Education Week - September 7, 2016 - 13

the case. But others with similar
dreams end up feeling misled and
disappointed.
Florida's state college system says
on its website that dual-enrollment
courses "can save a student and
their family hundreds if not thousands of tuition and fee dollars and
expedite entry into the workforce."
The Rhode Island education department says that with dual-enrollment, "all students have the opportunity to reduce the amount of time
and expense required to obtain a
college degree."
In a 2013 statement about President Barack Obama's initiatives to
make college more affordable, the
White House said: "Dual-enrollment
opportunities let high school students earn credits before arriving at
college, which can save them money
by accelerating their time to degree."
"It's definitely being oversold,"
said Barmak Nassirian, the director of federal relations for the
American Association of State Colleges and Universities. "The notion
of promoting more rigorous work in
high school is fabulous. The problem comes when you build on that
the notion that it's a cheaper way of
solving the vexing problem of college
costs. It's coming from policymakers
who are terriﬁed about where to go
next in reducing college costs."

Qualms About High School
Most dual-enrollment courses
are taught by high school teachers, on high school campuses, and
are sometimes called "concurrent
enrollment" courses. Even though
such teachers typically have master's degrees, and work closely with
their partner universities, these
high-school-based programs are
the ones that colleges view with the
most skepticism.
Reilly, of the national registrars'
and admissions' group, said his
members "tend to be pretty confident when students take courses
taught by [college] faculty." A course
taught by a high school teacher
"just doesn't quite ring the same

way" when his members evaluate
the coursework for transfer, he said.
Amy Roy, the director of college
counseling at Westerly High School
in Rhode Island, said that nearly
40 percent of her seniors are taking
dual-enrollment courses-more than
ever. But in the past few years, she's
noticed that more colleges are reluctant to accept the course credits,
which students earn through a community college or state university.
"There are so many schools my
kids aren't getting credit at," Roy
said. "When I call them, they kind
of beat around the bush, but I get
the impression that they don't feel
they can guarantee the rigor of the
course when it's taught at a high
school," a reaction that frustrates
her, because the students' teachers
have master's degrees, and their
curricula and pacing guides are approved by their partner colleges.
To ward off disappointment, Roy
makes sure she explains to students-and their parents-that
dual-enrollment credit transfer isn't
a sure thing, she said.

Higher Education's Discretion
The University of Illinois Laboratory High School took steps to insulate students from potential loss of
earned college credits. Its partnership allows students to take college
courses, but only in college classrooms, with college students, and not
for simultaneous high school credit.
Lisa R. Micele, the director of
college counseling at the small, selective school in Urbana, said her
school's policy is based on feedback
from the 15 colleges and universities that its students most often
attend.
"They were telling us, 'We don't
want these kids double dipping,' "
Micele said, adding that many expressed doubt that students were
"truly working at a college level"
in classes taught by high school
teachers. "We have not had problems with credits being accepted
at other colleges, but I think it's
because we're not double dipping."

Jason L. Taylor, who's studied
dual enrollment as an assistant
professor of educational leadership
and policy at the University of Utah,
sees the credit-transfer problem as
just another arm of the broader
problem that plagues students who
transfer from one college to another.
Higher education has long exerted
its discretion to accept some credits,
and reject others, costing students
time and money, he noted.
But many states are working in
various ways to improve transferability of dual-enrollment credits,
or, at the very least, ensure that
students are well informed about
their chances.
Florida requires its department of
education to develop and circulate
a statement that tells students and
parents that dual-enrollment credits might transfer only for general
education or elective credit.
North Carolina requires statefunded dual-enrollment courses
to be taken in one of 12 coherent
programs of study. Oregon set up
a committee to conduct quality reviews of dual-enrollment programs.
And three other states-Hawaii,
Nevada, and Oklahoma-require
students to take dual-enrollment
courses in college, with college faculty, or online.
More states are pursuing the
concurrent-enrollment alliance's accreditation, which can increase the
chances of credit transfer. Iowa in
2015 became the ﬁrst state to have
all its community colleges-where
dual-enrollment partnerships reside
in that state-accredited.
Lowe, the organization's leader,
argued that states' keen attention to
quality will affect dual-enrollment
credit-transfer rates. "Quality and
transfer," he said, "go hand in hand."

There is a disconnect between
what students are being told
-that college credits are
good-and the fact that college
credit really needs to add up
to something in order to
graduate. That second half
often isn't expressed."
MELINDA M. KARP
Community College Research Center

Researcher Alex Harwin, assistant
editor Sarah D. Sparks, and library
intern Teresa Lewandowski contributed
to this report.
Visit the HIGH SCHOOL & BEYOND blog,
which tracks news and trends on this issue.
www.edweek.org/blogs

82%
80-

60-

National Average: 50%

40-

117%
7%

NEW MEXICO
IOWA
NORTH DAKOTA
NORTH CAROLINA
MISSOURI
KANSAS
SOUTH CAROLINA
VIRGINIA
INDIANA
WYOMING
COLORADO
LOUISIANA
HAWAII
VERMONT
TENNESSEE
IDAHO
NEBRASKA
TEXAS
GEORGIA
WISCONSIN
ARKANSAS
ALABAMA
ILLINOIS
OREGON
KENTUCKY
WEST VIRGINIA
OHIO
OKLAHOMA
FLORIDA
PENNSYLVANIA
MICHIGAN
MISSISSIPPI
MARYLAND
NEW HAMPSHIRE
MINNESOTA
MASSACHUSETTS
DELAWARE
MAINE
WASHINGTON
SOUTH DAKOTA
CONNECTICUT
NEW JERSEY
ARIZONA
MONTANA
UTAH
ALASKA
NEVADA
NEW YORK
RHODE ISLAND
CALIFORNIA
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

20-

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Education Week - September 7, 2016

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