At-Risk Student Performance on State EOC Assessments On Par with Original Credit Student Performance in Sarasota County Schools Year 2

During the 2014-2015 school year, 1,706 students participating in the Sarasota County Schools PBD program attempted 5,998 Apex Learning Comprehensive Course enrollments. Seventy-one percent of enrollments (4,227 out of 5,998) were completed by 1,226 students with a passing grade earning a total of 2,490 credits. The percent of credits earned for Courses attempted ranged from 63.3% to 81.0% by subject. Table 1 shows the number of enrollments completed and withdrawn, and number of credits attempted and earned by subject for students participating in the PBD program.

PBD participants completing Apex Learning Courses for original credit and credit recovery achieved similar average scores as students completing courses for original credit in traditional classroom settings on the Algebra I, Biology, and Geometry EOC assessments (Figure 4). The average U.S. History EOC score for PBD participants completing Apex Learning Courses for original credit and credit recovery was lower than the average score of similar students completing coursework for original credit in traditional classroom environments (ES = -.38, p<.00).

Additionally, PBD participants completing Apex Learning Courses for original credit and credit recovery passed the Algebra I, Biology, and Geometry EOC assessments at similar rates as students completing courses for original credit in traditional classroom settings. Conversely, PBD participants passed the U.S. History EOC assessment at lower rates than students completing courses for initial credit in traditional classroom settings (OR=.23, p<.05). Table 9 located in the appendix shows the odds ratio for passing each EOC exam for students participating in the PBD program compared to similar students completing courses for original credit in traditional classrooms controlling for pretest ability, minority race/ethnicity, gender, learning disability, grade level, and school.