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9. Twice the Credit, Half the Time?: The Growth of Dual Credit at Community Colleges and High Schools
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c h a p t e r n i n e Twice the Credit, Half the Time? The Growth of Dual Credit at Community Colleges and High Schools va n e s s a s m i t h m o r e s t a n d m e l i n d a m e c h u r k a r p It is Wednesday afternoon and students are taking their seats for Nancy Johnson’s English 101 class at NWSCC, in Washington. These are not typical community college students. Although about 30% of the enrollments at this college are nonwhite, there are no African American or Hispanic students in the class. Of twenty-four students here today, four are of Asian descent, roughly reflecting the distribution of Asian students schoolwide. The students are strikingly di√erent from those in other classes we have observed because they all know one another. Before the beginning of class, they turn in their chairs and chat in small gender-di√erentiated groups. They appear to be very young, and the three visibly older students sit on the periphery of the noisy mass of younger students, quietly looking through the materials they brought to class. We notice that several of the students flash smiles full of braces. Nancy begins class by collecting papers. As she does so, she explains that the purpose of the homework was to develop analytical writing skills. As an example, she asks students how they would structure an essay around convincing readers about the characteristics that make a successful Running Start student: determination, good study skills, and reliable transportation are the suggestions made by students. Elaborating on her example, Nancy asks the class what the study-time rule is for college. A number of the students respond ‘‘two hours at home for one hour in class.’’ No doubt, Nancy’s example was contrived for our benefit, because later, as we walk out of the classroom together, she tells us that within the last few years she has had to reformulate her curriculum and pedagogy since well over half of the students in her English classes are now local high school students who are able to attend NWSCC tuition-free through the state’s Running Start program. Nancy is nearing retirement and has been teaching English 101 at NWSCC for around thirty years. 224 Vanessa Smith Morest and Melinda Mechur Karp Community colleges are increasingly engaging in partnerships with high schools that seek to provide high school students with the opportunity to enroll in college courses. These arrangements, usually called ‘‘dual enrollment’’ or ‘‘dual credit’’ programs ,∞ are not new, because colleges have long allowed academically gifted students to enroll in advanced coursework. But dual enrollment has seen rapid growth over the past few years, both in terms of the numbers of students involved and the types of students targeted. As programs expand, dual enrollment is drawing from a wider student population , providing the opportunity for college level study to middle- and even lowachieving students in addition to the most advanced. These developments reflect a belief on the part of policy makers and educators that participation in rigorous academic experiences such as dual enrollment can promote student access to and success in college (Adelman, 1999; Martinez and Bray, 2002). Engaging in collegelevel work prior to high school graduation may encourage students to enter into postsecondary education when they might otherwise have chosen to forgo college. In today’s policy environment, dual enrollment programs are frequently seen as mechanisms for making access to postsecondary education more equitable and increasing the likelihood that disadvantaged and academically disengaged students will be successful in college (Bailey and Karp, 2003). Because students often participate in dual enrollment free of charge, these programs are also assumed to save families money and shorten students’ time to degree. Though we will describe in this chapter other reasons for secondary and postsecondary institutions to encourage the expansion of dual enrollment, such as financial incentives and the opportunity to enhance institutional prestige, the potential for positive outcomes for students is perceived to be a primary motivation. There is an inherent tension between opening access and ensuring that only students ready for college-level work participate in college courses. Colleges may be interested in ensuring the integrity of their academic programs, even more so than high schools. In addition, educators do not want to put their students in jeopardy of failure by enrolling them in college-level...