Hardin-Central Online Academy-Hardin-Central C2 School District

Since 2007, Graduation Alliance has worked in partnership with educators, government agencies, and community leaders across the nation to provide pathways to economic mobility for high-risk students, both youth and adults, who left high school without a diploma. We expect approximately 7,500 students will graduate from Graduation Alliance high school completion programs in 2025.

Graduation Alliance partners with school Districts to provide a comprehensive online educational program with robust supports to high school-aged youth who left high school without a diploma. Students engage online at the time and place that works best for them so they can succeed in earning an accredited high school diploma from their District.

All of the online courses for MOCAP are facilitated by highly qualified, Missouri-certified teachers. Teachers provide timely feedback and assign grades. They reach out proactively to students through email, chat, phone, and the student portal to promote commitment to the path to graduation, help students overcome challenges with concepts, assist with review and revision, and foster group discussions.

Academic Coaches provide proactive, personalized mentoring for students in the program, acting as personal guides to help students both to navigate the online learning environment and world beyond graduation.

Academic Coaches are committed champions who provide consistent, caring communication to students. They monitor pace and progress and provide reminders to students, homework resources, encouragement, pep talks, and nudges.

We recognize that students who are learning in an online environment sometimes need assistance at irregular hours of the day. Academic Coaches can refer students to online tutoring available 24X7, 360 days a year except federal holidays.

Graduation Alliance is accredited by Cognia, a national accreditor for public schools across the US. In 2021, based on the review of Cognia’s trained evaluators, Cognia presented Graduation Alliance with an Index of Educational Quality of 375(out of 400), compared to a Cognia Institution Network five year average of 278-283. As a result, in 2021, Cognia named Graduation Alliance a School of Distinction for “effectively implementing high-quality instruction, showing consistent organizational effectiveness, and…demonstrating energetic and sustained commitment to learners.” This award is reserved for organizations that demonstrate excellence in meeting the Cognia Performance Standards as reviewed by independent evaluators.

Quality Matters is a national third-party validator of best practices in online learning. Quality Matters external evaluators reviewed and evaluated Graduation Alliance’s approach to instructional design and individual courses for accuracy, completeness, freedom from bias, and quality of content delivery. All courses scored between 98-100% of points possible. In 2021, Quality Matters recognized Graduation Alliance in the “Outstanding Impact by a K-12 Organization” category of the Making A Difference For Students Award. Being a recipient of both Quality Matters Certification and this award affirms Graduation Alliance’s commitment to serving learners who have not seen success through traditional learning and instruction.