End-of-Course (EOC) exams are top of mind for many educators at this time of year. It is no secret that high-stakes testing can create a lot of stress. Students who are well-prepared are more likely to feel confident going into exams and perform better. As results come in, celebrate the successes and think about how your district can set up students for even greater success next year. Here are four districts that have improved their EOC performance using digital curriculum from Apex Learning.
Forest Hills School District, Ohio
Forest Hills School District is a small, suburban public-school district just outside Cincinnati, Ohio. State legislation requires students to earn a minimum of 18 points out of 35 across seven EOC exams in order to graduate. Knowing that some students had gaps in their learning, the district sought a way to identify and remediate those gaps. Enter Apex Learning Tutorials. To prepare students for exam re-takes, the district used Tutorials to provide focused remediation. and achieved excellent results: average retake scores increased 14 points and 50% of students increased their EOC exam scores. Read the case study.
Tutorials target learning gaps for personalized learning that offers students what they need when they need it. And embedded scaffolds and supports keep students motivated to learn more challenging material and feel confident and prepared for their exams. The assistant principle at one of the district’s high schools noted the “impressive gains in their OST exam scores.”
Pasco County Schools, Florida
Pasco County Schools is a large, suburban district located near Tampa in central Florida. An efficacy study was conducted to determine if using Apex Learning Tutorials for middle school course recovery improved achievement on Florida Standards Assessments (FSAs) for English language arts (ELA) and Mathematics.
The results were remarkable. On all FSA ELA grade-level assessments, students using Apex Learning Tutorials achieved significantly greater average scores than comparable students not using Tutorials. Students who were able to recover middle school course credit with Tutorials avoided retention and were promoted to the 7th and 8th grades at a similar rate as students not participating in course recovery. Ninety-six percent of students recovering courses with Tutorials were promoted to high school on time.
Sarasota County Schools, Florida
Another Florida district has experienced remarkable results with digital curriculum. Sarasota County Schools is a medium-sized district located on central Florida’s west coast. Students who are at risk of dropping out participate in an alternative learning program using Apex Learning Courses. Many of these students had failed previous classes, lacked the credits needed to graduate on time, and experienced difficult life circumstances that made earning a high school diploma in a traditional classroom environment challenging. And many may not have graduated without the alternative option that digital curriculum allowed them.
The students using Apex Learning achieved similar EOC scores as comparable students and demonstrated the same levels of proficiency as students in the comparison group. On the Algebra I EOC, students using Apex Learning Courses gained 29 scale score points compared to similar students completing courses for initial credit in traditional classrooms. Read the efficacy study.
Dallas Independent School District, Texas
Considered one of the fastest improving urban school districts in the country and the second-largest district in Texas, Dallas Independent School District is successfully preparing students for EOCs using Apex Learning Tutorials. An efficacy study answers the question of whether original credit students using Tutorials in addition to classroom instruction perform the same or better than before using Tutorials on end-of-semester exams with a resounding yes. The average score on the spring exam is equivalent to 9 percentile points greater after using Tutorials than the average fall exam, which was administered before students used the digital curriculum. Read the efficacy study.
In each of these districts, digital curriculum is successfully preparing students for success with EOCs. Apex Learning digital curriculum is proven to help districts boost achievement, especially for struggling students—not only when it’s time for EOC exams, but throughout the school year.