Easton Cyber Academy reports enrollment growth, emphasizes engagement and interventions
Loading...
Summary
District staff reported a midyear Cyber Academy update showing spring enrollment above pandemic-era levels (about 545 students), described student performance metrics, and outlined intervention and credit-recovery practices used to support students.
Ryan Cropp, supervisor of curriculum and instruction, presented the Easton Cyber Academy's midyear report March 11, reporting higher enrollment and describing academic performance and student-support practices.
Cropp said the academy had peaked at roughly 545 students at the time of his slides, with about 32 elementary full-time students, 326 secondary full-time students and about 187 hybrid students who take at least one online course while enrolled at a district building. "So we're just servicing total of 4, 5 45 students," he said, summarizing the enrollment snapshot.
The report summarized pass-rate data by grade band and course level and noted that results are broadly comparable to the district's brick-and-mortar outcomes in many cases. Cropp said the district uses a 60 percent passing threshold for courses delivered on the Edgenuity platform and emphasized that student engagement is the strongest correlate of success: "The more that they log in, they do their work, the better they're gonna do," he said.
Support and intervention practices
Staff described several intervention steps used when students struggle, including teacher outreach, mandated office-hour attendance, regular CST-style reviews and meetings with families to set goals and timelines. Cropp said elementary cyber teachers run small-group Google Meet sessions and provide asynchronous assignments; middle- and high-school teachers maintain daily office hours and arrange targeted meetings when teachers spot red flags.
The program also provides credit recovery and summer-school options, and district leaders framed the academy as a tool to retain students in-district who might otherwise enroll in outside cyber or charter programs. Superintendent Piazza praised the program's role in keeping students in the district.
Board members asked for additional comparative data about outside charter and cyber enrollments over a multiyear period; Cropp said he could compile those figures in a day or two.
Ending
The board thanked Cropp and the academy staff; several administrators noted that the district would include the Cyber Academy's data and trend lines when planning future programming and outreach.
