In the traditional public school system, the varied pace of student learning is often lost, and replaced with a "one size fits all" expectation for grade-level cohorts of students using normed, standards-based assessments. This reliance on cohort-based test scores continues through high school. Traditional measures are designed primarily for traditional calendars and emphasize cohort-group proficiency by grade level, rather than individual student learning gains. Schools that serve at-risk populations can be mislabeled as underperforming because they do not have the performance cohorts that counterbalance those students who are behind grade level. This article features SIATech, a network of dropout recovery charter high schools that has adopted an individual student growth model. The value-added model tracks each student's actual learning gains every year to assess the value of the school's instructional program.