Dual credit — high school students taking college courses for credit — is booming, writes Kelly Field in Education Next. Between 2002-3 and 2010-11, the number of high school students taking college courses for credit increased by 68 percent, to nearly 1.4 million.
But are students really doing college-level work? Many are taking classes taught by high school teachers in their school. “In Texas and elsewhere, instructors have complained that they’re being pressured to lower their standards to keep pass rates high, while professors have said students who took core courses in high school are struggling in upper-level classes,” writes Field.
Dual-credit students “are more likely to enroll in and complete college than students who don’t — and to finish faster, too,” writes Field. “A few studies have found disproportionate benefits for low-income students.”
It’s a great deal for community colleges, which are enrolling fewer adults and more high schoolers.
It’s not so good for four-year colleges, “which depend on large lecture-based introductory courses to subsidize more expensive upper-level offerings and to recruit students to majors,” writes Field. There are fewer students in core courses.
Doubts about the rigor of dual credit courses have led some colleges to limit the number of courses that will transfer or to accept only those that were taught on college campuses, by college faculty.
Faculty associations, including the American Association of University Professors and the American Historical Association, have also registered their concerns
Some universities also have balked at offering credit for passing Advanced Placement exams, and community college transfers often find some of their credits aren’t honored.