They have a very specific learning plan,” Glenewinkel said of program participants. “We don’t want them to go through this week and not get it done. It’s the completion of the plan we’re aiming for, whether they finish it in the week, or complete most of it during the week and then finish through the following weeks.”
Glenewinkel also has implemented a system whereby the principal and counselors of each school sit down with a list of all students and look at where each student should be at benchmark moments. For example, he says, if a student needs 24 credits to graduate, then students should have 12 credits at the end of their sophomore year. If a student doesn’t have these 12 credits, the principal and counselors come up with any necessary interventions, either in class or online, to get that child back on track.
It’s too early to see the results of these programs at East Valley, which have been rolled out slowly over the last two years, just yet. But Glenewinkel believes he will see graduation rates improve this year. Beyond graduation rates, he believes the programs are working, because the district has seen significant increases in the number of students wishing to take AP classes. “We’re seeing this academic success carry over in some unexpected ways,” he says.
Glenewinkel stresses that the district is “very, very cognizant” of the need to make sure that what is provided to students is of high quality.
“We’re not interested in just creating a credit mill,” he says. “We could give a kid all the credits we wanted, but if [the student] didn’t meet assessment mandates, [he or she] wouldn’t graduate. We believe we’re offering a high-quality program, as well as individualized programs students can tailor to their needs.”
While East Valley is still waiting to see the results of its intervention programs, Chicago Public Schools has seen great success in helping students recover credits lost as a result of failing a class. Beginning with a small pilot program in 11 schools, the district offered the Aventa program to at-risk youth in 2008. By 2010, more than 3,500 students had enrolled in credit recovery courses. And in those courses, more than 80 percent of students passed.
This helped ensure graduation for more than 1,000 at-risk students in the spring of 2010, says Robin Gonzalez, manager of distance education for the district.
—J.N.
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