Colorado Springs District Creates Digital School in Local Mall for 'Disenfranchised' Students

The mall is no longer just a place for shopping for some Colorado high school students. Instead, it is a place where they can go to earn their high school diplomas--using technology in the core content areas. This is because the urban/suburban Colorado Springs School District 11 has created the Digital School as an innovative way to help students recover credits and graduate. The school, which is a collaborative effort between the district, Adelphia Communications and the Citadel Mall in Colorado Springs, establishes a culture and provides an opportunity for students who have been previously unsuccessful in a traditional high school setting. It also assists students who have irregular schedules due to family, work or other circumstances. The district was able to combine state and district funding, grant funding and donations from the community to create the Digital School, which opened in fall 2003. Now, the Digital School provides its roughly 140 students with an opportunity to reconnect with the school environment and engage in self-directed learning. We decided to establish a storefront at a local mall because it provides a nonthreatening, neutral environment for disenfranchised students. These students include those who have had negative experiences in traditional school settings, as well as older students who feel uncomfortable attending a school where everyone is younger than them. The mall also provides a convenient location for students who take public transportation. Online Curriculum A key part of our vision for the Digital School was to diversify the method of delivering state-accredited curriculum. Toward that end, the Digital School implemented Pearson Digital Learning's NovaNET system (www.pearsondigital.com/novanet) to provide students with personalized computer-based instruction in mathematics, language arts, social studies and science. NovaNET is a comprehensive online courseware system that delivers standards-based, interactive curriculum with integrated assessment, student management and record-keeping functions. We selected the NovaNET system to deliver instruction in the core content areas because we found its courses were more rigorous and its interface was more user-friendly than the other programs we evaluated. The NovaNET system runs on desktop computers with 3 GB of hard drive space, 300 MB of RAM and Pentium III processors. For Internet access, we use two modems that were donated by Adelphia, a router and switch from Cisco Systems, and a Dell 1750 server. We currently have 40 computers running, with plans to add another 40 this year. School Staff and Referrals The Digital School is staffed by two licensed district teachers who assist students as they progress through their courses. There is also a part-time counselor who works with all of the students currently attending, as well as those who are considering attending the school. Students are referred to the Digital School in a variety of ways. We review students' records, identify those who have dropped out but are within a few credits of graduating, and then personally contact those students. Teachers and counselors at our high schools also refer students. In addition, local media provided generous coverage of the Digital School's launch, which actually encouraged many students to refer themselves. Personal Tutors At the outset, a prospective student for the Digital School works with our part-time counselor to determine if the school is the best place to meet his or her needs, lf it's determined that the school is the best place, they then work together to decide which courses the student should take. We allow each student to sign up for only one course at a time, and they must finish the course before moving on to another. …