Credit Recovery

Abstract

Credit recovery programs are a form of alternative learning in which students have an additional opportunity to gain credit, or pass, a previously failed class by retaking the course, either in full or with key standards. Although little scientific research exists regarding the effectiveness of credit recovery, in addition to the short- and long-term impacts that it has on students, research has determined that students of color and students with disabilities are disproportionally represented within credit recovery programs. As a result, some of a school's most vulnerable students end up in credit recovery programs and directly experience the inequitable implications of the programming. This chapter examines the history of credit recovery, the studies that have sought to address its effectiveness as an intervention, the inequalities that the system has inadvertently created, and future recommendations for consideration.