Home > Successes > NovaNET > Pathfinders Alternative/Adult Education

Pathfinders Alternative/Adult Education
Dowagiac,MI

Success Story Highlights

• Alternative Education students who normally do not thrive in a traditional high school setting are reaching their goals with the NovaNET Pathfinders program.
• Students at Pathfinders Alternative/Adult Education are using Pearson Digital Learning NovaNET to increase skills and graduate on time.
• Since implementing NovaNET in 2000, the number of students graduating from the Alternative Education program has increased from 1 to 6 students per year.
• Many students in the program are using the Pathfinders program as a supplement to their work and school schedule, effectively allowing them to fit more learning and work into their day

School District Profile

Pathfinders Alternative/Adult Education is located in Cass County in southwestern Michigan and is one of eight schools in the Dowagiac Union School District. Total enrollment for the high school is 790, while the district enrolls 3,000 students. The school population is 76 percent Caucasian, 12 percent African-American, 10 percent Hispanic, and 1 percent Native American.

Challenge

The challenge at Pathfinders Alternative/Adult Education was to make curricular changes within the alternative education program. The program coordinator knew there was more the program could do to meet the needs of its students. For instance, in a recent Dowagiac Daily News article, Russ Bergemann, semi-retired staff member at Pathfinders, compares the old alternative education program with the new NovaNET program: “If you had a math teacher, the students got math. With NovaNET, you can have it all. We can have a whole array of courses, instead of going along with whoever you had available teaching whatever they knew.”

Solution

Pathfinders Alternative/Adult Education implemented the NovaNET computerized curriculum in 2000.

The Pathfinders Program from NovaNET is located at the Dowagiac Alternative Learning Center. Previously an old airplane hangar, the center was converted into classrooms in October 2000.

Pathfinders' Alternative Education Center.

Students using NovaNET, about fifty in all, are connected to an online system through which they study high school language arts, math, science, and social studies. Elective courses are also available through the program.

The 21-station computer lab is open from 7a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. In addition, in 2002-2003, administrators will add a Saturday morning shift and keep the center open until 8 p.m. How much time the lab is made available is up to the administrators, as NovaNET is online 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

While students are normally assigned to one of three four-hour sessions in a day, they can visit the lab at other times to catch up on work. The center’s staff of six includes three retired teachers who each cover one shift per day.

Students are using the Pathfinders program for various reasons. They may be unable to excel in a traditional high school setting for behavioral or emotional reasons; some may hold jobs and need a place to expand their education during specified hours; while others may be young parents trying to balance work, school, and caring for a family. The program is a way to juggle daily activities and still succeed within a reasonable time frame.

One student at the Alternative Center says, “With the program, you don’t have to have a whole class wait while a student gets help. And if we have an emotional problem outside of school, we have support here too. It’s a good program.”

Students using NovaNET can gain high school credits in addition to credits for college. Students enjoy the program because they can go at their own pace and there are no lectures.

Student Danielle Carlson takes a break from her NovaNET session.

Results

With NovaNET, Pathfinders' instructors have gained the ability to monitor student progress via computer. They track what students have covered, time spent on topics, and scores they receive on tests. A recent article in the Dowagiac Daily News discusses a student who thinks the Pathfinders program may be even more challenging than traditional high school, because a 90 percent is needed to pass, as opposed to the 70 percent required in a traditional setting. With NovaNET, students need a more comprehensive understanding of subjects to move ahead.

The results show that NovaNET has helped Pathfinders alternative education students:

• During 2000-2001, the year NovaNET was implemented at Pathfinders, the alternative program graduated 6 students.
• Another 6 students graduated in 2001-2002 school year.
• The 6 graduating students per year since 2000 have been based on an average enrollment of 50 students per year.
• From 1997-2000, prior to NovaNET being implemented, only a total of three students had graduated—one per year.
• During 2000-2001, eight regular high school students earned recovery credit that allowed them to graduate, and in 2001-2002, nine students recovered credit and graduated with their class.
• Dowagiac had 14 regular high school students recover credit during summer school of 2001

“NovaNET is a way to access a research-based, knowledge-driven curriculum that is organized, supervised, and provides kids opportunities to really unleash their own potential,” concludes Assistant Superintendent Todd Bingaman.
 

Contact us for additional information on how Pearson Digital Learning can help you achieve results with NovaNET.