Often called the "silent epidemic" in our nation's high schools, high dropout rates put individual students' futures at risk and pose enormous challenges to our nation's economic and social well being. Online credit recovery is an option that is rapidly gaining acceptance thanks to its unique ability to help address the dropout crisis. With innovative delivery options that include before/after school models, weekend programs, and offerings during the school day, online credit recovery is delivering important benefits to students and schools alike including efficiency, flexibility, and cost effectiveness. St. Tammany Parish Public Schools (LA) describes how they are using online credit recovery, delivered through a virtual school, to engage students with personalized learning opportunities and maximize district resources in order to increase graduation rates. Also explored is how the Blackboard Learn(TM) platform provides the foundation for a district-based online credit recovery program.

1. Tuesday September 1, 2009 Dr. Regina Sanford , Secondary Supervisor of Instruction, St. Tammany Parish Schools Rachael Blanchard , Instructional Technology Curriculum Specialist, St. Tammany Parish Schools Stacey Alexius, Secondary Curriculum Specialist, St. Tammany Parish Schools Mike Petersen , Manager, K-12 Solutions Engineers, Blackboard Delivering Online Credit Recovery: Featuring St. Tammany Parish Public Schools

2. 20 million users 9 global offices across 4 continents Born from education in 1997 1,000+ of us, working with 5,200+ of you Extended by 2,500 developers and partners +

5. Client Community

7. Virtual Learning St. Tammany Parish Schools Louisiana

13. Virtual Learning

14. Carnegie Credit Courses

17. Digital Curriculum: Course

18. Digital Curriculum: Unit

19. Digital Curriculum: Lesson

20. Digital Curriculum: Activity

27. www.k12perspectives.com Strong credit recovery programs help to knock out excuses for students not to succeed. Ms. Rose Valderaz Director, Virtual High School Ector County, Texas