Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, has been strategically expanding course choice over the last several years. This initiative, spearheaded by Assistant Head of School Nancy Barkan, has brought dynamic online classes to the community that support both the school’s missions and the students’ needs. This article presents a case study for course expansion based on Cardinal Gibbons’ successful model.

Responding to a Need

Cardinal Gibbons High School is a coeducational Catholic school founded in 1909. Today, in addition to live instruction on campus, students have the option to enroll in a semester or year-long elective course for online instruction through Gibbons Virtual, a partnership with Catholic Virtual.This partnership currently offers Cardinal Gibbons students more than 50 Catholic-appropriate courses, online activities, labs, and projects beyond what they can take on their brick-and-mortar campus.

Nancy Barkan serves as Assistant Head of School at Cardinal Gibbons and has been at the school for twenty years. Responsible for academics, Nancy plays a critical role in operationalizing the school’s academic philosophy and Portrait of a Learner, which she crafted. She also developed the school’s course choice philosophy, course expansion plan, and method for implementation at Cardinal Gibbons.

The partnership between Cardinal Gibbons and Catholic Virtual dates to fall of 2020, a year in which everything about what school looks like changed. Prior to that, Cardinal Gibbons had a partnership with a non-accredited partner, trying to provide online learning solutions to students who had extenuating circumstances, but the partnership was hard to manage and not achieving the desired academic results for students.

Cardinal Gibbons had students who wanted to maintain their enrollment but couldn’t be on campus due to physical or mental illness or athletic travel obligations. The school was searching for a way to bridge the gap for students that would also provide a high-quality, meaningful academic experience. Catholic Virtual turned out to be the perfect fit for three key reasons:

1. Accreditation: Students who pass courses get an accredited transcript for college admissions.
2. Alignment: Catholic Virtual aligns with Cardinal Gibbons’ mission and vision of Catholic education.
3. Proven: Catholic Virtual provides meaningful learning experiences and handles all the management and details.

Strategic Planning

According to Nancy, the strategic plan for virtual course expansion at Cardinal Gibbons has unfolded in three phases over the course of three years. Instead of simply rolling out virtual options, the implementation was purposefully strategic and innovative. Stakeholders and the diocese approved the partnership, and Nancy was deliberate about showing faculty and staff the ways that this partnership would benefit and support them to ensure that the initiative was well received from the start.

Phase 1

To meet the immediate need of those who could not be physically on campus but who wanted to maintain their enrollment at Cardinal Gibbons, students could take courses through Catholic Virtual. In addition, courses were available to students needing credit recovery and for course placement (meaning that students could fulfill a prerequisite course between the spring and summer in order to place into a class).

Phase 2

Next, Nancy launched Gibbons Virtual Academy, offering courses and electives that Cardinal Gibbons did not currently offer on campus. Through Gibbons Virtual, students may sign up for one course per semester outside of subject area classes taught on campus.

Phase 3

Nancy then added AP classes not currently offered at Cardinal Gibbons to Gibbons Virtual and saw a large increase in enrollment. Today, Gibbons Virtual, powered by Catholic Virtual, provides students with more than 50 Catholic-appropriate courses, online activities, labs, projects, and more.

Starting next year, any Cardinal Gibbons students who want to advance or continue in the school’s popular Fine Arts program in person can swap out a core course to take an additional in-person Fine Arts course. These students can then enroll in an asynchronous core course through Gibbons Virtual. By offering these core courses online in an asynchronous format, Cardinal Gibbons can maintain students’ flex periods which are built into the schedule to allow for important social and student-managed non-instructional time.

Communicating

Nancy has utilized Cardinal Gibbons’ communications channels to promote course choice for students and families. Gibbons Weekly, a weekly newsletter, promotes elective offerings especially from midsummer to September. Students know they can pick up an interesting elective in addition to their core courses, enhancing their transcripts and resumes.

Nancy also creates webinars and informational videos for families and students with links for information, expectations, and costs associated with Gibbons Virtual. Her goal is to make the information as accessible as possible in a variety of formats including mobile and print.

Communication has also been essential with teachers. It was important for Nancy to communicate that the plan to partner with Catholic Virtual was never to replace teachers, but instead to support them. Her messaging let teachers know about all the positive impacts of the partnership, particularly smaller class sizes and removing the responsibility to provide remote instruction when students need to be off campus. Overwhelmingly, teachers have reported to Nancy and her team that Gibbons Virtual students are well-prepared for on-campus courses and programming.

Managing Costs and Staffing

A Cardinal Gibbons staff member manages the enrollments for Gibbons Virtual, accounting for administrative time. This point person keeps accounts of students and courses, and lets Nancy know if students need approvals for extra courses. The role is simple (accounting for about 5% of the staffer’s total job), but it takes time. Therefore, Cardinal Gibbons adds a small administrative fee of about 10–15% on top of the cost of each online course.

Families pay for the courses. The cost to families depends on the course students are taking but overall costs are reasonable. And, if an enrolled student is receiving financial aid, the same percentage reduction in tuition is applied to any Gibbons Virtual class to ensure equity and accessibility for all students. A remote learning fee per semester includes a loaned computer for students.

Handling Credits

It was important for Cardinal Gibbons that students couldn’t pay for more classes to enhance their GPAs. For this reason, no course offered outside of Cardinal Gibbons informs students’ transcripts or GPAs. However, students completing courses through Catholic Virtual receive an additional transcript (a potential benefit for college applications). The exception occurs when students fulfill a graduation requirement and receive a pass or complete on the Cardinal Gibbons transcripts, but even in this case, the credit does not include a grade or GPA calculation. Since Catholic Virtual handles all the orientation, teaching, troubleshooting, and credit, this entire process has been highly streamlined and effortless for Cardinal Gibbons.

Looking Ahead

Cardinal Gibbons has an enrollment of approximately 1,600 students. This year, around 50 are taking advantage of online courses, and the number is steadily increasing. Nancy knows that colleges and universities are increasingly expecting incoming students to have completed an online class. In the next phase, she hopes to collaborate with her Academic team on ways that every Cardinal Gibbons student can complete an online class before graduation. She’s still working on the logistics but recognizes the value that this would provide to students who are entering higher education environments where online and blended learning is increasingly the norm.

Benefitting from Quality Partnership

Having a quality partner has made course expansion simple and successful for Cardinal Gibbons. Catholic Virtual offers more than 300 courses for course expansion. Learn more about expanding your catalog and course choice with an accredited partner.

If you’re inspired by the Cardinal Gibbons model and want to explore how course expansion can support your school and students, use this planning guide to create an implementation plan.