In the heart of Pennsylvania, York Suburban High School faced an unexpected challenge when their only health teacher took maternity leave during the second semester. With over one hundred students enrolled in the health course and no teacher available, the school needed a swift and effective solution.
In years prior, York Suburban High School had begun working with BYU Independent Study to expand their course offerings and provide greater credit recovery and summer school opportunities for students. In this time of crisis, assistant principal Chris Adams reached out to BYU CE academic outreach representative Mike Brousseau.
"[Chris] called me to ask what solutions we might have to help them out," Brousseau recalled. Instead of simply enrolling all the students in the BYU Independent Study health course, Brousseau proposed a more customized approach utilizing the BYU High School Suite. "We decided they would license our health curriculum to use with their own teacher," he said.
Coincidentally, Adams was already certified as a teacher for health and physical education but lacked the resources, content, and lesson plans to begin teaching on such short notice. This unique solution granted Adams access to BYU's comprehensive electronic textbook, complete with assessments and a structured sequence to provide guidance and pacing for the class.
This option provided several advantages. The premade curriculum designed by BYU CE’s expert instructional designers allowed Adams to focus on overseeing the course and facilitating the students’ learning rather than creating lesson plans from scratch. Additionally, the curriculum was seamlessly integrated into the school's system and even branded with their colors and logo, making it indistinguishable from the school’s own content. "The students were afforded the same content-learning opportunities through the use of the BYU curriculum. No one would have known that the resources and activities were developed and shared by BYU," Adams noted.
The flexibility of the BYU High School Suite was a key factor in its success. "We customize it for them," Brousseau said. "They get a custom URL that has their school's name in it. . . . It doesn't say BYU on it anywhere." This level of customization extended to the course content itself, allowing the school to tailor the material to their specific needs. "We looked and saw what the teacher had already taught, deleted those units, and added to it as needed," Adams explained.
The impact of this collaboration was significant. It provided a critical solution at a time of need, ensuring that the students' education continued without interruption. "It worked out really well," Adams affirmed. The health teacher returned in the fall and the school no longer needed the curriculum, but the experience highlighted the value and flexibility of BYU CE’s online products and high-quality educational solutions.
York Suburban High School's success story is a testament to the effectiveness of BYU Independent Study and the BYU High School Suite. Though York Suburban High School’s health course returned to its normal format, the partnership with BYU CE continues strong, with the school’s summer school program transitioning to exclusively offer BYU IS courses this year.
By providing individually tailored, high-quality educational resources, BYU CE meets the specific needs of each of its customers, ensuring that students everywhere receive the education they deserve.