What's it like to work with F3?
Working with us is like working with a member of your own team. We understand your mission and your challenges and live them with you: the annual changes you face, the pressures, the insufficient time and resources. Because we are full service – but education-only – we can help no matter what’s ahead.
What can F3 solve for you?
F3 can assist you at any stage of your independent study planning and implementation. We have been there for schools and colleges when it was uncommon, when it was state mandated, and when it became optional. With every legislative change and community mandate come legal implications, and we’re here to guide you through them all.
“No matter who or where they are or how they learn, our job is to help schools deliver the education they deserve.”
– Lyndsy Rodgers, Partner
Virtual learning, also variously called remote learning, independent study, and distance learning, has been around for decades – long before the COVID epidemic. It was a niche service provided by public schools and some colleges. In California, thanks largely to COVID, the pendulum between 2020 and 2022 swung from three modes of learning (including in-person learning, limited use of independent study (IS), and home/hospital instruction (HHI)) to mandated IS, to optional IS that colleges and districts were required to make available, and finally to optional IS determined by local schools. It’s no wonder school districts and colleges throughout the state needed help.
F3 has long been the go-to resource for schools and colleges needing not only to manage ever-shifting compliance with complex and shifting independent study regulation, but also to design and implement compliant and effective IS programs no matter where they were in the process. The lawyers at F3, steeped in every nuance of education, became that resource and have helped hundreds of California schools meet every challenge they have faced in this arena. When it comes to independent study and remote learning, those challenges include daily attendance, which determines funding, program design, compliance, technology, staffing, labor negotiation, and so much more.
California higher education institutions interested in providing remote learning opportunities, particularly out of state, face unique challenges with potential accreditation issues and state authorization requirements. Determining, for example, the authorization requirements for distance learning in other states can be daunting. The lawyers at F3 help address these challenges and navigate the accreditation and authorization hurdles that remote learning programs can encounter.