Keeping Students on Track to Graduate

Real world challenges in the classroom: A new blog series by Jamie Candee, SVP Sales and Marketing at Edmentum. 

In my eight year tenure at this incredible organization, I have had the opportunity to visit hundreds of schools and districts all across the country. I am inspired by the students and educators I meet on a regular basis.  I love that I get to wake up every day and spend my time with people that share my commitment to teaching and learning.  At Edmentum we truly are committed to making a difference in students’ lives and stand behind the best products.

During my school visits I spend much of my energy getting to know educators and administrators by understanding the challenges they face.  These challenges are many from changing curriculum standards, to more demanding parents, to evolving technology, to tighter budgets, all with the pressure to improve student achievement. Our primary goal is to partner with schools, to listen to educators’ needs and work together to find the best solutions to resolve these challenges.

One individual meeting that stands out in my mind was with Raylene Truxton, District Coordinator for Online Learning at Aldine Independent School District in Houston, TX.  Aldine is made up of 75 total schools serving 64,000 students. 

Like 1000’s of educators throughout the country, Raylene was tasked with an unexpected and unique challenge of creating an alternative education option for a single struggling student.  In the spring semester of his senior year, Jose, was facing a potential dropout situation because of a particular course he still needed to graduate.  Jose was committed to graduating on time and was willing to do whatever it took, but he needed a flexible solution to fit his tight schedule. After exploring several options, Raylene partnered with us to offer Jose his missing course through our Plato Courseware product. Raylene worked in tandem with our experienced educational consultants with extensive background in education and instructional design to help offer Jose a rigorous US Government course within the flexible learning environment he needed to succeed.  “He was able to finish the course and graduate and since that particular time there have been thousands of stories exactly the same,” Raylene exclaims in a recent testimonial video.

Through dedicated educators like Raylene, Edmentum is redefining the 21^st century classroom. We enable educators to deliver achievement in the classroom, blending individual teaching approaches with proven, award-winning online learning solutions that specifically address the needs of individual learners and the expectations of everyone with a stake in student success.  It brings me such pride to see these educators and learners meeting their challenges head on and is why I love what I do.