Credit recovery system helps YUHSD at-risk students stay on track

Yuma Union High School District students in danger of collecting too many outstanding credits now have a lifeline to get them back on track toward graduation.

The district announced last week that Edgenuity, a credit recovery system, has been activated districtwide following a pilot program with Vista High School at the start of the current school year.

“We are finding a lot of value in Edgenuity because it helps students and teachers focus on learning rather than the technology, which works flawlessly,” said Vista Principal Brett Surguine. “It is familiar to our students because they’ve used it before in elementary or middle school. The classes are easy to navigate and give students feedback to keep them moving forward.”

Among schools that implement the system, Edgenuity is known for its

“track record” for improving student performance; in a case study with Appleton Central High School in Wisconsin, one year of utilizing the program bolstered the school’s four-year graduation rate for at-risk students from 16% to 46%, while the dropout rate declined from 14% to 9%.

While piloting the system at Vista this year, Surguine found that the specialized support Edgenuity enables students to receive services to accelerate their academic progress.

“Students can see how many lessons they need to complete each day and teachers get alerts when a student needs extra support,” Surguine said. “The courses are also personalized to students based on what they already know. If students pass a pre-test, they move on to the next lesson right away. Our students frequently know more and have more skills than what we see on their transcript, and this helps students make faster progress toward graduation.”

According to the district, implementing the Edgenuity was a “lengthy process,” beginning in the summer of 2019 with YUHSD’s online learning platform committee.

“The goal of this committee was to find a product that students could use for credit recovery,” said Melissa Ellegood, the district’s director of education technology. “The committee researched various products and learned a little more about available programs. Then we had three companies present to the committee. Edgenuity was the clear winner.”

In May 2020, the district began the months-long process of implementing the system; by August, Vista had become “pioneers,” paving the way for the five remaining YUHSD campuses to house and utilize Edgenuity.

Families who have questions regarding Edgenuity, or those who are interested in learning more about the system and its features, are encouraged to contact the counseling office of their respective campuses or visit the district’s Edgenuity webpage at www.yumaunion.org under “Families” and “Online Classes.”