Hybrid Leanring | News

Nevada Alternative School Revamps Blended Schedule, Improves Progress

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 03/28/14

Nye County School District's alternative school has nearly doubled the number of credits students have earned in its hybrid learning program, in part by restructuring the way students take courses.

The school, which uses online curriculum from Odysseyware, previously allowed students to take all of their courses for the year simultaneously and encouraged them to spend approximately 20 hours each week working on any of those courses they chose.

As the school prepared to overhaul their hybrid program, Principal Karen Hills enrolled herself in a typical courseload of a half-dozen classes.

"Given the choice between so many courses, I found myself thinking, 'I don't want to do math today,' or 'oh, my favorite show is on!' It was hard to stay focused," Hills said in a prepared statement. "I knew if I was struggling to get the work done, my students were too."

Now the school gives students three weeks to complete one course at a time.

"Since implementing their new model," the school's 123 current high school students in the blended learning program "have already completed 133 more credits than the 162 students who were enrolled last year – in half the time," according to a news release.

"We're seeing unbelievable learning gains with the new program," said Hills. "People used to think of our school as a 'destination of last resort,' and we're proving them wrong."