Plato Online Credit Recovery Programs for Meeting Promotional and Graduation Requirements

The No Child Left Behind Law of 2002 was created to hold schools accountable for the education of their students (Klein, 2015). According to Gordon, to graduate on time a student must complete one grade per year from their freshman through their senior year. If a student is held back at any time during those 4 years, they are not counted as a “graduate” at the time they receive their — diploma (Gordon, 2007). Under No Child Left Behind to be counted as a graduate, it must be within that 4-year time span without any holds (Gordon, 2007). Schools were being held accountable for the academic progress that students were achieving (Klein, 2015). It focused on the students they considered to be at risk of failing. Today 1.2 million students drop out of school each year, 26 per second (Dessoff, 2009).

“Nationwide, nearly one third of high school students fail to graduate with a diploma, with an average of 7,000 dropping out every day. The problem is even more severe among African American and Hispanic students, with nearly 50 percent not completing high school on time” (Dessoff, 2009). This is far too many students at risk of failing and in danger of not promoting or not graduating from school this year. Failing just one class can affect whether you will walk the stage on that one night with your friends. What is the solution? For some it is easy, they work hard and they make up the missing credits, for others it is not so easy. For some it is the decision to drop out, and it can affect a person’s entire life. A reason a student may drop out of school is due to course failures, emotional problems, life circumstances, boredom, and low self-esteem (Luopa, 2010; Franco & Patel, 2011). The failing has placed them off course with their friends and repeating the class has now placed them as a sophomore in a class filled with freshman. This is detrimental to the students’ self-esteem; in addition, the failure has them believing they are unable to do this, so why even try. They feel stupid and beaten and believe the easiest solution is to drop out. Life circumstances include teen pregnancy, family struggling, and the student needing to go to work to help pay the bills.

Brady had always been a straight A student through middle school and his first year of high school when school started to get hard. It was his junior year; he was not an A student any more. His grades had dropped to Cs, and Ds, and now he was failing second semester Spanish. As he was finishing the school year, he was a half credit short of becoming a senior and his parents did not know what to do. A conference with his teachers revealed that he had not been turning in any of his assignments and he had turned into the class clown. Brady swore he turned in all his assignments and the teachers lost them all. He felt he would do better in school if he went to the Florida Virtual School for his senior year. Brady started his senior year still a half credit deficient at Florida Virtual School—but was unmotivated to work and 5 weeks into the school year dropped out of school. Brady’s scenario is very similar to many other students who drop out but with one exception. Brady got his GED and graduated 6 months before any of his friends and he entered the work force as a short-order cook. On the downside, not all colleges will consider a GED the same as a high school diploma, and only some branches of the military will accept a GED and it could affect him later in life.

Factors that have been associated with a student dropping out of school are based upon four domains: individual, family, school, and community (Rumberger & Lim, 2008). The individual domain deals with students having learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, early adult responsibilities such as working, school performance, school engagement, social attitudes, and behavior (Rumberger & Lim, 2008). The family domain covers socioeconomic status, parental education, family mobility, family size, and family commitment to the school (Rumberger & Lim, 2008). The school domain focuses on achievement, age at retention, and attendance (Rumberger & Lim, 2008). Together, all these play a factor in whether a student drops out of school. In order to keep the student from dropping out we must show the student there is an alternative method. This is where PLATO comes into play.

PLATO stands for programmed logic for automatic teaching operations, and was developed in the early 1960s at the University of Illinois by Don Blitzer and Charles Sherwin (Gordon, 2007). PLATO is one of many online programs being utilized by school systems as an alternative method for regaining lost credit for at risk youth. According to Kim Feltner, “credit recovery or credit retrieval is usually defined as an in-school opportunity for students to earn academic credits that they have lost, or are about to lose, by failing a regular course” (Trotter, 2008). There are many schools using credit recovery as an alternative means to promotion in math, science, English, and social studies. Credit recovery is handled in many different ways at different schools. It is even being used at correctional institutions so inmates can earn their high school diploma while incarcerated. Plato is being done face to face, online, and as a blended learning program. Today, the most common method is the online version of PLATO.

PLATO has three components that can be used with credit recovery. The first component is face to face with an online component. The face-to-face class has been used in schools with students who have been in trouble before. Many of the students in this program have been court ordered (Dessoff, 2009). It can be the best way to help students who have “burned many bridges” through academic failure, absenteeism, and disciplinary issues in and out of school” (Dessoff, 2009, p. 44). In order to be accepted into this program, the student and parent must be interviewed and approved by the superintendent of the schools and a member of the board of education (Dessoff, 2009). These students are very far behind in both reading and writing. They need teachers who will work with them; therefore, they spend half the time in the classroom and half the time in the computer lab (Dessoff, 2009). There is a zero tolerance behavior policy for students. In order to stay enrolled in the program, students must attend at least 80% of the classes. Leaving early is considered an absence and a cause for dismissal. Attendance is a huge issue, and only half of the students end up graduating (Dessoff, 2009).

Dillon, a Manatee county teacher, previously worked as an alternative education teacher doing credit recovery in Kenosha County Wisconsin. She worked with students who had dropped out of high school but who wanted to get their high school diploma. Using PLATO face to face with her students, she had much success. Her students ranged in age from 20 to 23 years of age. Prior to beginning this program the students and their parents had to meet with the head of the alternative education program. Here they discussed the requirements required for successful completion of the program and the expectations to stay in the program. Both students and parents had to sign a contract stating they were going to abide by the rules of the program or suffer the consequences that would result (Dillon, personal communication, April 15, 2015). Eligibility entailed the student showing up every morning from 7:30 to 10:00 or every afternoon from 12:30 to 3:00 (Dillon, personal communication, April 15, 2015). Prior to the start of the program, all records were received from the student’s prior high school and it was determined ahead of time where they were deficient in credits. The students would sign in upon arrival and go straight to work. The room was silent, there was no camaraderie, and no one knew each other (Dillon, personal communication, April 15, 2015). Teachers worked in pairs with up to 30 students in each room. The PLATO unit came in modules and to pass the student had to have a minimum score of 80% (Dillon, personal communication, April 15, 2015). If students knew the material they could test out and move onto the next module. Students had to score at least 80% on the final assessment to receive the credit (Dillon, personal communication, April 15, 2015).

Florida Virtual School and many other providers offer all-online credit recovery. The nice part about doing credit recovery is this way is that it is done on the students time, at their pace. The student makes his/ her schedule and must complete it within 18 weeks. Due to open enrollment, the student can begin the course anytime throughout the school year (Dessoff, 2009). Students can contact teachers from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, along with e-mail and instant messaging. Teachers are always available if a student needs help. In addition, teachers make monthly support calls to the students and parents to make sure that they are on schedule and to make sure everything is going as planned, as well as discussion-based assessments via the phone (Dessoff, 2009).

One school that has utilized PLATO online is Castle Park Middle School in Chula Vista, California. Here, a large portion of Hispanic students were failing in English and math and were at risk of not being promoted (Washburn, 2004). As a result, PLATO was implemented with the students who were to attend daily sessions (including weekends), with the use of this courseware until the credits were made up. Prior to beginning the PLATO session, a pretest is given to determine the student’s ability level (Washburn, 2004). The pretest determines where the student needs to begin in the course. A student is marked exempt in areas they have already mastered (Washburn, 2004). Instruction begins in the area where they need the most assistance or are experiencing the most difficulty. A posttest is given at the end of the session to assess the student’s progress and again at the end of the module to determine whether the student has earned the credit back.

Victoria McKnight an 18-year old from New Orleans who attended three high schools before she found one that would meet her needs for her to graduate. She stated, “computer-based courses allow her to work at her own speed and more easily avoid the distractions of classmates” (Carr, 2014, p. 31). She also stated that some of the lessons were very difficult and hard to understand which was very frustrating to her and in those instances; she would prefer to have a regular teacher. The labs do have teachers on staff but the teachers are not always proficient in all the material.

PLATO Hybrid is the last type of credit recovery course. A hybrid course combines both face-to-face and online elements. It is also known as blended learning. The Omaha public schools follow this model. Students go to a lab to do their classwork; if they are stuck, an instructor is there to help them. According to Sachs, “Students go to one of the labs three hours once a week for a semester to regain the credits they need. Depending on their schedules, students can go to the labs at their own schools during regular school hours or to labs at other schools from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. or 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.” (Dessoff, 2009, p. 46). According to the North America Council for Online Learning, the blended approach is the most beneficial to students because it allows extra support to the students by having teachers available for one on one contact (2008). Students that are at risk need this extra support and it provides them with access to technology they normally would not have access to giving them much-needed 21st century skills (North America Council for Online Learning, 2008) According to Susan Patrick, the chief executive officer of North America Council for Online Learning,

The blended format allows students to focus the credit recovery help in the area where they need it the most, whether it is one on one with the instructor or it is computer-based instruction.

Dover high school in Dover, Delaware used PLATO with seniors who were in danger of not graduating. These students were disruptive in their classes and were on the way to becoming dropouts before the implementation of PLATO. Without this program, approximately 50 students were in danger of not graduating (Edmentum, 2013). To be a part of this program, students had to be behind in their studies and at least 17 years of age. Classes would met Monday through Thursday for three hours per day. There was a certified teacher in the classroom with the students at all times to offer assistance as needed (Edmentum, 2013).

Some benefits of the PLATO courseware are that it is self-paced, completely online, and students become more competent with the use of technology. PLATO helps to meet a graduation requirement by taking an online class, it keeps distractions at a minimum so the student can stay focused, and students realize they are responsible for making up their own credits (K. Landrigen, personal communication, April 16, 2015). Instruction is individualized and is based upon the student’s needs for graduation. Students learn about time management skills and learn about how they can effectively plan for their course work. The students tend to build on their ability to develop higher order thinking skills while increasing their ability to problem solve. For some students online courses may be more engaging than traditional face-to-face classes. In addition, “programs that use online courses can address mobility issues of students who move regularly from one school in the district to another” (North America Council for Online Learning, 2008, p. 15).

Today, more than 1 million students drop out per year, and approximately one third of the students who graduate do not do so on time (NACOl, 2008). Students without a high school diploma are more likely to be unemployed and work for a lower wages than those who graduated from high school. In addition, not having a high school diploma has been linked to higher crime and higher rates of incarceration (Franco & Patel, 2011). Some students believe that the GED is a viable option to dropping out and, in the past, it was. The GED was created in 1942 at the request of the military as a way to “demonstrate competency and move on to a new career or further education” (LaPonsie, 2012, para. 4). However, today some branches of the military will not accept a GED. The fast food industry also wants its employees to have a high school diploma (Weissman, 2013).

Students should be encouraged to get their diplomas. There are multiple options available for credit recovery so they may do so. Credit recovery can be used to meet the individual needs of these students. These are the face to face, online and hybrid. PLATO is just one of the many credit recovery systems available today. Through credit recovery, students are learning to become competent with technology. They are learning to become selfdirected and responsible for their own learning. Students are now realizing that in order for them to graduate it is their responsibility. No one is going to do it for them, but there is support there to help them when and if they need it.

On the bright side, graduation rates are on the rise and it is expected by the year 2020 that 90% of the student population will be graduating with a high school diploma (Balfanz & Gomperts, 2013).