Getting back on track at Twilight

A program that offers after-school for-credit classes helps 9th-graders recover credits for failed courses.

Danbury, Conn., is a modest city with a rich history of providing its residents with opportunities to improve their lives. As one of America’s most diverse cities (Ryser, 2016), we prioritize supporting all students and doing what we can to fight inequities, such as by reducing gaps in graduation rates, where minority racial groups often fall behind their White peers (Afterschool Alliance, 2013).

We pay homage to our heritage as a 19th-century center for hat production with the Danbury High School (DHS) mascot, the Hatter. This mascot also inspires us to think about the many hats our students wear. We know that not every so-called thinking cap fits every Hatter perfectly, and some students need one that fits better. That’s why we created the Twilight School, a credit-bearing after-school program that allows 9th graders who have failed the first semester of English or biology to retake the course and finish the year with enough credits to start the following fall as sophomores. The courses are taught by DHS teachers and feature smaller class sizes and a blended learning component. Before Twilight, the only ways students could recover credit were through summer school or an after-school, computer-based credit recovery program. Neither of these programs provided timely intervention nor were they particularly innovative.