Kirkwood HSDL Meeting Needs of Rural Schools

Background of Kirkwood HSDL

Kirkwood High School Distance Learning began more than 30 years ago and was known as the Kirkwood Correspondence Program.  In 2007, the name was changed to Kirkwood High School Distance Learning, as it began offering online programming at that time.  Students across the state of Iowa use the same curriculum that the Kirkwood Adult High School students use to fulfill their learning needs.  Some students take courses to recover credits that they failed, some take courses to advance their learning, and some students take courses due to their own interest in a subject.

How it Works

Students enrolling in Kirkwood HSDL begin by talking to their high school counselor.  If a Kirkwood HSDL course is the correct fit for the student, then the school counselor will fill out the registration form and submit it to Kirkwood HSDL.  Currently, schools determine whether or not they will pay for the course; however, beginning July 1, 2016, schools will be billed for all courses that are scheduled during the academic year.   Students may not start courses without a signature from themselves, their parents (if under 18), and a school official.  Once all those signatures are on file, Kirkwood HSDL enrolls the students in the course for which they've registered.

Some classes are offered exclusively online and Kirkwood HSDL offers a few courses exclusively by book (also known as correspondence).  In total, there are more than fifty courses that students and schools are able to choose from.  

Help for Rural Schools

The state of Iowa is home to more than 300 school districts, over 75% of them very small.  More than 250 districts across the state of Iowa had less than 100 students enrolled in twelfth grade as of March 9, 2015 (Iowa Department of Education Statistics).  Only 1% of school districts, for a total of 3, had enrollments larger than 1000 students in grade twelve (Iowa Department of Education Statistics).

So what happens when you live outside the populous centers of Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, and the Quad Cities?  You go to a small school, which may or may not have all the classes that you need to be college and/or career ready.  In fact, sometimes a required class may overlap an elective course, which could put a student behind when he/she applies to college.  That's where Kirkwood HSDL can help.  If a student attending a small school can't fit a world language into his/her schedule, we offer Spanish and French as flexible enrollment online courses.  The student can then take his/her required courses for graduation at the time that they are offered at school and then can take the electives at a time that doesn't overlap, giving them the freedom of place, time, and/or pace.

Similarly, students who have failed courses, can retake part or all of the course that they've missed through Kirkwood HSDL.  This helps students who know one concept or skill, but not another, and prevents them from drowning in the drudgery of the seat-time for a concept they already know and helps them get back on track to graduation.

Could schools come up with programs to help their students recover credits or advance their learning without a program like Kirkwood HSDL?  Yes, but because Kirkwood already has the materials and the facilitators, it makes just as much sense to contract with Kirkwood HSDL to provide classes for one or two students at a time, rather than hire a full-time teacher or para-educator to provide services. 

Full-time teachers and para-educators that aren't busy worrying about developing the curriculum, aligning it to standards or benchmarks, or grading papers now have time to focus on the student.  By giving the student a support system at his/her local school, he/she is more likely to become a high school graduate and become a contributing member to our society.