Upgrades Result in Higher Student Success Rate

By Leslie Cranford, Section Manager

TTU K-12 continues to be the leader and innovator in K-12 online education. In September 2019, TTU K-12 unveiled significant changes to many aspects of its programming. A year later, as anticipated, students are showing greater success in completion and passing rates.

For the period Sept. 1, 2019 to Sept. 1, 2020, four out of five students successfully completed their courses. About 78% of students who started a course completed it with a passing grade, up from 64% the previous academic year.

The most significant change in 2019 included an update to the grading policy, providing more formative low-stakes assessments to help students build to mastery of the content. Another change included 24/7 online proctoring, allowing students to take an exam anytime, from anywhere, whenever they are ready. Also, for the first time, TTU K-12 hired full-time lead teachers to provide additional support for students, to support part-time teachers, and to provide instructional consistency and continual improvement of the curriculum. All TTU K-12 teachers are Texas-certified, and their virtual office hours provide even more support for students.

Other upgrades included a common look to course syllabi and content reviews for all final exams. The course catalog also has been expanded with a full offering of Advance Placement courses and additional electives to support the Texas graduation endorsement areas.