Abstract:

Although high school graduation rates are improving in the United States, dropout remains a persistent problem. Research from Chicago Public Schools (CPS) makes clear that the consequences of failing core courses during the first year of high school are dire, and students who fail algebra in particular are very unlikely to graduate from high school. In many districts, more students fail algebra than any other course, and in CPS, only 15 percent of students who fail both semesters of algebra in 9th grade graduate in 4 years.

To get back on track, students who fail required classes need opportunities to recover credit. Historically, students retook required classes in summer school or during the school year in a face-to-face setting. However, online learning has emerged as a popular strategy for credit recovery that can provide flexibility for schools and students. Online credit recovery is hypothesized to reengage students via a more individualized, interactive experience with personal support from both an online teacher and on-site mentor, thus leading to success in algebra and later success in subsequent courses. Unfortunately, evidence about the efficacy of online credit recovery for at-risk students is lacking.

This paper presents results from a randomized control trial designed to assess the impact of online versus f2f credit recovery in Algebra I. Funded with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the study provided resources to 17 Chicago high schools with relatively high algebra failure rates to implement credit recovery courses during the summers of 2011 and 2012. The study included 1,400 at-risk ninth graders who failed second-semester algebra. Students were randomly assigned to re-take second-semester algebra as either an online course or as a f2f course. The online course was developed by Aventa Learning (K-12). Students took the course in computer labs at their local high schools, with a trained on-site mentor. They also had access to an online algebra teacher, provided by Aventa. The control condition was the typical f2f second semester algebra course offered in participating schools, taught by a licensed CPS teacher.

Results showed that most study students (71%) in both the online and f2f conditions successfully recovered algebra credit and there were some significant short-term benefits for f2f over online credit recovery (higher summer course grades, credit recovery rates, and algebra posttest scores). However, there were no differences in subsequent longer-term outcomes (total math credits earned, on-time graduate rates). The online course was also perceived by students as more difficult and less clear than the f2f algebra credit recovery course. Although the main impact analyses found that the online students overall were less likely to recover algebra credit than students in the f2f classes (66% online versus 76% f2f), exploratory analyses revealed that the credit recovery rate for online students with in-class mentors who spent 20% or more of the course time answering math questions was higher (77%) than the rate for students whose mentors provided less instructional support (60%), and closely paralleled the credit recovery rates of students in the f2f classes (76%). Together, this paper documents findings for the only rigorous study of online vs. f2f credit recovery in the United States conducted to date. Implications for supporting success for at-risk students will be discussed.

Keywords:

Online learning, randomized controlled trial, credit recovery, algebra, at-risk students.