Integrating Technology to Help Students Graduate

By Austin, Donald

To help more students graduate, a high school implements online curricula and learns some important lessons as well.

La Sierra High School in Riverside, CA, is no different than most other large suburban schools. La Sierra’s diverse population mirrors the state’s averages in ethnicity and economic status. And each year, a number of new students arrive unable to demonstrate proficiency in core academic subjects.

In 2000-01, for example, La Sierra had 29 seniors who were not going to graduate because they failed a government/economics requirement. The only way for them to meet that requirement was to drive 10 miles to take an evening adult education class. Faced with this option, many seniors simply gave up on graduation. It became obvious that once seniors fell behind in credits, they often felt helpless, and it was equally apparent that La Sierra was not providing adequate options for those students.

So rather than leave those students behind, my staff and I decided to take a new approach. We implemented NovaNET, comprehensive online course software, to give those students the opportunity to recover the credits they needed to fulfill the government/ economics requirement. The software identified each student’s academic deficiencies and made it easier to remediate the specific skills he or she needed to complete the course. The result? All 29 seniors graduated.

In light of that success, we began to look for ways to use the technology in other core curriculum areas. To make room in the schedule, we began to evaluate classes for relevance, and many failed the test. We eliminated our lowest-level courses, which had been created with good intentions but were rooted in low expectations. We re-educated our staff members to understand that students can succeed if they receive support in addition to a rigorous core curriculum.

Our students didn’t disappoint us. After they used NovaNET to supplement their challenging courses, their fail rate decreased by nearly 50%, and our test scores soared.

All Students Can Learn

Educators believe that all students can learn, but we also know that some students simply are not successful in traditional classrooms. A case study at La Sierra revealed that more than 70% of the students who failed a regular class also failed that same class the next time they took it. The answer, clearly, was not additional seat time. Instead of simply offering more seat time, we decided to become proactive about meeting our students’ needs across the board. So as outdated and lower-level courses were eliminated, we started filling our schedule with courses supported by technology-based instruction.

We implemented instructional technology to:

* Help seniors recover credits in courses required for graduation

* Provide academic support for incoming freshman who were identified as low-performing or below grade level in mathematics and English

* Help students in grades 9-12 fill in holes and recover credits in core curriculum areas

* Provide distance-learning opportunities to allow students to take required courses from home while teachers monitor their progress.

We quickly discovered that the more technology we offered, the more demand grew. To keep up, we gradually expanded the hours of the computer lab from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and it is filled with students throughout the day.

Individual Attention

Some students need the individual attention that is possible dirough technologybased instruction models. At-risk students suffer from poor efficacy, expectancy, and confidence, and the flexibility that technology provides helps them fill in the gaps that have grown throughout their previous years of education. Research has demonstrated that self-perceptions of academic ability are in place by age nine, and that those perceptions rarely improve. Further, research suggests that students’ confidence in their ability actually declines over time as self-doubt is reinforced by academic failures. Without confidence in their academic abilities, students are less likely to engage in positive academic risk-taking behaviors, and the achievement gap will widen.

The beauty of instructional technology is the absence of bias. A computer program is not concerned with demographics or behavioral issues. This is not to say that schools are not full of caring, concerned, and competent teachers, but it is difficult for every teacher to conduct the equivalent of an IEP for every student. Some forms of instructional technology can accomplish that task in a relatively short amount of time. Of course, high-achieving students also need support, and instructional technology has opened the door for distance-learning opportunities and accelerated courses.

Selecting the Right Teacher

When I selected teachers to work with students in the computer lab, I learned something surprising: it isn’t essential that the teacher be a computer expert or a techie. It is more important that the teacher be someone whom students want to be around and who will support students. The teacher must be flexible and motivating and willing to work with students who struggle, demonstrate discipline issues, or have previous failures. It is also important to note that the success of a technology program does not rest solely on the shoulders of teachers and students; it rests on my shoulders as well. By learning how to use the online course software reports and data, I can verify that the teachers and students are properly implementing the software and achieving results, and I can intervene as necessary.

Results

To take a critical look at the program results, we conducted a study of students who were enrolled in Algebra A and who took the California Standards Test (CST). The control group was randomly selected from students who were not using the course software. The experimental group used the online curriculum. There were no statistically significant differences between the demographics of the two groups, although the experimental group was slightly more at- risk. The study used ANOVA and ANCOVA procedures, and created change- score statistics. The study showed that the students who used the online curricula consistently outperformed their less-at-risk peers in improving their test scores. From 2002-03 to 2003-04:

* 33.3% of the control group increased CST mathematics scores, and 50.4% of the online curriculum users improved

* 54.1% of the mathematics California Achievement Test (CAT-6) scores improved in the control group, and 65.5% of the scores improved in the online curriculum group.

We found similar results in English language arts. From 2002-03 to 2003-04:

* 25.7% of all control group students improved their CST English scores at least one level, and 42.9% of the online curriculum group improved

* 44.4% of the control group improved in the language portion of the normreferenced test, compared to 62.9% of the online curriculum students

* The results were stronger for demographic subgroups.

We know that instructional technology has made a significant difference for many students at La Sierra. In 2004-05 alone, students earned more than 2,000 credits using the online course software.

In addition to helping students achieve gains in madiematics and English language arts on the CST and CAT-6, the technology has had a positive influence on the school culture and the expectations for student learning and teacher practices. For example, during the last four years, evaluations have consistently found that students who participated in the instructional technology program in math improved their attendance in school, improved their grades in regular math courses when they received a supplemental support course in math in the computer lab, and improved their performance on the district curriculum assessments.

Working Smarter

With the constant stresses on the education system, it is important to work smarter in our classrooms. Educators must stop rationalizing failures and reinforcing low expectations. Educators need to move beyond the limitations of how things have been done in the past. Instructional technology has helped educators and students at La Sierra use their time more effectively, giving them the opportunity to focus their efforts on the truly essential matters at hand. It has equipped students with the skills that make them feel proficient and competent, and confident and engaged students will experience success and repeat the behaviors that contributed to that success.

Getting Ready

Evaluating a Courseware System

* Review the system’s strengths and weaknesses, defining features, and costs and benefits.

* Ensure that an adequate technology infrastructure exists to support the system.

* Review objective evaluation research reports.

* Conduct your own pilot studies with your own students using multiple objective measures and methods.

Implementing a Courseware System

* Identify an at-risk or target population who will use the system.

* Specify academic goals for system use and student learning.

* Explore how to integrate the program into existing curricular goals and content standards.

* Develop computer lab or classroom schedules that will enable the target population to receive enough time to use the courseware.

* Plan and implement teacher training and professional d\evelopment to ensure that teachers engage in best practices.

Donald Austin (daustin@alvord.kl2.ca.us) is the principal of La Sierra High School in Riverside, CA.

Copyright National Association of Secondary School Principals Feb 2006