A student sits and works on her assignment during fifth period E2020 class on Feb. 6. E2020 offers alternative online courses for credit remediation. “The courses are offered as credit recovery alternative, with that the kids are on the computer. They take the courses, everything is on the computer,” E2020 instructor Andre McIntyre said. Photo by Rolando Garibay.
By AMY GOANA – Staff Writer
E2020 is a computer-based learning system designed to help students recover credits not previously attained.
E2020 courses are remediation courses students take when they do not earn a credit in a previous class. Students enrolled in E2020 classes during the school year avoid the necessity to recover lost credits in summer school and take online lessons, quizzes and tests.
“It’s different. For me, regular classes are the best method where you have a hands-on teacher there,” E2020 instructor Andre McIntyre said. “In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have E2020. We would just have kids in class, but E2020 is a great proponent for those who fail the class, where it actually allows you to make up that credit.”
Students like sophomore Tyanna Barnett see the benefits of E2020 classes as opposed to conventional classes. Due to the additional amount of time the students receive to complete assignments.
“In a classroom, you might not get (assignments) done there at that time, but in E2020 you can take your time and you can finish it when you’re actually done with it instead of having to do it to where it’s finished. It helps a lot,” Barnett said.
Students like sophomore Drorian Mancle however, believe credit recovery courses would be more helpful if students were taught by teachers instead of being supervised by facilitators.
“I don’t like it personally but at the same time, you gotta get your credits to get your high school diploma. I mean, it’s just boring, pretty much. You’re just sitting there all day on a computer doing work,” Mancle said. “Maybe if (E2020) was more interactive with the students, like with an actual teacher. Instead of one person sitting back there just watching us.”
In addition to this challenge, Assistant Principal Dr. Sheila Dunham considers absences to be a large hindrance to student success in E2020.
“The largest problem that I see and I discuss with students that come to my office is that it’s not that their grades are not okay on what they do,” Dunham said. “The student might be absent a lot or skipping or just sitting in the class and not working very many of the minutes that they’re in there.”
According to Dunham, although E2020 may provide another opportunity for students to succeed ultimately students’ efforts will determine how much these courses help them.
“It’s like everything else, it’s probably not for everybody,” Dunham said. “It’s not working for all of them because they haven’t made a change in some of their work habits.”
