Like many cities across the country, Vallejo, California, is challenged by financial strains. Yet over the past several months, the Vallejo City Unified School District Adult School has found a new way to keep more of its at-risk high school students on track toward graduation, despite limited resources.
Since March 2012, when Vallejo City Unified School District Adult School implemented a new online learning curriculum, Aventa Learning® by K12, nearly 200 students have recovered more than 900 high school credits enabling them to either graduate or get back on the path toward graduation. This is a 25% increase over the number of students who attempted to recover credits in the spring and summer semesters of 2011, when classes were offered in the traditional classroom setting, or through a state-supplied software program.
“We selected the Aventa curriculum because of its rigor, its built-in tools to help teachers ensure student accountability, and because it meets the University of California a-g requirements,” said Paul Jacobs, Principal of Vallejo City Unified School District’s Adult School and administrator of the District's Aventa program. “I am not only impressed by the curriculum, but by how much our students like Aventa.”
In a survey of his students, Jacobs found that they preferred the Aventa curriculum 78% to 22% over the state-supplied software program and 58% to 42% over the traditional classroom for recovering credits. Students cited the curriculum’s interactivity, ease of use, and its ability to prepare them for final exams as key reasons they preferred Aventa.
Through the diagnostic-driven model, unit-level assessments measure mastery of critical concepts in 18 subjects, allowing students to bypass topics they previously mastered and focus on more difficult concepts.
Aventa also offers a comprehensive online curriculum of high-quality, standards-based online courses for middle and high school. Covering all core subjects, world languages and electives, over 140 Aventa courses feature a multimedia format that includes graphics, avatars, simulations, and videos. Courses can be hosted on virtually all major learning management platforms.
