Bringing Rigor to Credit Recovery at Avon High School

Avon High School has grown its credit recovery program by 10x over 16 years, even while raising the bar for students. 

When Denise Handlon first moved into the lead role managing the credit recovery program at Avon High School (AHS) in suburban Indianapolis in 2009, students were able to test out of certain lessons if they scored high enough on a pretest. But Handlon found this wasn't always predictive of the level of mastery the district desired on end-of-course exams, so it later revised the policy to ensure that students would complete the work for priority credit recovery units rather than skipping them.

The decision is just one of the many ways in which AHS has improved its credit recovery program over the years to align with local needs and ensure that students who take courses for credit recovery have the same high learning expectations as those taking the courses in an original credit setting. The district has succeeded in this effort even as the program has grown in size. The number of credits awarded in 2024–25 was 940, up from an original number of 80 when it was a fledgling program.

“I hate to say it’s become tougher, but I think it has,” reflects Handlon, online education director for AHS. “We want to make sure there’s integrity to the program. We’re not going to just ‘gift’ a student a biology grade that other kids worked hard for. Students in credit recovery have to do the work. For some kids, this is the only diploma or degree that they’re going to get, and it needs to mean something.” 

This emphasis on ensuring rigor is important to consider in the context of post-pandemic trends, in which national graduation numbers have risen, even as test scores and college admission numbers have declined—suggesting that some graduates may lack the skills of pre-2020 students. Yet, AHS has maintained a graduation rate of 97 percent (well above the state median), while credit recovery teachers enforce high standards and take proactive steps to prevent cheating and other shortcuts. Impressively, 90 percent of Avon High School graduates are employed or enrolled in postsecondary education a year after graduating, with over 75 percent going on to attend a two- or four-year institution. 

“Schools that lower expectations aren’t doing kids any favors,” Handlon remarks. “If you let them cheat or you give them too much help, then they don’t think they’re capable of doing the work. But when they get through a challenging course that at first felt near impossible, they realize: ‘Oh, I’m smarter than I thought.’”

A Level Playing Field

Handlon attributes much of the success of AHS’ credit recovery program to a mix of deliberate district policy, the hands-on work of teachers, and the use of high-quality curricula. The high school’s online education learning lab seats up to 60 students, and three teachers provide one-on-one support—one for math and science, one for English and fine arts, and Handlon herself for social studies and career and technical courses. This teacher-supported implementation model is a critical best practice for successful online credit recovery (OCR), as determined by multiple research studies and recommended in Edmentum’s OCR guidance. 

While many students in AHS’ credit recovery program have previously failed classes, the program also includes new students who need to earn credits in AHS-specific courses, honors students retaking a class to improve a grade, homebound students, and students in other alternative settings. 

Nationally, credit recovery programs have occasionally come under fire for lax standards, with some districts awarding students an entire semester’s worth of credits in a single day or placing students into “quickie” credit recovery courses and pressuring teachers to revise failing grades to boost graduation rates. These headline-grabbing cases illustrate how implementation practices can dramatically skew outcomes—and why it is important for districts to bring just as much care and rigor to credit recovery programs as to original credit settings. 

Handlon has observed occasions where schools fail to establish policies and practices to protect academic integrity—such as allowing students to progress through tests without oversight or requirements about pacing or not assigning proctors for exams—and feels that it not only puts schools at risk but also hurts students. Students in those settings won’t master their coursework, and they’ll still be on an uneven playing field compared to peers. 

To pass credit recovery courses, AHS students must complete all tutorials for a required amount of time, fill out guided notes completely, and score 80 percent or higher on all quizzes before they can take the post-test. Unit exams and final exams must be taken on locked-down computers with monitoring software that blocks cheating websites. AHS uses Edmentum Courseware for its digital curricula. Courseware’s settings and features equip the school’s faculty and staff with tools to track every lesson, module, quiz, and assignment in real-time through AHS’ gradebook system—allowing teachers to intervene immediately when students fall behind. 

“Kids have immediate knowledge of where they stand,” Handlon notes. “Counselors and parents can look and see what is going on. That was something that definitely evolved over time, but it ultimately makes everyone more accountable.”

Creating Connections

Behind Avon High School’s sparkling graduation numbers are countless stories of students who found their way back onto the path toward success in the online learning lab. Handlon remembers one student who was on the verge of a semester-long suspension before he transferred into her program and thrived. 

“I said, ‘Give him to me,’” Handlon recalls. “He took the rest of his courses, and we got him onto the graduation stage. He did the work, and the format worked for him. I still get messages from him on Facebook, thanking me.” 

Handlon said those same words—Give him to me—about another student who was close to dropping out. She provided the student a dose of “tough love,” letting him know how close he was to failing out of school. Ultimately, the boy went on to join the military, and he invited Handlon to his graduation open house. 

Another memorable student, a football player, intentionally sat directly next to Handlon’s desk and worked with her to get his grades up for college. “I know you’ll make me stay on task,” he told her. Years later, Handlon received an invitation to his wedding. 

“I think one key to what makes the program work is the relationships with the kids,” Handlon says. “One of my former students cuts my hair now. I’ll be in her salon, and she’ll tell people she wouldn’t have graduated if it weren’t for me. That’s not completely true, but it’s so great to see the victories of the kids you really did help get there.”  

Read Next:

• Inside the Indianapolis Public Schools Mastery Model of Credit Recovery
• Back On Track with Credit Recovery: How Pasco County Schools Creates Impact

About the author

Calvin Hennick has written for Scholastic Instructor, EdTech Magazine, The Boston Globe, and dozens of other publications. His debut memoir, Once More to the Rodeo, was named one of the Best Books of the Year by Amazon. He began his career as a middle-school English teacher with Teach For America.