District Administration - October 2011 - (Page 65)

ADVERTISEMENT Online program gets struggling high school students ready to graduate Aventa Learning by K12 helps credit-deﬁcient students catch up, return to school S it appeals to students with certain tudents in the Sacramento learning disabilities. It also touches City Unified School District on a variety of teaching strategies, need 225 credits to graduate as opposed to all text-based reading high school and 180 to start their and comprehension work.” senior year. Some have far fewer The program also has “adaptive than that. release,” which allows students who “These are the kids who are behave already taken a class to test out hind the eight ball,” said David Roof online sections they have masdriguez, director, Student Hearing tered. This helps students earn credand Placement Department for the its and return to their home high district. “These kids, for the most school more quickly. part, represent the achievement “Most kids want to be at a regular gap in our district.” “Teachers believe in this high school,” Rodriguez said. “They The district is working to close program. It gives kids hope.” want the social interaction and the that gap using Aventa Learning by traditional high school experience.” K12, a credit recovery system that alAventa includes structured study lows students to take online coursguides that help students learn to take effective notes. The es to make up classes needed to graduate. Aventa Learning by K12 provides curriculum for Sacra- program also uses vocabulary and short-answer essays to mento Accelerated Academy, which has 240 students—30 further advance a student’s skills. “Teachers work closely with the students,” Yung said. students per class, four classes per 4-hour session, two sessions per day. The academy is one of several alternatives to “They build relationships, earn the students’ trust and work with them on the fundamentals of responsibility, ownership, traditional education in the 44,000-student district. “We wanted a preventative approach to identify students commitment, so hopefully we’re sending them back to their earlier in their high school career, rather than waiting until home high school in good shape.” Aventa representatives trained academy teachers, who they’re severely credit-deficient and on the verge of dropping out,” said Brandon Yung, coordinator III, Student Hear- embraced the online program from the start, Rodriguez said. “Teachers believe in this program. It gives kids hope. It gives ing and Placement. The department considers students for the academy them a sense of ‘I can do this,’ a sense of accomplishment. All based on several factors, including referrals from the stu- things are not lost. They’re not going to drop out. They’re acdents themselves or their high school teachers, counselors tually going to receive their high school diploma.” The Sacramento program has been so successful—2,755 or administrators. At the academy, students take online courses in a teacher- courses were passed at the academy since September led computer lab, where they also can access online help 2010—it is being expanded by another class of 30 students. “Every student has a story,” Yung said. “With this program, via the Internet or telephone. Each credit recovery course is based on approximately 60 hours of work and students hav- more than any other I’ve seen, the kids get a sense of forward ing prior knowledge of the subject matter. Students can con- progress, and they’ve never experienced that before. tinue working after regular school hours if they have access To learn more about K12 products and services, please to a computer and Internet. visit www.k12.com/educators. “This program offers a lot of components we were looking for,” Yung said. “It appeals to English-language learners; http://www.k12.com/educators http://www.k12.com/educators

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - October 2011

District Administration - October 2011
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Transportation Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Building a Blended Learning Program
How Are Science Fairs Fairing?
A New Age for Algebra
Early College High Schools
Changing of the Guard in Florida
CIO News
How Much Computing Power Do You Need?
An Unconventional Approach to 1:1
New Books
Problem/ Solution
Research Center
Product Focus
New Products
Professional Opinion
Going Mobile
Online Edge

District Administration - October 2011