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Postsecondary options for high school students |
The past and present
For many years, high-achieving students have earned college credits while still in high school. Students take particular courses and earn credit by examination
in two well-known programs: the College Board’s Advanced Placement Program (AP), begun in 1955, and the International Baccalaureate (IB) program,
started in 1968. In dual enrollment programs, students take college-level courses and earn high school and college credit simultaneously. Though often begun
as local partnerships, these programs are attracting increasing interest at the state policy level. Currently, 38 states have dual enrollment policies addressing
one or more of the following features: target population, admissions requirements, location, student mix (i.e. high school students or high school and college
students co-mingled), background of instructors, course content, method of credit-earning, program intensity, funding, and state mandates. In the remaining
states, institutions decide whether to or how to implement programs.23
The potential
All of these programs have greatly expanded over recent years and there is growing realization that these postsecondary options (also called credit-based
transition programs) do more than provide college credits. They:
• Prepare students for the academic rigors of college.
• Provide more realistic information to students about the skills they will need in college.
• Help high school faculty prepare students for college.
• Expose traditionally non-college-bound students to college.
• Provide curricular options for students.
• Improve motivation through high expectations.
• Lower the cost of postsecondary education for students.
• Promote institutional relationships between colleges and high schools.24
A recent survey found that 71 percent of high school juniors and seniors believe that earning college credit for courses taken in high school would help
make the senior year more meaningful.25 Research also has documented that AP course-taking is strongly correlated with college success.26
In effect, the courses themselves represent alignment between high school and college—a blurring of the two sectors and movement toward a more seamless
education experience. Recognition of the multiple benefits of these programs has brought realization of their potential for helping low- to middle-achieving
students prepare for and succeed in college. There is even interest in developing new kinds of options specifically oriented to lower-achieving students.
The National Center for Educational Statistics recently estimated that approximately two percent of all Title IV degree-granting institutions have dual
enrollment programs specifically geared toward at-risk students, representing about five percent of the institutions (2,050) offering dual enrollment programs.
This suggests enormous potential for expansion. 27
Finally, there is an inherent tension between the desire to expand postsecondary options to many more students and the need to maintain rigorous academic
standards.28 This will continue to be an area of interest and study.
Promising approaches
Several approaches have been used to expand postsecondary options to all students.
Expanding Advanced Placement:
• The College Board reports that progress has been made in closing equity gaps. In some states, traditionally underserved minority populations are
no longer underrepresented in the pool of AP examinees.29 The College Board’s AP Potential is a tool available to school administrators that uses
PSAT scores to help identify students who are likely to succeed on AP tests. Florida has used AP Potential to increase the number of traditionally underrepresented
students who are succeeding.
• Arkansas requires all schools to offer at least one AP course in each of four core areas.
• Virginia’s Virtual Advanced Placement School offers a broad range of AP courses via distance learning.
Expanding dual enrollment:
• Eighteen states mandate that dual enrollment opportunities be provided to students.30
• In 11 states, the secondary or postsecondary institution pays the student’s tuition and in six states, the state pays.31 Washington’s
Running Start program, for example, allows qualified juniors and seniors to take up to 18 hours on community college campuses at no cost.
Serving lower-achieving students:
• Early College High Schools (or Middle Colleges) are small schools that “blend” high school and the first two years of college to eliminate
the physical transition between secondary and postsecondary institutions. Learning takes place in small, personalized settings that demand rigorous work
and provide needed support.32
Cross-cutting issues:
• The U.S. Department of Education’s “Accelerating Student Success” project has undertaken a study of all types of credit-based
transition programs to investigate ways in which these programs may support the transition of middle- to low-achieving students from secondary to postsecondary
education. It has identified state policies that encourage participation including tuition and fees paid by the state, school district, or college (as
opposed to the student); easy transfer of course credit; few or no course restrictions; and good information about the availability and requirements of
the programs.
• Florida and Virginia are among the states developing common course numbering systems that include Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and
dual enrollment courses so that these courses can be approved for transfer for postsecondary credit. |
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23 Melinda Mechur Karp, Thomas R. Bailey, Katherine L. Hughes, and Baranda J. Fermin, State Dual Enrollment Policies: Addressing Access and
Quality, (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education, 2004).
24 Thomas Bailey and Melinda Mechur Karp, Promoting College Access and Success: A Review of Credit-Based Transition Programs, (Washington, DC: U.S. Department
of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education, 2003).
25 Preliminary results from National Governors Association “Rate Your Future” survey, April 2005.
26 Adelman, op.cit.
27 Brian Kleiner, Laurie Lewis, and Bernard Greene, Dual Enrollment of High School Students at Postsecondary Institutions: 2002-03, (Washington, DC: U. S. Department
of Education National Center for Education Statistics, 2005).
28 Education Commission of the States Center for Community College Policy, Postsecondary Options: Dual/Concurrent Enrollment, (Denver, CO: Education Commission
of the States, 2001).
29 College Board, Advanced Placement Report to the Nation: 2005, (Washington, DC: author, 2005).
30Karp, Bailey, Hughes, and Fermin, op. cit.
31 Ibid.
32 Nancy Hoffman and Joel Vargas, Integrating Grades 9 Through 14: State Policies to Support and Sustain Early College High Schools, (Boston: MA, Jobs for the
Future, 2005). |
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