Increasingly, school districts, schools, and their partners are incorporating technology into strategies that help engage young people who have fallen off track to on-time graduation get back on track and move into effective educational pathways. This is especially true in light of the continuing pressure to raise high school graduation rates and the growth of community-wide efforts to improve outcomes for disconnected youth.
This brief explores the potential to combine face-to-face instructional strategies with a whole spectrum of educational technologies. At one end of this spectrum, technology-enriched classrooms integrate technology into the classroom, but no instruction is delivered in a virtual learning environment. Much more ambitious, blended learning classrooms potentially incorporate the best elements of both face-to-face classrooms and virtual learning environments, enabling acceleration, flexibility, competency-based learning, customization, instructor interaction, and supportive tutoring.