A Choice between Second Chances: An Analysis of How Students Address Course Failure

Purpose: On average, one in five high school students in North Carolina fails at least one core, required course every year. After failure, students have two options to regain course credit: repeat the course face-to-face (F2F) or online credit recovery (OCR). This study seeks to provide descriptive evidence on OCR/F2F enrollment patterns over time and across schools. Research Methods: The data include administrative records from the state of North Carolina on all high school students enrolled in public schools between the 2012–13 and 2016–17 school years. Analyses are descriptive with ordinary least squares regression and multilevel models. Findings: OCR has grown in popularity: schools, on average, were as likely to enroll students in OCR as F2F courses by 2015–16. Increasing high school graduation rates and decreasing test score proficiency are correlated with increasing OCR enrollment at the school level. Students with more absences and Black students are more likely to enroll in OCR, and students with disabilities are less likely to enroll. OCR enrollment is associated with a 12 percentage point increase in the probability of earning course credit over F2F courses, although this could indicate students more likely to earn course credit are assigned to OCR. Implications: School leaders should consider how they assign students to OCR/F2F given the findings indicating OCR enrollment could come with intended benefits for credit earning but unintended negative consequences for test scores. Future research could explore these processes to understand the most effective uses of OCR for student remediation of course credit.