Group of teens at Persistence Summit

August 3, 2023

Summer Credit Recovery is Catching Students from Falling Behind

Thousands of students are staying on track this summer

For about 5,000 City Schools high school students, this summer is the time to catch up and move forward.

The Summer Credit Recovery Program, held for six weeks at five sites, allows students who have fallen behind in their coursework to earn credits and stay on track towards graduation. Either in person or virtually, students can take up to three courses they need to graduate - from required math and English to foreign language, arts, and music.

This summer, dozens of seniors who otherwise would need to delay graduation another year are finishing their degrees. In total, the 5,000 summer attendees are enrolled in 9,085 credits/courses.

The summer program is just one part of the district’s robust student recovery plan, which also features Saturday School and after school recovery programs. “These programs come from an understanding of the challenges our teens face,” explained Ronda Welsh, City Schools Extended Learning Coordinator. “Whether they have responsibilities or obstacles outside of class or in class, we’re making sure they have different options for reaching their goals.” 

Those options include programs with various start times to support students’ varied schedules, day care, and even a Youthworks program paying more than 200 students to attend the recovery program so they don’t have to choose between earning credits and earning money over the summer.

“Many of the classes required for graduation require prerequisite courses to be completed,” explained Welsh. “So if a student fails freshman English (Eng I), for example, they won’t be able to take sophomore English (Eng II) and other courses until they pass it. This has the potential to delay graduation significantly. Credit Recovery exists to change that.”