In communities including New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Chicago, educators are creating alternative schools for struggling students that employ online credit-recovery programs as a core portion, or all, of their curriculum. The growth in online learning generally, including blended learning, has fueled the proliferation of computer-based credit recovery programs. The pressure on schools and educators to boost retention and graduation rates is a significant factor as well. Students and teachers say the online courses have some universal benefits in that the teenagers can move at their own pace and get instant feedback on how they are doing. Teachers can also easily ascertain how much course material a student has mastered. Instead of trying to interpret a vacant expression on a student's face, a teacher knows immediately to check in with a student who has been "idle" for more than a few minutes online. Since there's growing competition in the online course market, companies are under pressure to make quick changes and improvements to meet client demand. Schools and districts, particularly those hoping to use online credit recovery to help catch up students who have fallen behind, would be wise to see the new courses as elaborate, high-tech textbooks-highly variable in their quality, in need of substantial vetting, and utterly insufficient on their own.