Chapter 6: Education
Ensure the Quality of Community College Dual-Credit Offerings
Summary
Dual-credit arrangements between high schools and universities, colleges, and
community colleges are designed to allow exceptionally qualified students to
earn credit for college coursework performed while in high school. To ensure the
quality of dual-credit courses, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
(THECB) provides guidelines for these courses, including items such as student
eligibility, faculty qualifications, and grading criteria. Some community
colleges, however, are offering dual-credit classes that do not meet
THECB’s criteria. State law should require the THECB to include
dual-enrollment classes in its audits of community colleges to ensure compliance
with its rules.
Background
Texas secondary schools, colleges, and universities have worked in
partnership for many years to provide qualified high school students with an
early start on college-level coursework. Dual-credit agreements between high
schools and institutions of higher education allow eligible students to earn
college credits while completing high school. A successfully completed
dual-credit course earns the student college credit that may be applied toward
an associate degree from a community college or transferred to any public
college in Texas.[1]
Dual-credit agreements help to make the transition from public to higher
education seamless for the student. They can benefit high schools as well by
broadening the number of elective courses they can offer, thus strengthening the
overall quality of their curriculum and better preparing their students for
college-level course work. They also help college instructors gain insight into
the learning needs of high school students. Parents find that dual-credit
courses help parents cope with the soaring cost of college tuition, since
tuition paid at present is likely to be lower than it will be two years later
after high school graduation. Finally, dual-credit arrangements move students
through the educational pipeline in a shorter time.
Dual-credit courses are supposed to be the same college-level courses taught
at the college campus, by faculty who possess the same credentials. Generally,
the parents of high school students enrolling in dual-credit courses must pay
full college tuition rates for the classes, although the state allows colleges
to waive tuition and fees for high school students if they choose. State law
also allows institutions of higher education to include these credit hours in
the “contact hours” used to determine their state appropriations,
even if they waive tuition requirements for the courses.
Section 130.008 of the Texas Education Code requires the state’s
Commissioner of Education and Commissioner of Higher Education to jointly
develop a mechanism to identify and eliminate any possible duplication of state
funding for dual-enrollment courses. Both commissioners have agreed that
colleges and universities should receive full funding for dual-credit courses
they offer and that the amount of state funding school districts receive should
be based on the number of high-school credit hours received on the high school
campus.[2]
For most dual-credit courses, students receive both high school and college
credit for courses that fulfill high school graduation requirements; generally,
this credit is awarded upon successful completion of the course. There are,
however, two exceptions:
Credit in escrow is offered for Tech-Prep courses that combine strong
academic and workforce skills in a particular career path. In a Tech-Prep
arrangement, high school students take college-level courses as part of an
associate degree that they will complete at a community college. Tech-Prep
students receive immediate credit for high school graduation, but the college
credit (typically for technical courses) is held “in escrow” until
after they have enrolled in community college and successfully completed the
first semester.
Parallel enrollment allows high school students to earn college credit
for courses not needed to satisfy their high school graduation requirements.
Parallel-enrollment students receive college credit only upon successful
completion of each course.
THECB Survey
In 1998, in an attempt to document the current practices of Texas
institutions of higher education regarding dual-credit courses, the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board (THECB) conducted a statewide survey that was sent
to 73 colleges and universities, generating a response rate of 84 percent.
The survey documented more than 13,000 students enrolled in 1,074 dual-credit
courses taught during the school day at high school campuses. These classes
generated a total of 828,268 contact hours, producing at least $2.4 million in
state funding for the colleges and universities
involved.[3] Of the dual-credit courses
identified in the survey, 28 percent were taught by high school teachers; 61
percent were taught by part-time college faculty; and 11 percent were taught by
full-time college faculty and other instructors. Of 61 colleges and universities
responding to the survey, 50 charge the same tuition to high school students as
they do to college students. Two charge high school students a discounted rate,
and nine waive college tuition and fees for high school
students.[4]
Deficiencies in Community College Practices
Prior to THECB’s survey, many basic program features concerning
dual-credit courses—including selection, assessment, services, evaluation,
course selection, faculty credentials, supervision and evaluation, and data
collection for accountability studies—were left up to the colleges and
universities offering the courses.
Both educators and THECB staff members, however, have questioned the quality
of some dual-credit courses offered by community colleges. Since community
colleges are authorized to include dual-credit courses in the contact hours that
determine their state appropriations, they operate within a system that rewards
expansion. Some community colleges use high school textbooks and teach high
school-level material while awarding college credits.
To provide some guidance and quality assurance for dual-credit courses, in
1999
THECB adopted rules
for community colleges to incorporate into their partnerships with school
districts for dual-credit courses.[5] Among other
things, the rules specify student eligibility requirements for dual-credit
coursework; faculty qualifications; location and student composition of classes;
required student support services; eligible courses; and grading criteria.
The most significant part of THECB’s rules requires students
participating in dual-credit courses to pass all sections of the exit-level
Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test as well as the Texas Academic
Skills Program (TASP) test in those areas (reading, writing, math) applicable to
the dual-credit coursework in question. The state, however, has no mechanism in
place to ensure that colleges comply with THECB’s rules.
Recommendation
State law should require the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board (THECB) to include dual-credit classes in its audits of
community colleges.
THECB conducts on-site reviews of community colleges’ programs. THECB
could easily include dual-credit classes in its audits to ensure that colleges
comply with THECB guidelines for student eligibility (passing all parts of the
Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test and appropriate portions of the Texas
Academic Skills Program). If a college fails to comply with the guidelines, its
funding could be adjusted accordingly.
Fiscal Impact
This recommendation would have no fiscal impact on the state.
[1] V.T.C.A., Education Code
§130.008(a).
[2] Alamo Community College
District, Dual Credit Program: A High School And College Partnership
Manual (San Antonio, Texas, May 1998), p. 2.
[3] Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board, “Community and Technical College Credit Courses
Enrolling High School Students for Concurrent Enrollment—Spring 1998,
Summary of Responses from 63 Colleges” (Brochure); and telephone
interview with Ken Vickers, director of Finance, Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board (Austin, Texas, June 16, 2000).
[4] Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board, “Community and Technical College Credit Courses
Enrolling High School Students for Concurrent Enrollment—Spring 1998,
Summary of Responses from 63 Colleges.”
[5] Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board, THECB Rules and Regulations, Chapter 9, Subchapter H
(Austin, Texas, 2000) (http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/rules/9/9-h.htm).
(Internet document.)
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