Provocative questions about credit recovery

"The traditional school is only good for about a third of the kids, the ones who want football, or choir or social activities — kids who have the school bug," says T. Jack Blackmon, who heads up the online-only credit-recovery program in the Dallas Independent School District. 

Blackmon tells the Hechinger Report that, for the remainder of students, school is "just standing in line, waiting for the factory model to give them an education."

That's the most provocative part of Brian Thevenot and Sarah Butrymowicz's fascinating piece on the booming credit recovery movement. But it's not the only part that should have dropout warriors talking.

Here's another observation that deserves discussion: One of the most common critiques of credit recovery programs is that students can "race" through the material without comprehension or retention. 

"But the main reason that all of them can move faster," Thevenot and Butrymowicz argue, "is they’ve seen the material before — even though they got an F, they learned something."

Still, the reporting team concludes, "passing the first time sure beats staring at the same material on a screen."

So which is it? Is online credit recovery the "better-faster" model for the future of all education, or are virtual classes a worst-case scenario? As in most things, the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle. Meanwhile, no doubt about it: Online education is a big part of our nation's educational future — and particularly the future of dropout prevention and recovery.