Credit recovery participation in US high schools

While test-score growth has lagged recently, upward progress on graduation rates has not, and record graduation rates have been offered as proof of progress. However, the fact that rising graduation rates have not been accompanied by broad-based increases in high school test scores should raise a red flag. That pattern suggests that record graduation rates flow from additional supports that schools are providing to students who—in prior years—might not have graduated without them.

Chief among these supports are credit recovery programs, which help students who have failed a class get back on track for graduation without repeating a year of school. These programs are available in approximately three in four US high schools and serve 6 percent of high school students. Despite their broad scope, relatively little is known about these programs’ effectiveness, administration, or where they are used most liberally.

This report uses a number of data sources to describe the landscape of credit recovery programs and participation across the nation’s high schools, focusing on those with high participation. Done well, credit recovery can give students a second chance to stay on track to graduation. Done poorly, it creates a second track that threatens school cultures and lowers our expectations for our most disadvantaged students and the schools that serve them.