FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — Olivia Robbins, assistant principal of Frederick High School, has never met a parent who didn't want his or her child to succeed.

"You've got kids completely capable, but attendance is the killer," Robbins said, explaining why she proposed an alternative credit recovery program at the high school that started two summers ago.

The program is online learning for students who have fallen a credit or more behind in their grade level. The online courses, taught with mentors in a classroom with computers, give students a chance to earn credits after school and in summer.

"You've got to do innovative things when kids have failed so much," Robbins said.

A compelling reason for the program is that repeating grades, especially ninth grade, is linked to a higher risk of dropping out, Robbins said.

The ninth-grade year is pivotal, according to research she read in a 1998 study by C. Jay Hertzog of Pennsylvania's Slippery Rock University and a dropout prevention workshop she attended in 2009 hosted by the National Council on Educating Black Children. Students held back in ninth grade are more likely to stop trying and the risk of dropping out spikes, Rollins said.

The impact of being held back in school goes beyond the classroom.

Students who drop out or are held back from their peers are much more likely to face incarceration, said Michael Folio, director of the Youthful Offender Program, which helps young offenders beat the odds and is part of the Frederick County State's Attorney's Office.

"They don't want to be a grade back or even two grades back," Folio said. "When they feel they're behind, they say, 'You know what, I'm just not going to do it.'"

Richard Ramsburg, who administrates the credit recovery program as part of other alternative and virtual learning programs for Frederick County Public Schools, said he didn't have local crime and dropout data.

Based on his experience, dropouts are more likely to end up in low-paying jobs and in gangs, he said.

The financial costs to the state were documented in a study released in 2008 as being reduced tax revenue, increased Medicaid costs and higher incarceration rates. The study was released by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and the Maryland Public Policy Institute.

First class

Rollins initially focused the credit recovery program on freshmen. The first class was in the summer of 2009, she said. The 24 students took courses in health, fitness, technology foundations and English online at Frederick High.

By the end of the six weeks, 22 of the 24 ninth-graders completed the classes, Robbins said. Nine students were promoted to 10th grade.

A 92 percent success rate is tremendous, Ramsburg said, noting a 25 percent success rate would have been considered high.

A class is typically one credit or half a credit, Robbins said. Many of the freshmen who needed more than one credit to advance to the next grade in the summer 2009 class signed up for credit recovery the following fall, she said.

Over the next few school semesters, the program expanded to other grades, and to date, 93 courses have been completed by upper-level students, said Stephanie Ware, outgoing assistant principal of Frederick High. Those students are still enrolled in school, she said.

As for the change in focus, Robbins said all students want to be with their peers. As long as the student wants to succeed, credit recovery is for him or her.

Success

This summer, 35 students are enrolled in the credit recovery program, Robbins said. They are taking courses in English, government, health, algebra and modern world history.

Credit recovery seems to have created its own success, Ware said. After the first few classes, students were talking to their peers, she said.

The spring of 2011 was her biggest group. Thirty-one students enrolled for nine courses.

Credit recovery classes have expanded to other high schools as well. Ware has recently been transferred to Brunswick High School, where a credit recovery program is in place. She said she hopes to mentor students.

She is an advocate because she has seen students get back on track.

"Once they see the benefit, that really pays off. Once they hit that halfway point, they say, 'Can we stay longer?'"

A key component of the program is the relationship between mentor and peer, Robbins said. The instructors are online, and the two mentors in the class are there to guide.

The atmosphere has to be supportive because students are often taking the online class for hours as many as two or three times a week in addition to four classes a day during the regular school year, Ware said.

"It's a long day. It takes a lot to coerce them to get into the routine of staying."

What is nice is that peers watch out for each other, Ware said. A girl once observed a boy was not in the class and took it upon herself to text him.

If a student doesn't show up, Robbins said she texts the parent and, more often than not, has watched the student walk into classes a while later.