For the first time, Frisco ISD held all of summer school in the form of online classes. Although there is no questioning this move likely saved money, the change to online classes, came many challenges for students, ranging from studying to testing and assignments. While the online platform could be convenient for busy students, there are many issues to work through.

Despite the fact that the online platform offers more freedom, it lacks some necessary features needed for students to succeed. For students simply taking speech or health, the system would probably be good enough. For students doing credit recovery or a more complicated course such as physics, it can be a struggle do all the work primarily independently. Teachers for some classes can be contacted by email during a few hours on some days, but for students struggling or with little time, waiting is inconvenient. Those participating in a credit recovery course have less of the supervision that is important to success.  

While the district does offer 20 days on which students can come to take tests and have computer access, the options are limited. Because no transportation is provided, it can be difficult for students to get or be picked up from a campus from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., or 5 to 8 p.m. On top of that, there were internet issues at both campuses on multiple days. All these circumstances can make it difficult for students to get testing done on campus. Other inhibitions to learning include confusing or uninteresting curriculum with some students wishing for an actual teacher they could talk to.

Given that most of the coursework could be done at home, it placed a large responsibility on students to hold themselves accountable. Since all coursework was not due until July 20th, there was nothing in place to keep students from procrastinating.

This single deadline could encourage students to rush the work in a couple days, putting into question whether students actually learned the material. Although students could take tests at home through a “remote access” system, students had to download software, fill out an application for every test that could only be answered within campus hours, and could take more than an hour to process. Additionally there was nothing to prevent cheating.  Because of its complications, students were urged to come to one of the campuses to take multiple tests at a time. This also causes students and their families to put forward more effort.

Although there is freedom that comes with the online program, students deserve many improvements. The district should use better online platforms, or at least make them aware of problems and offer some solutions. If the district uses an online system again, they should provide better resources and testing options for participating students in order to make summer school as useful as it should be.