In this section you will find audio or video interviews focused on Credit Recovery best practices, tips, or exemplars. Schools or counties across the state will share what works for them and the lessons they've learned while implementing Credit Recovery in their schools. We hope that you find the information useful.
April 2010 - Students in the NCVPS Credit Recovery program work at their own individualized pace. What can you do if students master the course before the end of the semester? Click here to listen to one lab facilitator's story to find out how she planned for that situation during the Fall 2009 semester. Feel free to contact the facilitator, Erin Johnson, at ejohnson2@wcpss.net if you have any questions about her experience.
November 2009 - Shelby High School shares their motivation tips and techniques for their NC Virtual Public School Credit Recovery students. To hear this podcast, click here.
NCVPS Credit Recovery options for Summer 2010
NCVPS Credit Recovery courses for SUMMER 2010 are now available for registration! Below is important information about the NCVPS Credit Recovery program. Please contact Michelle Lourcey (contact information below) with any questions.
Credit Recovery Courses Available for Summer 2010 - TWO NEW COURSES AVAILABLE
Algebra I
Algebra II
Biology
Civics and Economics
English I
English II
English III
English IV
Geometry
Physical Science
US History
World History
Characteristics of the NCVPS Credit Recovery Program:
The Credit Recovery program is designed for students who have recently failed the course and/or the EOC. The course is designed for the student who has failed the course and needs to repeat the course.
All Credit Recovery courses are mastery based; this means that students will pre-assess at the beginning of each unit, and this pre-assessment will help teachers to determine which assignments from that unit are required for the student to complete for mastery. A high score on the pre-assessment will allow the student to exempt most or all of the assignments of the unit. All courses are designed and taught by highly qualified, highly successful classroom teachers in North Carolina.
All assignments in the course will align with the goals of the Standard Course of Study and will prepare students for the re-taking of the EOC. Once a student masters an assignment, the student will move on to the next assignment. If a student does not master an assignment, the student will remediate the concepts and/or be given another assignment that assesses the material in a different way by his or her teacher.
Students will have weekly contact with their teacher in a synchronous environment as well as daily contact via the messaging system. Once all units of the course are mastered, NCVPS will notify the school of the student’s completion of the course and a final numerical grade earned for the course on the final grade report. EOC testing will be the responsibility of the school; the school will also need to calculate the student’s final grade using the NCVPS final course grade and the EOC grade. Teachers will not distribute grades to the students but will communicate in terms of mastery and non-mastery of assignments. Each school will need to communicate final grades to students and parents for those students who master the course. For those students who do not master the course, NCVPS will designate those students as Non-Mastery in the final reporting.
Important information:
Summer 2010 Credit Recovery runs from June 14 until August 9. The courses are student paced, so the student can master the course early, however, students are expected to work daily in the course. Pacing Guides are provided for each student’s course and in the DLA SPA.
All registration must happen through the student’s school level Distance Learning Advisor.
In order for a student to be enrolled in a Credit Recovery course, the student must have previously failed the course; the course cannot be taken for first time credit. State Board policy says that students who have scored a Level III or higher on an EOC are not eligible to retest once the course has been mastered.
The school needs to have a plan for supporting its Credit Recovery students during the fall session. Every two weeks, the teacher will email the school contact (and the student and parent) a mastery chart detailing the assignments the student has mastered and not mastered. This will give the school a bi-weekly assessment of the student’s progress. The expectation is that the school contact will be making contact with the students to discuss progress.
Students must have daily access to a reliable, working computer. Students also must be able and willing to devote three to four hours every day to working in the course in order to stay on pace.
The registration system is open for all Credit Recovery courses listed above. You will find the courses listed with CR before the title of the course. It is very important that DLAs register students for the Credit Recovery courses that have the CR before the title and for Summer 2010.
On the NCVPS website under “Courses,” DLAs will find the course codes for these courses and the course descriptions.
For questions, please contact:
Michelle Lourcey
Curriculum and Instruction Division Director – Credit Recovery
Five Questions to Consider When Choosing
a Credit Recovery Program for Your Students
Choosing a credit recovery program for your students is a major decision that involves issues ranging from the financial costs of the program to the level of preparedness a program provides for students. Below are some questions to consider when choosing a credit recovery program and some ideas about how the NCVPS credit recovery model works. This free program is available to all North Carolina public schools.
1. Is the credit recovery program aligned to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, and how much will the school need to modify the material for the students?
The NCVPS credit recovery courses are completely aligned to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. Our courses are written by highly qualified North Carolina teachers who are currently teaching in the face-to-face environment in addition to being trained to teach online. Other programs may require modifications on the part of the school in order to be aligned with the NC Standard Course of Study. Our courses require no modifications from local school districts because we have created a full course, just as a student would receive if the course were repeated in the traditional environment. However, the benefit of taking an online course for credit recovery with NCVPS is that students can show knowledge of content, exempt out of material, and move at their own pace.
2. How do students move through the credit recovery program and how is their learning supported?
The NCVPS credit recovery model is unique in several ways; first, students can move at their own pace, but they do so with a North Carolina certified teacher to guide them. Our teachers map out the students’ paths for each unit depending upon the skills the students have already mastered or still lack as shown through the pre-assessments. Second, the student/teacher relationship is critical; the teacher is available to work one-on-one with the student each week, and the teacher is in constant communication with the student – providing feedback on assignments, encouraging the student, and answering questions. Teacher class size is one teacher for every twenty students. Teachers also provide student updates to the school contact twice a month during the regular semester and weekly during the summer session.
3. Does the credit recovery program meet the individual learning needs of the students?
Students need engagement, and the NCVPS credit recovery courses provide that engagement. Individual student learning styles are also addressed within each course. Students access the content in multiple ways including reading material, viewing appropriate videos, using interactive tools to learn concepts, practicing the concepts in a variety of ways, and then showing their learning in a variety of ways. Students do more than look at a computer screen and click answers; students are involved in their own learning and they are responsible for their own learning. Teachers support the students so that they can be successful in this process.
4. Does the credit recovery program prepare students for the next level of instruction?
NCVPS believes that a credit recovery program should do more than meet an immediate need. While it may be more convenient to give students a few hours in front of a computer screen and that be the end of the recovery process, NCVPS believes that credit recovery programs should ensure that all the goals of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study are being achieved and that students are not only prepared for the EOC if required, but students are prepared to go onto the next level of instruction. There should not be gaps in the student’s learning just because the student went through a credit recovery program. Instead, students should be able to excel in a credit recovery program by demonstrating prior learning while learning the material not mastered the first time the course was taken. When students finish a credit recovery program, all stakeholders should have confidence that the material was learned. This does meet the immediate need, but it may require more time and commitment from both the student and the school.
5. What happens if students do not master the material the first time – what happens next?
With the NCVPS credit recovery program, if students do not master material the first time, a teacher remediates with the students. Students do not repeat the same assignments over and over until mastery is achieved. Teachers give students different assignments by presenting the material in a different way and then students can show mastery of the material once again but not necessarily by doing the same assignment over. Students do not all learn the same way, and we recognize this; our remediation is individualized to the student and directed by a certified teacher.
What’s the bottom line? Schools need to decide what their long range goals are for their credit recovery students. We hope we can help you meet those goals by providing quality content and instruction that prepares the student for future learning.
Want more information? We would love to talk to you! Please contact:
Michelle Lourcey
