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Failing a required high school course can knock students off the path to graduation. But schools across the nation let students make up for failed courses through credit recovery programs. Done well, credit recovery can keep students on track for graduation without sacrificing quality or rigor. But too often, credit recovery is given through high-volume, low-quality programs that can boost graduation rates while eroding expectations and harming the students they aim to help.
New research from AEI explores high school credit recovery programs across the nation and at the state level. Nationally, about three in four US high schools offer credit recovery, and six percent of high school students are enrolled.
We also created a new interactive tool, which looks at credit recovery participation in each state. These state profiles provide the first comprehensive look at state credit recovery programs, and show the degree to which each states’ pattern compares to national trends. One key takeaway: State participation is all over the map, with some states far below the national rate, others well above it—and most right in the middle.
As seen in the map, five states had credit recovery participation rates exceeding 10 percent—meaning one in 10 students was failing at least one class. In California, South Dakota, Arkansas, and Rhode Island, student participation was well above the national average at 10 percent. And Washington, DC—with its recent, but not unique, graduation-rate scandal involving credit recovery—had double the national participation rate.
While participation is concentrated in some states, these programs are district-run affairs, and the problems they can produce are most likely in schools with high participation rates. These “Peak” credit recovery schools—which have at least 18 percent of students participating—make up 8 percent of all high schools, but are home to 39 percent of all credit recovery participants. In California, 17 percent of schools are in this Peak credit recovery category, but they serve 57 percent of all credit recovery students. In Rhode Island, Peak schools make up 19 percent of high schools and serve 70 percent of credit recovery students.
Most states follow the national pattern where schools with high-volume credit recovery programs stand out from other schools. They have more poor and minority students, lower reading and math proficiency, and lower graduation rates than do schools with lower participation. However, they have larger graduation-rate increases, raising speculation about whether an increase in credit recovery has become a short-cut to push ever more students over the finish line. In California, for instance, Peak schools had larger graduation-rate increases than other high schools in the state for four years running.
But even with these state profiles, far too little is known about these programs—and too little attention is paid to them. State and district leaders must focus attention on these rapidly expanding programs to ensure that they create viable, rigorous second chances for students to meet expectations for graduation, rather than watered-down second tracks that primarily push disadvantaged students around them.
Too often, high school credit recovery is given through high-volume, low-quality programs that can boost graduation rates while eroding expectations and harming the students they aim to help.
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