Last summer, Owen
County Schools announced its new credit recovery program, NOVEL/STARS,
to be used at Owen County High School and Bowling Middle School.
One year later, OCHS reports its unsuccessful-transition rate
is down 10 percent and student achievement is up.
Tim Hitzfield, principal at OCHS, credits the improvement to
the three-step system in place at the school. In addition to
the credit recovery program, a dropout prevention coordinator,
Charles Hagg, makes home visits to at-risk students, and high
school administration “provides invervention everyday,”
Hitzfield said.
Educational Options, creator of NOVEL/STARS, was recently named
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year in Washingon,
D.C., and Owen County was cited as one of the school districts
that has helped the company win the prestigious award.
Mark Cleveland, superintendent of Owen County Schools, first
pitched the idea of NOVEL/STARS after learning about it at a
conference. He says what sold him on the program was talking
to superintendents at other school districts using the credit
recovery program.
The schools previously had “very limited programs,”
said Cleveland. “Normally an educator makes a student
repeat a class, but if we can develop programs to present the
same content in a different way, maybe we’ll get better
results.”
In its inaugural year at OCHS, NOVEL/STARS helped 63 students
recover 133 credits with some students making up as many as
five credits in one semester.
“We are being proactive with safety nets,” Hitzfield
said, and NOVEL/STARS is in place for students who fall behind.
The students who use the program can recover credits during
the school year and at summer school in core classes such as
math, social studies, English or health, for example.
While school is in session, Linda Singleton runs the credit
recovery program and she says NOVEL/STARS has made her job easier
because the computer helps with grading assignments. “I
only have to grade the written part,” she said, leaving
her more time to interact with students.
Lauren Johnson, one of five teachers who run the summer school
at OCHS, said she likes the program because it “gives
students an excellent opportunity to gain credits without compromising
the content of the courses.” She also said it “works
more efficiently” than the old summer school system.
Before NOVEL/STARS, Owen County students could only recover
one class credit during summer school and they had to cover
all class material again, whether they knew it already or not.
Under the new system, students are made responsible for their
own education.
Mike Figgins explains that the first thing students do is take
a pre-assessment to determine what they have already learned
in the content area. “If they can demonstrate their knowledge,
students may test out of certain units or chapters,” he
said. Hitzfield adds that students seem to like the “self-paced,
Web-based” structure. If students want to work on a lesson
outside of school, that is available to them, but tests can
only be taken with a teacher present.
Sarah David, social studies teacher at OCHS, said NOVEL/STARS
“makes kids more responsible for their own learning and
allows them to work at their own pace.”
An advantage many teachers are aware of is the program’s
affect on classroom discipline. “Classes are free the
first time around, but they have to pay for the second. That
has made a difference,” Kim Webster said.
The fee charged to Owen County students for using NOVEL/STARS
is $50, regardless of how many classes are being taken. That
is approximately one-third the cost per student charged to the
district. It is also considerably less than what other Kentucky
schools charge for summer school. According to its Web site,
Fayette County schools charge high school students $160 to take
one summer class and $320 to take two classes during the summer.
There are currently 30 students enrolled in summer school —
down from 38 students in 2005 — who will have automatic
first choice at the 50 spots available during the 2006-07 school
year.
