Twilight: An Opportunity for Student Success

Jesse Carswell, the ALP Twilight Director at Watauga High School. The Twilight program offers just about every course that a high school student can take. “Every course necessary to graduate, we offer. We offer a limited number of electives. We're not currently doing PE, and you have to have that and CPR, which we don't offer here,” said Carswell. “Other than that, we offer English one through four, biology, physical science, earth science, math one through four and fundamentals, World history, US history, and economics. So what you would take in a regular seed class you would take here.” (Photo Credits: Watauga High School) 

Jax Marsh, Staff Writer for The Powderhorn

Twilight at Watauga High School is a multifold 12 month program that operates after school hours from 3:45-7:00. Twilight gives high school students the opportunity for credit recovery and to take the required number of classes for graduation. Students who need a more individualized experience can come and join Jesse Carswell, who has been the Twilight director for over 10 years, and be in an environment different from that of a typical high school classroom. 

Carswell does not take on the role of a typical high school teacher. The focus of his position is to assist in students propelling themselves to have success in their high school careers, not necessarily to instruct and provide coursework.

“So my job is to provide content support, technical support, and programmatic support as students are meeting not just their academic goals, but any other goals that may be a part of their particular program experience,” said Carswell.

The Twilight program has a limit of about 15 students due to specific North Carolina Department of Public instruction guidelines. Guidelines like these help foster a more specific learning environment for students, where they can focus on their studies in a classroom that doesn’t contain the usual 30 students.

“We are capped at a certain number of students that we can serve in one classroom, because it's designed to be more individualized with more small group support. You would never see 30 or 35 kids in Twilight. As a standalone program, that wouldn't happen. We have certain caps that were set by the state.” explained Carswell. “Other than that, we do end-of-course testing, check-ins. Everything that every student would experience in a course in a normal semester is replicated here in the Twilight Program.”

The Twilight program mainly uses the Edgenuity platform to provide students with the courses that they need to complete. This is a subscription based platform that allows the program director to modify coursework for students.

“That platform has been approved by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, so it meets all of the course of study standards that you would have in any course at Watauga. It's delivered in an online environment with videos and tests and quizzes and written assignments and those kinds of things,” said Carswell. “So the interaction is mostly through that interface, but then there are times when it's me, as the coordinator of the program, where I engage with the student to provide some extra depth and some extra rigor to those courses. But even though it is a separate entity, it is approved. It does meet all of our requirements for course of study and for the content standards.”

The Twilight program is also not the only ALP (Alternative Learning Program) at Watauga High School. There is also a day program at the high school that is taught by Coach Windish and provides the same tools for students during regular school hours. These programs are offered to any students who may benefit from the opportunity.

“It's a fairly broad program in terms of the students that we serve. We serve students who are EC (Students with Exceptionalities) all the way to students who have been classified academically gifted,” said Carswell. “And because we use an Edgenuity online platform for courses, we offer and teach every course required to graduate in the program.”

ALP programs like Twilight are not unique to Watauga High School. Many different counties in North Carolina have similar programs under different names. These programs can be held in classrooms, like the Watauga program, or they can be held in school buildings designed for ALP use. These programs do not have to be a substitute for a high school career. Twilight can last however long students need it to. 

“Twilight is not a program designed for a four-year experience. It's designed to meet very specific needs of a student. That may mean that they're with me for half a semester or for a whole semester, perhaps for a whole year. But it is not designed to be a substitute for a full 4 year experience in high school,” said Carswell. “It's there to meet very specific goals for students. And so some students have gone out pretty quickly, some may have a longer stay. But again, that's individualized.”

The Twilight program is set up for success in future years to come under Mr. Carswell’s guidance. This opportunity for students is proven to be beneficial in helping them obtain a high school diploma and prepare for the rest of their lives.

“In terms of the success of the program in the last few years, and this, of course, goes to the hard work of the students, we have increased our graduation rate significantly. We've increased our course passing rate significantly, we have increased our end of course scores significantly, and we have shortened the amount of time it takes for a student to meet their graduation goals," said Carswell. “So over the last 3 years, we have taken a step forward each year to bring our program in line with some of the high standards that are set, and that continues to be a part of our trajectory in the long term.”