KANSAS CITY, Mo._Educators say it's a "game changer."
It's in more than 2,600 schools across the country, used by about a million students and adding more all the time, even home schoolers.
It's called Acellus, developed in Kansas City by a noted inventor.
Acellus is an online, interactive learning system. Several flavors of it are in use from kindergarten through high school, but most often it's being used to turn potential dropouts into high school graduates.
Students who have fallen behind on their course work or dropped a grade level use Acellus to catch up. In education-speak, that's called a "credit-recovery" program.
Acellus was conceived and founded by Kansas City scientist-engineer Roger Billings. He is most noted for being a pioneer in the use of hydrogen as fuel, particularly in vehicles.
Acellus was first installed in a St. Joseph, Mo., school in 2001, and it has been has grown rapidly since.
"Acellus does not allow you to fail," said Jill Maxon, a special education teacher in the Grain Valley school district.
Grain Valley has been using the system for two years and getting what educators there say are amazing results helping get failing high school students back on track toward graduation.
Acellus, with its 137 employees, uses a technology Billings calls "prism diagnostics."
Employees first travel the country finding top teachers in every subject, has them come to studios at Acellus headquarters in Kansas City, and then record videos as they teach.
In the classroom or computer lab, students call up the online lessons under the supervision of a flesh-and-blood teacher. Each student, however, works through the lesson at his or her own pace. Students can also call up a lesson remotely _ from home, a library, or anywhere _ without a teacher present.
After each lesson the student takes a quiz. The "prism diagnostic" technology captures the student's responses and analyzes them.
Billings explains the science this way; "In the same way that a prism splits light into a spectrum of colors, prism diagnostics splits students into groups, or spectrums, based on similar deficiencies or holes in their background knowledge."
Then, he said, "When a student falls into one of these spectrums, customized personal instruction is instantly delivered for that precise defect."
In other words, based on the answers the student gives, Acellus determines whether the student processed the lesson well and understands it, or whether they missed some concept along the way and aren't ready to move forward to next lesson.
The key is that Acellus will send the student back into the lesson and probably present it in a different way. It can also slow down the lesson.
All the while the teachers supervising the lesson can see on their screens what lesson each student is doing, how far along they are, how many times they were sent back and what concepts they are stuck on.
The teachers can then decide to provide person-to-person help. Even students working remotely can turn to a real teacher later if they need one.
When 16-year-old Bailey Brown at Grain Valley High School learned she was pregnant, school got tougher. She didn't want to be there and she didn't want to study.
Bailey fell far behind her classmates. She was no longer on track to graduate with them.
Now, after two years attending Grain Valley's Sni Valley Academy alternative school where she takes classes through Acellus, Bailey, a junior, has not only caught up but is also excelling in every course, even geometry, her hardest class.
"Actually, I'm ahead and since I've been here I feel like I can graduate," said Bailey, whose goal is to attend the University of Central Missouri and study anthropology.
"I was nervous when I first started it but it fits me and I feel like I'm getting good," Bailey said. "I love how you get to work at your own pace."
That in part is what attracted leaders of the eastern Jackson County school district to the system and why they believe it has helped boost the district's graduation rate.
Over the past few years Grain Valley's graduation rate has ranged from 96 percent to 99 percent, among the highest in the Kansas City area.
"The only reason a student doesn't graduate from Grain Valley High School would be because he or she decided they just didn't want to, but it won't be because they couldn't pass the course work," said Jeremy Plowman, the high school principal.
Teachers said they're most impressed that, unlike other credit recovery programs they've tried, Acellus is not reading-based, but rather has a teacher on screen explaining concepts.
"If students were not good readers or not good at reading comprehension they do not grasp the lessons," and that, Plowman said, defeats the purpose of credit recovery.
"Our philosophy in the district is that all kids can learn. But all kids learn at different rates and different ways and we have to access all of that," Plowman said. "Acellus provides us with a tool to do that rather than saying one size fits all."
He said that before Acellus, "We had kids who were just spinning their wheels, because they hadn't fully understood some portion of the lesson. They were just stuck."
That's a dangerous place for a student to be, Plowman said. "They stop coming. They fail, and now they're at risk of dropping out."
About 15 years ago, the federal government began pressing school districts to improve graduation rates, and schools from Los Angeles to St. Louis to Chicago and New York began clamoring for ways to bump them up. The number of credit recovery options boomed.
Acellus is a product of the International Academy of Science, a nonprofit organization offering a post-graduate fellowship program that Billings also founded. It offers master's and doctorate degrees in research by combining science, engineering, and business into one course of study.
Many credit recovery programs have been praised for getting students to graduate, but have been highly criticized for failing to adequately prepare students for colleges or careers.
Acellus claims it does both and has seen noted growth in the last few years.
State and national education officials said they don't monitor such companies so they could not comment on Acellus or how rapidly it's growing compared.
The provisionally accredited Kansas City Public Schools, which for several years has been working to increase student performance and regain full accreditation, is among the latest to partner with Acellus.
"It is a game changer," said Rashawn Caruthers, director of career and technology education for the district.
The Kansas City schools, through an Acellus grant, get the use of the online product free for a year. It first gives districts a taste of what it offers. Otherwise a district pays $25 for each student that's licensed to use Acellus.
District officials like the way it's working so far and expect to expand its use throughout the district.
St. Louis Public Schools was one of the early districts to choose Acellus for dropout prevention. District educators said more students who were at risk of dropping out are now making it to graduation.
"It should have been in our district three or four years ago," said Charlie Bean, a teacher working in dropout prevention for St. Louis Public Schools.
The programs do not come entirely without controversy. Educators in districts across the country have argued that such programs lack rigor.
Several districts, including Washington, D.C.'s, have been accused of misusing their credit recovery programs to sweep ill-prepared students to graduation. Earlier this year the Washington schools switched to Acellus.
Last fall a fuss surfaced in Bakersfield, Calif., when a public school district created a virtual school that it marketed to parochial schools.
The public school was paying the faith-based school for its students to participate in the online public school. The public school district then claimed that because the students were enrolled in the public school's virtual school, and it could collect per-pupil state dollars for those students.
At the center of that controversy was Acellus Academy, which the public school used as its virtual school program.
That's possible because the Acellus Academy covers all core areas of K-12 education, including electives, languages, and advanced placement courses. And it recently added career technology education,
In the end some of those private school leaders dropped out of the online program and claimed the Acellus lessons didn't match the rigor of a parochial school curriculum.
