What is credit recovery for high school?

Credit recovery in my state means that after a high school
student has failed a class that he or she needs to graduate, he uses credit recovery to
retake the class in condensed time.  From what I've observed in my district and from
talking to other teachers in various states, credit recovery is an online program.  I
have never heard of normal face-to-face classes such as summer school being called
credit recovery.

Our school district bought the rights to a
credit recovery program which students can use after school or during the summer.  They
have to be in a designated lab with a "proctor" who ensures that they are the ones
completing the course online.  Students generally can move as quickly as they want
through a course; so many see credit recovery as being advantageous over regular
classes.

I will say this, though, about credit recovery. 
Normally, when a student fails a class, that permanently affects his GPA and record. So,
credit recovery allows a student to get the credit hours he needs for graduation but
does not eliminate the negative marks on his record. Moreover, in my state, students
must pay for credit recovery, and it can get expensive if someone fails more than one
class (one that was free to the student when he took it the first time!). Finally, some
of my students have complained that credit recovery is boring and that they don't
understand a lot of what they are supposed to be learning online.  The proctor in the
lab with them is normally there to answer technology questions and to try to prevent
cheating, but he or she cannot answer questions about all the subjects that students are
studying.