and did advanced mathematics in undergraduate math and in his graduate thesis analysis. Neither of us were able to figure out one of the first parallelograms to be "deconstructed," and the simplest, most straightforward way to solve the problem was impossible. The problem could have been solved by using the formula for a triangle, but there was not enough information to use the formula (only the height was provided, not the base). I watched the video in James's class trying to show the assignment, but still found it confusing. When two adults with advanced degrees find it bewildering, you can imagine that a sixth grader will.
There was an excessive amount of cutesy, "filler" assignments like "math journals," forum responses to other students who are not engaged in any way in discussion, and a requirement to use vocabulary words which were not limited to math content taught in the module. My son does not need additional writing or vocabulary practice. As his homeschool teacher, we cover those adequately enough for him to test in the 95th percentile nationwide on the TerraNova standardized test. My son is in the 4th-6th grade Duke TIP program interestingly enough based on his 99th percentile score in math computation. Even with that ability level, he found this course frustrating and extremely un-engaging.
I have worked in education full time since earning my master's degree in 1998. I have worked full time in virtual education, including teaching and course design, since 2006. I wanted to give this course the full opportunity and hoped it would work for my son. The more and more I had to intervene and help him with it, the more I noticed the above problems which I consider to be bad pedagogy. The single worst problem is that the course does not provide adequate practice on the math concepts covered to ensure mastery.
Reviewed Jan. 17, 2019
When I initially signed my daughter up I was aware that after 30 days refunds would be based on percentage of course completed; what I was not aware of is that the student has to submit 1 assignment per 30 days and if they fail to do so it totally voids the refund policy. My complaint is that they do not state this in the refund policy, but separate it out under student activity policy making it difficult to actually connect the 2 policies. I was told that even though my daughter only completed 6% of the class I do not qualify for any refund because she did not submit an assignment within the first 30 days. I would recommend finding other options as the format of the course was confusing and the directions unclear, even my other children's online college courses give more information and guidance.
Reviewed Oct. 16, 2018
They do not care about your child's education! They lost my daughter's homework. School reps talk bad about the school to the parents! They only want your money! Don't waste your or your child's time!
Reviewed Oct. 14, 2018
We love the Keystone Online School. It has brought so much knowledge to my daughter. Recommend it to anyone considering private online school. It is difficult, but worth it! Much better than any regular public school.
Reviewed Oct. 10, 2018
I have been homeschooled my whole life! I switched from K12 to Keystone after a long time and I love it. Great education is provided for a reasonable price per course ratio, and although assignments are long and tedious, I feel like I learn something new and significant from each one of them.
Reviewed Sept. 17, 2018
I've been Homeschooling my whole life, but recently they ran out of spots at my usual school. So, I transferred to Keystone to finish 7th Grade. Here's the problem: they overwork us. I know, I know, You might be assuming that I'm a Lazy bum who just doesn't like school. However, they give us papers and papers and papers of work to do, telling us to search (Without giving us any information, other than definitions. )about the topic, with only a week to do it. When I say papers, I mean an essay, and maybe 2 or 3 paragraphs a week, in ONE subject. Now, If I was a genius, who didn't mind the brain sucked out of her, Then I would be alright with this. However, I'm not.
We called them about this problem as well, and they said, "It was just like public school," However, my mom is friends with a Middle School Teacher, and she disagrees. She said that some things that I was doing were college-level assignments. I'm in 7th Grade, not college! On average I have about 20 graded assignments to do. A week. I'm losing motivation to do schoolwork, because there's so much to do! Whether this school is worth the money they want you to pay, or not, that's up to you.
Reviewed July 9, 2018
Worse customer service ever. I tried to sign up online for my son to take a credit recovery class and it was impossible. Try to get help online and the person online support was useless. Got someone on the phone on a Monday after waiting for 45 minutes and it took them forever to get on the phone. Stated they will send me the information the following business day and I had to call them a week later to get the info for my son to start the class. I decided to withdraw my son because of the horrible service and they did not withdraw any of the money. They kept the $160 I paid for a class that my son didn't even enrolled in. I call that stealing.
Reviewed May 7, 2018
Complete waste. Impossible to get ahold of anyone. MOST of the links in the site either do not work at all or no longer exist. CONSTANT issues with the site. Don't waste your money or your child's time.
Reviewed March 30, 2018
My son is a high student and we tried Keystone for half a semester and it went well but after that it went downhill fast. The amount of work they make students do is ridiculous. I was told the work would be equivalent to public school. After complaining and complaining because now my son has fallen behind, I once again called and they stated it was harder than public schools. No one follows up and the teachers really do not seem to care. There is no teaching involved AT ALL. It's like having a teacher's aide just grade work all day. Once he is caught up I plan to move him to a different program. This curriculum will definitely detour kids away from college. I put myself through college online and that was a breeze compare to this. Completely disgusted!
Reviewed March 21, 2018
This was my first time trying an online school and my child is in the 10th grade. It started out pretty rough and I ask for contact information of the "Mentor". The person who signed us up led me to believe he would have. I was quickly told that person did not exist. It soon became obvious the courses were more than my child could do on his own. I decided to take him out of Keystone. After withdrawing, I was told that I still have to pay the full amount as if he was still attending for the whole year. They only give full refunds up to 30 days. I understand I wouldn't get money back, but if they are no longer providing services why am I still paying as if he was there?
They say I should have read this policy in the terms and conditions during enrollment but I didn't see it! I not only feel they are deceitful but there isn't the support they lead you to believe they will provide, not really any communication with real teachers. It is unfortunate I have to give them a rating of 1 but I CANNOT HONESTLY RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY.
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