An Evaluation of an Online High School Summer Credit Recovery Program to Maintain Virginia On-Time Graduation

In an attempt to maintain on-time graduation rates and reduce dropout rates, school districts, such as the one in this study, implement credit recovery programs. In an effort to improve student graduation rates and address graduation disparities, the Virginia school district in this study implements a summer credit recovery program that utilizes accelerated online learning as opposed to traditional direct instruction. This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the summer program as it relates to the success of student credit recovery and verified credit achievement to determine if there is a correlation to program participation and remaining on-track for on-time graduation. The program evaluation focused on the short term outcomes of the summer online credit recovery program for high school students. The study analyzed four years of post ex facto data. The findings show a relatively high rate of participation of economically disadvantaged, special education, and Black students. The results of this study show that the online credit recovery program is an overall effective instructional method for students in need of recovering failed credits. Results show significant success for students enrolled in English and math courses, a moderate level of success for social studies courses, and a marginal level of success for science courses. There is no correlation between final course grade and accompanying SOL test, and the SOL pass rate was 23%. Ultimately, participation in the summer online credit recovery program proved likely to keep students on-track for on-time graduation