Case Study: Waterloo Community Schools achieves higher graduation and credit recovery rates with Edmentum

Waterloo Students Thrive When Offered an Alternative

Waterloo Community Schools in Waterloo, Iowa, serves more than 10,000 students in a diverse, urban district facing significant challenges — a 21% mobility rate, 16% special needs population, and 60% of students on free or reduced lunch. To help students at risk of not graduating, the district created the Performance Based Diploma Academy (PBDA) as an alternative, competency-based pathway rather than a credit-recovery or disciplinary program.

PBDA classrooms were outfitted as staffed computer labs using Plato Courseware, with teachers acting as facilitators and customizing courses to align with district standards. The program not only improved credit recovery and student engagement — including a case of one student recovering 19 credits and earning a diploma — but also expanded rapidly into middle schools, after-school, special education, and summer programs, demonstrating measurable gains in student achievement.

Waterloo Community Schools

Mary Meier

Executive Director of Career and Secondary Programs