A quantitative, ex post facto causal comparative study methods was used to determine the impacts of implementing credit recovery into high school curricula on graduation rates. A thematic literature review described the particular areas of the literature and research purpose. The target sample was Illinois high school districts with and without credit recovery programs implemented and for years 2007-2010 pre-implementation and years 2011-2014 post-implementation. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to test the multiple continuous dependent variables, high school graduation rates and the hypotheses regarding the effect of credit recovery programs on graduation rates. Results indicated there was no statistically significant difference between groups even when controlling for attendance. Recommendations and suggestions for future research were provided.