Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

January 25, 2007 issue

Watauga High School Students Thrive Using NovaNET Program

Story by Blair O’Briant

Watauga High School students are finding success with the NovaNET program the school implemented on November 13, 2006.

NovaNET is an online program designed to help students earn the credits they need to graduate from high school. The program is geared toward students who have struggled with certain subjects, students in danger of dropping out of school because of failed courses and homebound students.

Students can complete full courses over the Internet, allowing them to work at their own pace rather than having to keep up with an entire class of students. Students who have failed courses in the past can re-earn credits through NovaNET. The program also allows students who miss long periods of school because of medical issues to catch up by doing part of their work online from home and part from school.

Jessie Stollings has headed NovaNET since the program’s start at WHS. Although this is his first time working in a high school setting, Stollings has six years of experience teaching for the Red Cross and seven years of experience as a corporate trainer.

Stollings supervises students in the computer lab in shifts of nine using NovaNET for a class period. Each student can work on a different subject. Currently 44 students are enrolled in NovaNET, and while most use the program for one subject, students can take multiple courses through the program. Stollings said NovaNET uses a pass/fail grading system because the main goal is for students to gain the knowledge from the course.

Stollings works with guidance counselors, teachers and parents to choose students for NovaNET. Stollings said counselors notify him when they feel a student needs to use the program. “I get a feeling of what their impression of the student is,” he said.

Stollings said students involved with NovaNET also take regular classes at WHS. Students can take courses they struggle with through NovaNET while still participating in the regular high school curriculum.

A licensed social studies teacher, Stollings works with other teachers at WHS to develop the curriculum for NovaNET courses. Students complete the online coursework for their subjects, as well as supplemental worksheets from Stollings. The program is interactive, incorporating online tests and quizzes to help Stollings track the progress of students and letting the students know when they are ready to move to the next level or chapter of a certain subject.

Stollings said NovaNET meets all the state standards. To ensure students are fulfilling their requirements, they work closely with teachers of all subjects. Stollings said all seniors using NovaNET to complete their literature requirements write a research paper graded by teachers in the English Department.

Although the lab sciences curriculum is still being developed, the NovaNET literature curriculum is so well formulated that students can hold discussions with other students all over the country through an online bulletin board.

Stollings said NovaNET works well for seniors because even if they have a full schedule, they can come in before school and work with NovaNET to earn a necessary credit that they otherwise would not have time for. Stollings said it takes around the same amount of time to complete a course through NovaNET as in a normal class setting.

Students sign a contract when enrolling in the NovaNET program, agreeing to the grading policies and rules. Stollings said good behavior is a necessity, and students must stay out of WHS’s in-school suspension. “If they get put in ISS, we take them out of the program,” Stollings said.

While NovaNET is not yet being used in middle schools, it is used in high schools and community colleges all over the country. Stollings said Wake County began using the program in the late 1990s, and it is also widely used in Caldwell County. 

While Stollings said he feels the program has been very successful at WHS, there is a need for expansion. The program only has access to a small portion of the computer lab, and Stollings is the only faculty member in the lab to help NovaNET students. New students can only be added to the program if there is enough room.