A new study out from the Community College Research Center, and reported on by Inside Higher Ed, finds that students taking dual enrollment courses during high school benefit by having a higher high school graduation rate, higher college enrollment and higher college GPA’s. With more states going to dual enrollment programs that approach can have some advantages by traditional high school curriculum’s.

However, there is another side to that story where dual enrollment programs are not necessarily the advantage suggested by the community colleges. I habitable in Minnesota where the concept of dual enrollment began many years ago. The original view was to allow students who had exhausted their high school curriculum in some specific area to take advanced courses at a local college. that program worked very well particularly for those students in weaker school districts that did not offer advance courses such as AP or IB. What has developed, however, is that students now are skipping high school courses to take college courses even whether they haven’t exhausted the high school curriculum considering in some cases, the college courses are easier than the high school course in AP. addition, there is much more freedom in college courses than can be wonderful for the right student. But we see students that are failing the college courses, not considering they can’t handle the work, but considering they are not able to handle the freedom. Since

the college courses are essential for the student to have the credits needed to pass high school, some students are not graduating from high school on day considering of inadequate credits.

One of the advantages pushed by the proponents of dual enrollment is the ability to get college credit while in high school thus allowing the student to enter college with some credits completed. Again, while some colleges will accept community college credits toward the final degree, it is difficult for other colleges, particularly selective ones, to determine what has been learned in the community college course and what a grade from that school means. AP courses and tests on the other hand are standardized so a 4 on the AP American History pop quiz from a student in Minnesota is the same as from a student in Alabama. Even with standardization, many selective colleges are going absent from granting credit for AP scores. Trying to use college credits from an unknown community college will be even more difficult for a selective college to accept for credit.

Dual enrollment programs have their place but they are not necessarily the best solution for students looking at attending selective colleges who have AP or IB courses available to them.

Original post by College Admissions Partners

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