Penn Foster High School Reaches More Than 45,000 Students, Becomes One of the Largest High Schools in America

SCRANTON, Penn., July 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Penn Foster, a leader in career-focused online and hybrid education with a commitment to addressing the middle-skills gap in America, today announced it has become one of the largest private high schools in the country with more than 45,000 students. Penn Foster High School provides students with an accredited high school diploma through its online delivery platform, as well as through hybrid or "blended" learning programs in partnership with school districts, career colleges and post-secondary institutions, at-risk youth organizations and non-profits, and corporations, allowing students to combine in-class, hands-on instruction with online learning.

Together with the school's growing enrollment—up 35 percent over the first half of 2013—comes an increase in graduates, with 1,658 students graduating in the month of June alone. That brings Penn Foster High School to 9,468 graduates for the first half of 2014—up 47 percent over 2013.

Regionally and nationally accredited and licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Licensed Schools, Penn Foster High School's growing enrollment points to a growing trend in America: the rising need for new, 21^st century learning models for both traditional and non-traditional students ranging in age from 13 to 70.

Penn Foster's online-based curriculum is especially well tailored to serve the unmet needs of students that do not fit the traditional student profile but who can thrive in a more personalized learning environment that is flexible, independent and customizable to individual needs. This important segment of students includes learners above the typical age limit set by school districts, students who cannot attend class during the typical school day, or those who seek alternative education options due to personal reasons of culture, geography or health factors.

"Penn Foster has become an education sector leader in crafting innovative solutions to keep students on track—and our enrollment and graduation numbers support our leadership", said Frank Britt, chief executive officer of Penn Foster. "Our goal is to create confident learners who are able to develop the needed skills, competencies and habits of the mind, through a curriculum delivered with a combination of self-paced pedagogy and teachers as learning coaches. Because of this, students who never thought they could earn a diploma are graduating and launching careers or moving on to post-secondary education."

Penn Foster High School's fastest-growing segments of its student population include:

• At-Risk youth: Penn Foster partners with Job Corps, a United States Department of Labor program that offers free-of-charge education and vocational training to youth ages 16 to 24, offering its self-paced high school model in 61 of Job Corps' 125 centers around the nation.
• High School Completion participants:  Since 2013, 15 higher-education institutions joined forces with Penn Foster to participate in its High School Completion program, a hybrid online and in-person instruction program that helps students who do not have a high school diploma complete their education and move onto post-secondary institutions and enter the workforce for the first time, or continue in the workforce with stronger credentials.
• Homeschoolers: Already one of the fastest growing forms of education, home schooling accounts for twice as many students in the U.S. today as a decade ago^[1]. Whether it's due to religious reasons, bullying, travel, or even illness, more than 1.5 million families nationwide are choosing homeschooling over traditional education methods, according to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. Today, approximately 13,000 of Penn Foster High School's 45,000+ students are traditional age (13-17) learning online from home.
• Dropout Retrieval Solution and Credit Recovery participants: Used by more than 600 secondary schools across the U.S., Penn Foster's Dropout Retrieval Solution and Credit Recovery programs helps school districts keep students enrolled in school through a blend of classroom learning and online coursework. In Polk County, Florida, where Penn Foster has provided its content and delivery methods since 2007 more than 700 former high school dropouts and at-risk students have successfully earned their diplomas.

"Students' lifestyles and learning styles have shifted dramatically in the last few decades, and the boom in online education and other non-traditional education methods are a direct result of these changes," said Ray McNulty, chairman of Penn Foster High School's Advisory Board.  "Not only has technology changed the learning dynamic, it's now an important factor in how content and instruction is delivered. Instead of just embedding technology in the current system, we at Penn Foster use technology as the foundation for the new system. Our online student community—a virtual campus, if you will—is a great example of how technology is shaping the learning experience. We know that connecting to peers, to the school and to each other is key for students' success, and we support that through the community."

To learn more about Penn Foster High School, its programs and the student community, please visit www.pennfoster.edu.

About Penn Foster
Founded in 1890, Penn Foster has been a leader in career-focused distance and hybrid learning for more than 100 years through its high school, career school and college. Through direct enrollment by students as well as partnerships with schools and businesses, millions of people have taken Penn Foster-enabled courses to further their education debt-free and better position them for life success. Today, Penn Foster graduates approximately 25,000 students yearly and enrolls more than 100,000 new students each year in programs designed to address the gap in middle skilled careers. Penn Foster combines affordable career-ready education with a flexible delivery model ranging from pure play online to onsite hybrid learning solutions—all of which are made possible by a cloud-based technology system that makes content available anytime and anywhere and connects students to their peers and instructors. For more information, visit www.pennfoster.edu.

^[1] http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009030.pdf

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